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Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai! Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Jai! Samādhi Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai! Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai! Your Excellency, Ambassador of India to Hungary, Gaurī Śaṅkar Gupta Jī, and dear brothers and sisters from different parts of the world, welcome all of you here. The subject of this conference, as you know, is spirituality and religion. We are here to develop spirituality during this seminar. We will hear more about that. The Vedas, Upaniṣads, and ancient literatures speak about spirituality and one universal God. As Swāmī Chidānanda told, we just returned from our spiritual journey, a spiritual kayak alap. We spent two and a half months on the bank of the holy river Gaṅgā. The place where we had our camp was known as Gaurī Śaṅkar. In that Gaurī Śaṅkar, there was a special place reserved for the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara. As a Mahābandhīśvara of the Mahānirvāṇī Akhāḍā, we had the Akhāḍā’s land, which the Melā authority gives for the period of the Kumbh Melā—about 25 hectares. The Gaṅgā, which flows originally, is called Nīldhārā, the blue stream. It comes from Lord Śiva’s head, from his hair, because Gaṅgā first landed on Śiva’s head. You know the story. The place where we stayed is where Lord Brahmā performed tapasyā. That is called Brahma Kuṇḍ—a pool or a deep place of water. All who come to the Mahā Kumbh Melā should bathe there. So we were in just the right place. After that, Haridwar began to civilize. Some rich people directed the Gaṅgā more towards the valleys and made a place called Harkipadi. But it doesn’t matter. Gaṅgā is Gaṅgā. All kinds of water there—groundwater or surface water—are the water of the Gaṅgā. Minden víz, amely ennek a Gaṅgā közelében van, az mind Gaṅgā víz, akár egy kis medence, akár maga a folyó. The water we got in our pipes was filtered and cleaned; we could drink it and cook with it. So all was Gaṅgā’s water. No doubt, Gaṅgā is holy. Gaṅgā descended on this planet to free humans from their sins. Ganga came here to free us from our sins. In Christianity, too, Jesus came to free us from sins. Gaṅgā was the daughter of Brahmā, and Jesus was known as the son of the Father. Brahmā is known as the Father, the Holy Creator. It is interesting how religions unite, but spirituality is beyond that. We will talk about this during our seminar: spirituality and religion. First, I welcome once more His Excellency Gaurī Śaṅkarjī Gupta. Do you know what "Gaurī Śaṅkar" means? Who knows? Hands up, please. Good. Gaurī is Pārvatī. Gaurī as Pārvatī or Śakti, and Śaṅkara is Śiva. In our Kuṇḍalinī Yoga book, there is a picture: half the body is Śiva (male) and half is Gaurī or Pārvatī (female). Both principles are in one. Now you know; you saw the picture. How could you forget? So tonight, you must meditate half an hour more. I welcome him to this conference dedicated to spirituality and religion. He joined his office here just two or three months ago, on a very significant day, the 12th of February. We had a bath on the 12th of February. Another thing is, a swami is for the whole world. Śaṅkarācārya said, "My birthplace is this planet Earth. My roof is the sky, my bed is the earth." A swami belongs to the entire world, and so does a politician, especially an ambassador. I have to work for a country, for the whole world. But if we look back to our past, we come from the same place, Rajasthan, so we are a little more attached to each other. So, Your Excellency, welcome, Gaurī Śaṅkarjī. The floor is yours, please. Dear brothers and sisters from various countries of Europe and other parts of the world, First of all, I would like to seek Swāmījī’s blessings, not only for myself but for all of us, for turning millions of people to the path of spirituality. It is only because of his teachings that we are all together here, trying to tread on the path of spirituality through various religions. So I seek his blessings before I say anything more. I am very happy that the theme of this conference is religion and spirituality, a subject very dear to my heart. I consider religions like various rivers trying to reach the ocean, and spirituality is the ocean where we all try to reach. All rivers try to reach that big ocean of spirituality. All religions—whether Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, or Jainism—teach us how to attain the root, the path of spirituality in our life. So, what is spirituality? Let’s think. In my view, spirituality is to discover one’s own self and one’s relation with the Creator. The Upaniṣads say that everything in this universe, whether animate or inanimate—jad or chetan—comes from one single element, which is called Brahman. Like from clay, you can make thousands of pots in various shapes and sizes. With cotton, you can make millions of garments in different shapes and sizes, but ultimately they all come from clay and cotton. Similarly, all creation in this universe—not only humans but all other creation—is part of one single element, Brahma, who creates the entire universe from his will. By looking into our own self, I can prove this is true. Look at our own body. When I say, "This is my hand, this is my body," who am I? "My body" uses a possessive pronoun. There must be something called "I" that possesses the body. What is that "I" in the body? What goes out when we die? I will come back to this later. Let me give an analysis of the human body. When you see my body, you see it is like a vegetable without my senses. If I don’t have the five senses of perception and the five senses of action, this body is what? It is like a vegetable. If I can’t see, speak, or listen, this body has no meaning. If I don’t see, hear, or eat, my body is just a lifeless piece. So the body is controlled by the senses. But the senses are controlled by the mind—that is the manaḥ. The mind, which you cannot see or touch, is invisible, untouchable. You can’t even feel it unless you think deeply. It is not visible but very powerful; it controls your senses. You will not listen to me right now unless your mind is with your ears. You cannot see anything unless your mind is with your eyes. Every action your sense performs requires the mind to be with that sense. Beyond the mind is the intellect. Your mind is very volatile; it can travel in a second to New York, another second to Delhi, even in a millisecond to the moon. The intellect tries to control the mind, telling it, "This is not good. Do this. Don’t do this." The mind is extremely flexible, moving from one thought to another. Beyond intellect is the human soul, the ātmā, which controls everything else in the human body. If you believe the body is weak, that the senses control it (which we can feel), that the mind controls the senses (which we can also feel), and that the intellect controls the mind, then you must believe there is a soul inside us that controls everything. We feel the mind directs feelings, the intellect controls the mind; we must accept that the Ātmā is the supreme director. When you analyze this, you realize the subtler the thing, the more powerful it is. It is like reaching the atomic level: from the gross to the atom, the atom is more powerful. The body is gross, not powerful. The senses are subtler, more powerful. The mind is invisible, much more powerful. The intellect is invisible, untouchable, more powerful. So the more subtle, the more profound and powerful. Consider open space. Nothing is visible here, but it is very powerful—the most powerful element in the universe. Nothing is visible, but it contains everything you can conceive. It has the air we breathe, the energy we get into our system, moisture, water, humidity, earth when there is dust. Millions of sounds travel through it. You have cellular phones; all sounds come, each individually. I could explain more, but the fact is this invisible, untouchable thing is much more powerful than what we can see and touch. Consider what we eat. We can live without food for a few days. Water is more subtle; we can live without it for a few days or hours. Without air, which is even more subtle, we cannot live at all. So we must look into ourselves for that invisible power of Ātmā, located in each one of us. It is the Ātmā, part of Paramātmā, part of Brahma, part of the Father or Creator—whatever name you give, it is immaterial. As the Vedas say, from one you make many. There is ultimately one single force in this universe, which manifests into millions of forces. Because senses are supposed to look out, not in, we must divert our senses to look inward, discover our soul, link this soul with the Creator. Then you will feel and realize what spirituality is. What Swāmījī has been teaching all his life—yoga, spiritual thoughts—will unite you. It will unite you with the universe. Then you will find everybody is made of the same essence. Why should we hate each other? We should love each other and live together. Yoga means unity—the unity of your soul with the greater soul in the universe. I could speak more, but I will not, as I know Swāmījī has more profound thoughts to share. We would like to listen to him. So I conclude with one śloka from the Upaniṣad: Oṃ Pūrṇamadaḥ Pūrṇamidaṃ Pūrṇāt Pūrṇamudacyate, Pūrṇasya Pūrṇamādāya Pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate. Oṃ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. It means: From the Whole, the whole is created. From the infinite, the infinite is created, and still the infinite remains as it is. This is what creation is. Brahma is infinite. He has created many things, yet he remains infinite. We are part of Him. I am grateful to all of you for listening. I am delighted that all of us, with Swāmījī’s guidance and blessings, are moving towards the path of spirituality, which will bring peace to this world and end the conflicts in our lives and between countries. Thank you so much. Thank you, Your Excellency. You should know he is also a poet, writing in English and Hindi, and a great writer of many books. Once my disciple from Vienna, Dr. Rada, said, "I think all Indians are born as philosophers." It is true; in their blood is the blood of great ṛṣis. Rishis are hermits. Therefore, it is called ṛṣi santāna, the children of the ṛṣis. They were in Gṛhasthāśrama, married, but our entire family had a spiritual life. They performed great tapasyā. És tapasyā-t, askétikus életet folytatta. Without tapasyā, you can’t find anything. In this modern world, tapasyā can be translated as research work. There is also hard work hidden in it. Research is there, but you must research again to find out. It is very nicely explained by His Excellency in clear words. You will never forget his first two sentences. They are clear, simple, and full of meaning: "Religions are like rivers, and Dharma is the ocean." In India, we say, "Feel the whole ocean in one part." In one sentence, Mahāprabhujī said, "On this sentence, nice in bhajan, ’Śānti, śānti, nadī sari cal rahī, nyārī nyārī, sir sindhu māyā jaise jay ke samāve re.’" Satguru Śyām, moyā lagatā pyārā, mera Satguru Śyām garbhārī kar rahā. Mā, choṭī choṭī nadiyāṁ sārī cal rahī nyārī nyārī. Choti choti nadiyan—all small streams, creeks, and rivers flow individually. But finally, kṣīra, sindhu, māī, jāke, samāvere—finally they enter that ocean of nectar, Ātmā or Paramātmā. As we spoke, sometimes you heard it was very nice. His Excellency said that as a thing becomes subtler, it is more powerful. Invisible thoughts—you think no one sees. You can think what you want, but they are more powerful: thoughts of jealousy, anger, greed, or love, happiness, kindness, merciful thoughts, blessings. That is also the power of the mantra. Holī Gurujī used to say: mantra—"man" means the mind, and "trā" means satisfied. When you are hungry and eat a good meal, you are satisfied. Or when very thirsty and you drink cool water, it quenches your thirst. Similarly, the mind is hungry, thirsty from many, many lives. It is still very hungry. Though now with a human body, it is more hungry: hunger for money, position, name, beauty, a partner, and so on. This mind, this jīva, is hungry, but this hunger will never be content. Whatever you do to lessen the hunger creates more, like fuel on a fire. Till today, no one could satisfy their hunger of any kind. Vāsanā—the desires. Day by day, desires grow. What a kind of illness? A terrible illness, and no one is happy. You look for a husband or wife, try hard to meet that person. Maybe you will, but in the end, you will not be happy. Either the person will go away according to the modern way of life, or sooner or later one will die. It can never be fulfilled. The same in the next life. In the evening, we go to sleep with a full stomach, and in the morning we get up with a full or empty stomach. Similarly, this jīva, this jīvātmā, would like to fulfill desire in the next life, but still you can’t. So, Jīva is an individual, the powerful soul traveling as an individual on the waves of time, fluttering through the endless universe, experiencing happiness and unhappiness, darkness and light. If stopped somewhere, that means rebirth. Again, it creates complication. You don’t ask anyone, "Can I become ill?" But when ill, you go to the doctor. So don’t ask your master, "Should I make some complication?" But when you have complication, then you come. In yoga, it is said: Svādhyāya. "Sva" means the self, "adhyāya" is a chapter. Before sleep tonight, look into your past time of this life: how many chapters? How many began? How many finished? How many unfinished? All kinds of bad or good experiences, relations, happiness, fear, anxiety. Only this hunger can be finished forever. One Mahātma, Ācārya Rāmjī Mahārāj from Jodhpur, said: Amar ho jisko khāne se mithāī ho to aisī ho, faṭāde man viṣayon se kaṭhāī ho to aisī ho. Eat that kind of sweet which makes you immortal. And it spoils your taste toward the desires. That is the right sourness of the lemon. Kuber bhī hajar jiske—that time, that yogī achieves or realizes that state of mind or consciousness. Kubera is the treasurer of God. God must have a lot—the entire universe, all resources. The treasurer of God is in seva of that yogī, ready to give as much as you want. But what does that yogī do? He doesn’t notice anyone. He denies. He survives day by day through bhikṣā (alms). That is called tṛpti—contentment. That comes through mantra. "Tra" also means liberation—traima. Liberate me. Tantra—"tant" means expand. Expand your consciousness and liberate thyself from those vāsanās. So mantra—you cannot touch or see it, but it is the power in that resonance. The Rūpa Parabrahma, the form of the Supreme, is that resonance. If all rivers are directed towards that ocean... Rivers are our vṛttis, our senses. As His Excellency said, five senses of jñāna and five of karma: jñānendriya, karmendriya. Without these senses, this life is senseless, like a stone. Senses are very important. Holy Gurujī said in one bhajan: Sadām vai ajab rāt hamārā. O my brothers, O saints, my coach is a very wondrous coach. Betha baram bara—many times I sat in this coach. Ten horses are pulling this coach. Das ghoda chalesh ratme, ajab chal apara—the running, the way of walking is very different, wondrous and endless, apara—these horses. How they pull, how they go. Each has its own desires, pulling this and that side, endlessly. But it is the intellect which controls these horses. And the mind is the rider, the viveka that is in this coach, sitting inside. Anubhavakāra vichāra—the experiences of all past and this life. God Krishna said, "Before doing any karma, know the form of the karma." When you know exactly what you are doing, then your Viveka will tell you what fruits you will get. Whether you do it or not is your choice. Intellect can be spoiled, negative, selfish, but not the vivekā. Vivekā is the cream of the intellect. One can be without vivekā. But if you have Viveka, then Viveka is like a knife moving between the cheese, half here and half there. Vivek Mantri, rehe saatme anubhav karad, vichāra rājā, ātmā betharat mahī, nirākāra. And the king, his ātmā, is sitting in this coach. Nirākāra is the self, chetan, awakened, full of consciousness, and nirākāra has no form. You can’t see it, but it is there, as His Excellency said in the Upaniṣad. It is there, the Ātmā. Chauda Lok, Ikisho Brahman, Ratme Sakalpasara: the 14 worlds, 7 below and 7 above, Ikisho Brahman, 2100 sun systems or universes. They all exist in this coach of the human body. The Vedas say, what is in the universe is in this body. So the awareness of the yogī, what we call astral traveling, can travel with awareness up to 2,100 different universes in this Ananta. And in this coach, beautiful music, many instruments are playing. I travel through this body, this world, and the industrial world without suffering at all. But we are suffering. "I want this, I don’t like this, I want to have this, I want to go there, I don’t like him or her." Liking and disliking. Gurujī said, "This jīva is born while crying in a human body. Animal babies don’t cry." Humans cry. All creatures giving birth—babies don’t cry when born. But you girls, how much you cried, or boys—even the father never knew a baby was born. They were born crying, live while criticizing or backbiting, and will die thinking of pity or sorrows. Therefore, all vṛttis, all senses—through that mantra, guru mantra—if you can direct them to that oneness, you are there. No doubts. But you must have confidence, faith. Just to take a mantra is not difficult. You can read it on paper. But the function of help is your faith and the Master’s blessings. How much faith do you have? You know all. Different religions developed according to climate, situations, and countries where culture developed. Where there are humans, there is culture. Where humans go, culture goes with them. After certain kilometers, culture changes a little. So religion is very close to culture, which is good. But the aim of all religion is only one: God, the Formless God. Therefore, in the Upaniṣads and Vedas, there is no name of any incarnation or any God. Only Īśvara, the Nirguṇa, only one God. But from time to time, divine incarnations came, so we respect all. But God is one. The beautiful example we heard: from clay, you make different pots—many, many. But the reality is not the pot; it is the clay. Many ornaments are made of gold. When you buy them, you don’t buy only the ornaments, but the gold. Inside is a gold ornament made of gold. Similarly, every one of us—what is living in us is the light of God, the same God. It doesn’t matter if you come from Europe, Asia, or Africa. There is one nation. Spirituality unites. Ignorance divides through conflicts in religions. We will continue tomorrow. Thank you for listening.