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From afar, we envision Guru Pūrṇimā. For us, it is very important to present to Svāmījī the continuation—the continuation of Guru Pūrṇimā. I would like to introduce our shared children and brothers. As you told us before, what a great success and happiness it is for you to be here with us today on Pūrṇimā, and also personally, throughout the webcast. To Gurudev, to Svāmījī. I would like to ask you, and I believe all my children and brothers will agree, to look at our goals, at our purpose when we come here to ask from you. Svāmījī came to Europe many decades ago. We will soon reach the point where not only the parents but also the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are blessed by the darśan of Svāmījī. This only happened to us forty years ago. Back then, there were only the parents, and now the extended family can join the darśan of Svāmījī. We cannot merely know and remember all these orders that move us on the occasion of Svāmījī day by day. And now we are here on this occasion with you, Svāmījī, so that you may create your continuation, for which we are most grateful. Thank you, Pāram Gurudev. Thank you, Pāram Gurudev, to whom we give thanks, Svāmījī. Kriṣṇānanda from Hungary is a strong pillar of Yoga in Daily Life for all of Hungary. We have known each other for many years. Now comes Nāradā Tyāg Purī, who is the president of the Union of Yoga in Daily Life in Hungary. In Hungary, yoga is practiced extensively in daily life, and many great yogīs live there, in every city and town. Today there are many Hungarians here, so blessings to you as well. There are also many other people here from other countries. Now I would like to invite Kamilo, who is currently from Vancouver, Canada, but was originally born in Brazil. He is the right hand of Śrī Gajananjī in Vancouver and works extensively for Yoga in Daily Life. Kamilo: I feel blessed to be here. In Brazil, where I come from, yoga is not practiced in daily life, so I had the opportunity to move to Canada, where I met Svāmījī Gajananjī and began to practice. We have a small group there and one place where we practice. I am happy that for several years now I have been a student and can help so that the place can develop and the group can expand. I can devote myself to sevā. I can just repeat once more that all the people from Vancouver send their warmest greetings to Svāmījī. Thank you. Host: In Brazil, yoga is part of daily life, but the yogīs are from a different region than where the practice takes place; it is a vast country. Is there also someone here from the USA, from Atlanta first? Who here is from Atlanta? I forgot your name, so please remind me. So please, Sāra, be yourself. If you don’t have a yogic name, you will have one. Sorrow is a good foundation for sacred sorrow. Sāra: Praṇām Gurudev. Thank you very much. It is a surprise to be here with such fellow bhaktas. We can feel a little better in Atlanta. We are also a small group. To be here among such brothers and children from so many countries is truly wonderful. And being with you is truly wonderful. It is beautiful to be here with you, and it is moving. We are also just a small group here in Vancouver, and when I see how many of you are here, guru sisters, guru brothers, it moves me deeply. I am immensely grateful to be here with you, Gurudev. And I am also nervous. I also send many greetings from your guru brothers and guru sisters in Atlanta. We feel that we are very fortunate to have the Yoga Center in daily life here in Atlanta. Slowly, gradually, we grow and expand, and we can help more and more people. Thank you for the guru kṛpā. Host: We also have a candidate here from Wellington, from the New Race. This is Gyānānanda. Welcome him; he has traveled a long way. You should know that everyone in Wellington is watching you right now. Greetings, Wellington. Gyānānanda: I greet you all from Střílek in the Czech Republic. It is wonderful to be here again. This is the third time I am here in person. In their own way, they have already been somewhere here before. There are thirty of them. But that group is growing. I am sure that Hariharānandajī would not forgive me if I did not send his greetings to all of you. We have imprisoned him in New Zealand and do not let him leave from there. This sanyāsī is very dear to us, and we are deeply grateful to you for sending him to us. I believe that since the last time I was here, we have expanded by one more center for you all. Now we have four centers. We have one center in Wellington, one on the coast, another further away, and the fourth is in Auckland, where Bhajananda and Āśā Purī lead this center. There are many stories, but I will not tell you any. Just that today is Guru Pūrṇimā, and the devotees in New Zealand feel that the guru is our life. I know from my own experience that the guru saved my life. One day, when I stopped running away, I owe my life to him. And so it is beautiful to be here again. Thank you. Host: That was Gyānānanda. You know, the Hariharānandajī he spoke about is originally from Prague. Gyānānanda came to us through Hariharānanda. I think I have been coming to New Zealand for fifteen or maybe twenty years. There are beautiful centers there. We also have someone here from Washington, from the Āśrama. Today is exactly the right day for her, because her name is Pūrṇimā. So Pūrṇimā could come and represent the āśrama in Washington, DC. It is a beautiful āśrama. In front of the Āśrama, there is a park with a peace tree planted, which blooms beautifully. Pūrṇimā: I am not a great speaker, and I believe this is the very first time I am speaking in front of so many people. I speak on behalf of everyone at the Āśrama in Washington. I believe almost everyone is watching the webcast, and I think everyone would wish to be here with us this evening. The fact that we can watch the webcast is a great blessing for us, that we can remain connected with you and that we can always belong to this group. And so, thank you very much, Svāmījī, that I can be here today. People all over the world are happy. Host: We also have someone here who represents Australia, but originally he is from Hungary. On the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, just a short distance from Brisbane. We have many disciples in various corners of Australia, in Brisbane. Perhaps Rākpuri could come to you and say a few words. Rākpuri: Praṇām Svāmījī, Hari Om to all. I am happy to be back in Europe again and here once more. Many greetings to our Australian bhaktas, Svāmī Chīmu Gopālpurīnu and Bhakti Yogasiḍdhi Prabhu and Jamunā, my wife. Thank you. They have also blessed me. Today they are with us. To our bhaktas who are with us today. To Johannesburg in South Africa, many blessings. To Kasturi and Amṛtamā and to the other devotees. Host: We also have someone here from India, but they have disappeared somewhere. He is already making himself known. And so he will also say something. Devotee from India: Greetings to all who are in India. It is not terribly cold here, but it is cold. I wish you all the very best on Guru Pūrṇimā. Hari Om. Host: So that was his second life lecture. And the first one was in the morning. Welcome to all the bhaktas from various places around the world. I would suggest one thing to you. Those sitting all the way at the back, almost on the hill, please come forward here. If you want, those sitting all the way at the back, please come forward if you wish, because you are about 100 meters away from us. But if you want to stay there, that is perfectly fine. Welcome the blessings of Śrī Mahāprabhujī to you all there. And also to all the bhaktas and spiritual seekers who are with us through the webcast around the world. What should a devotee do on the day of Guru Pūrṇimā? And what does it mean? Sādhvī Ānandī from Zagreb explained it very beautifully. It is said that every day is a golden day. For bhakti and for the world, every day is golden. All seven days of the week are sacred days. All thirty days of the month are festivals. So sadā, dīvālī, sant ke, tī, som, vār, te, vār. Gurujī used to say, sadā, dīvālī, sant ke. Sant is a saint, one who is spiritual. Devotees, and Dīvālī is a celebration of happiness, a celebration of light, similar to what Christmas represents here in the West. For a saint or a spiritual person, it is as if every day were Christmas, as if every day were Dīvālī. Christmas is actually the same festival as Dīvālī. All seven days of the week are also a celebration; they are sacred days. But on the other hand, it is also said that no two days are the same. In Indian history, in the annals, there was a couple, a king and a queen, when the king married off his son. That young woman came to the wedding ceremony and made a vow: "I will marry, but the purpose of my union is only one: the soul that enters into my womb, any soul I give birth to in this world, so my fundamental duty, my dharma as a mother, is to give these souls Brahmajñāna; that is the way to nurture them, so that they never have to be born again, so that they may be forever liberated from the cycle of birth and death." Her name was Mahārāṇīmā Madālasā. It is said that every mother should be like Mahārāṇī Madālasā. When she conceived the child, the soul, she spoke every day to that unborn little one. She tells him, "You are pure Ātman. You are Sat-Chit-Ānanda. Sat means truth. Chit is pure consciousness. Ānanda is supreme bliss. You do not come into this world to suffer. You come into this world as one who is liberated and as one who liberates. It does not concern you, neither birth nor death." This is what the entire philosophy of Vedānta states. For nine months, she continuously prayed and spoke to the unborn child. That is why it is called the mother tongue. That is why the child is more connected to the mother. The mother nourishes the child with her own blood, with her own body. When the child was born, they constantly reminded him that he is Sat-Chit-Ānanda, supreme bliss. The realized Ātman is untouched by both birth and death. "You are the light of the universe. You are Brahman." And so on. When that child was 10-15 years old, they had already attained Brahmajñāna, self-realization. Then she told him, "Now you can go into the forest." And so she sent all her children into the forest, and they lived there as great saints. When the last child was born, the king said to the queen, "Madālasā, I believe the time has now come for us to go into the forest, to renounce this world and this kingdom. So please, give him such an upbringing that our child could take on our responsibilities, to be our successor." And so she taught him. She taught him Brahmajñāna, and at the same time, she taught him politics, how to rule the kingdom. "He does not have just one family, one or two children. All who live in his kingdom are like his children, and it is necessary to treat them as if they were your own children." And so she taught him. When he was still quite young, 15 or 16 years old, the king said, "The time has come; we shall renounce everything and go into the forest." The queen said to that son, "Now it is all upon you. I have taught you everything, I have given you everything, and now you should know what to do." The son said to his mother, the young man said, "Mother, if I ever want to ask you something, where will you live? Where can I find you?" And she asks, "What would you like to tell me, what would you like to ask?" "For example, I might want to tell you that I am happy, or on the contrary, what troubles me." And she answered him, "Happiness and unhappiness are only a matter of mindset. But I will give you my address. You will find everything there." She gave him, gifted him a ring. Inside that ring was engraved: "This too shall pass." She gave it to him, saying, "My address is there, and all the answers to your questions are there." She handed him the ring in a beautiful box, and he put it away. One day, he was feeling a bit unhappy and wanted to confide in his mother. So he opened the box, took out the ring, and read what was inside: "This too shall pass." Do not worry. You will not be unhappy forever. That will pass. And once he was very happy, and throughout the kingdom people rejoiced, and he wanted to know if his mother should have known. It occurred to him that his parents, both mother and father, should know about it. And again he looked into the ring: "This too shall pass." In life, many things come and go. Be merely a witness, a witness to all situations. But remain steadfast. You should remain steadfast and faithful and practice. We should be above happiness and unhappiness, and we should be ready for service, for the conclusion. There are two types of karma: Sakāma and Niṣkāma. When you do something for yourself or just for your family, that is sakāma karma. That means selfish. You are merely fulfilling your own obligations, and of course, you should fulfill that. The second is Niṣkāma. This happens when you see the whole world as your family, and when you seek an opportunity where you can dedicate yourself to sevā. That means serving in an āśrama, or in a temple, or working, for example, for some non-profit organization. So the idea behind non-profit organizations is Niṣkāma Sevā. Be part of the āśrama, be part of your center, and honor yourselves. Take it that Gurudev and Bhagavān have chosen you, have elected you, and accept your sevā, that you are becoming a part of it, and take responsibility for what you do. If you decide on something and then change your mind, thus you interrupt your development. In the history of humanity, in the annals of mankind, there are many stories. There is also a beautiful story about a king, or let us say about a family, which need not even be royal. That story is very long. One father married his daughter to a peacock. Do you understand? And she accepted it. The children are obedient. There are three kinds of children: the best children, the middle children, and the worst children. And the same goes for students. So she accepted it and went after the peacock. At night, the peacock would always fly up to some branch on the tree, and she would spend the night beneath the tree. You never know where the peacock will decide to fly, and so its life unfolds from that. One day God appeared and said to her, "My child, I am so happy that you are so faithful, that you are obedient, and for your practice, for your sādhanā, for your ability to renounce. You were a princess and had to give up all comfort, and you went to the peacock." And He blessed the peacock and blessed her. From the peacock, a suddenly beautiful person stood. And even God blessed him so that he immediately gained the kingdom. And she was overjoyed. But that was still not enough. That was not yet the end of the trials in her life. You never know when God is testing you. Therefore, it is said, when difficult times come, be happy, because God is testing us. Now He is watching us. He is with us now. When you are very happy, be sure that God has work elsewhere. They were immortal when it was very long ago. Yet we still remember them, and to him as well. That king was named Mṛdaṅgarāja, like a proud king. He had two saṅkalpas. The first was that he would not eat if he did not see the sun. First, he performs pūjā to the sun. For both, it was a promise. First, he performs a prayer with water to the sun. In the video from Kumbhamelā, you saw it, or directly when you were at the Gaṅgā, that people would collect water from the Gaṅgā into such vessels and then offer it, letting it flow out. Or they would take water into their palms and offer it. It is called Arghya. It is a prayer in which you offer water to the sun, the sun god. It is called Abhiṣeka. But that can only be done when you see the sun. And what if there is a monsoon? Sometimes they could not eat for ten or fifteen days because it was overcast the entire time. So the soldiers and various people waited, perhaps far away. They rode through the kingdom on horses, searching for where the sun would shine, so they could quickly inform the king that the sun was shining there, allowing the ceremony to begin and then be completed. Then he invites a sādhū and witnesses to the meal. And it was not easy at all to find a sādhū for every day, and not just anyone who happens to be at hand. They could keep many of them in the palace. There were sādhūs who were in the palace and received food every day. And so these two saṅkalpas. And it is said that saṅkalpa must not be broken. When you commit to something, when you make a promise, yes should mean yes. Today, in our modern civilization, people have no idea what yes means and what no means. Every day we change our opinions. And that is why we are neither here nor there. So there was a monsoon. After ten or fifteen days, the sun came out, and the king and queen immediately went to perform the water ceremony to honor the sun. At that moment, a sādhū happened to be passing by, and the soldiers quickly reported to the king that a saint was approaching. The king said thank you and invited him to share a meal. The sādhū, of course, said, "I have my lion or tiger with me, and it also needs to be fed." The king said, "Yes, please come in." So they gave food to the sādhū, but the sādhū said, "First my tiger must eat." And they asked him, "Well, so what will you have to eat?" The sādhū said, "Your own child." And they said, "But unfortunately, we have no children." And the sādhū said, "Yes indeed, your wife is pregnant, she is in the sixth month." So in the multitude? And they really did it. There were two stories. They had two things: they already had a child, about three or four years old, and they let him be killed. And the sādhū then said, "But that is still not enough for my tiger." And they said, "But that is the only child we have. Or we had." And so she had to have a miscarriage. Only then did the sādhū eat his meal. Before he left, it was time for the dakṣiṇā, some gift for him, so they brought him money and some clothes. And he said, "No. Only your children can give me dakṣiṇā." And they said this with their hands raised in reverence: "You know what happened. And that is why we are giving it to you." That elder said no. "Call those children." She had tears in her eyes. And the sādhū said, "Call." With tears in her eyes and a constricted throat, she called the name of that child. And the child ran over and called out, "Mother, what do you want now?" "Please, give this to the Sādhū." And the Sādhū further asked, "Why are you unhappy? You can be unhappy. You have a child, that is your child, isn’t it? And so, don’t complain and say you don’t have a child, because you do. That is indeed your child, isn’t it? And you have one more, because you are pregnant, you are six months along." And she touched her belly and realized that she was indeed pregnant again. Then the person who looked like a sādhū transformed and revealed himself in his divine form and said, "Daughter, my child, you will forever have a place in heaven, in Brahmaloka. As long as the sun and the moon exist, people will not forget you, and you will be an example of a true mother and wife for them." It was all just a play of māyā. So that was how it was back then. That’s how people were; we wouldn’t understand it. If we invited someone to a meal, and they behaved like this, we would say, "Get out of here," or we would call the police. And if the police came, we would say, "Here is some madman." And God would quickly disappear. What do I want to say now? Every situation we encounter in life is a kind of test. And the conditions in which God sustains us, we should accept, because there is nothing we can do about it anyway. People seek; they are trying to find an opportunity for sevā. And that is the true, the right thing you can do. And people are waiting for the moment when they will be able to do such work. "When your tenth vision is fulfilled, may my humble service be accepted, may you listen to the lamp’s burning sound, and grant your grace to me a hundredfold." Holī Gurujī said, "Lord, if You do not accept my direct sevā towards You, I can also serve Your servants. And when I serve Your servants or Your bhaktas, please, accept my sevā wholeheartedly." This is the kind of mindset we should have. Do not say, "No, I do not like this. And these, I do not like these disciples, and they are selfish and behave in this selfish way." Who are you to judge anyone? And if someone makes a mistake, that was a blessing for you. And it is a test to see if you can understand the person who made a mistake and forgive him. Mahātmā Gandhijī said, "What we hate is not the sinner. We hate the sin, but not the sinner. We are troubled by mistakes, but not by those who make them." And if you think, the greatest mistake is that you create aggression within yourselves. Within yourselves, you create obstacles. You are creating rejection, refusal. You are creating inner restlessness. And you create hatred within yourselves. You create inner conflict, and you create enemies within yourselves. One person made a mistake, but how much have you caused by taking it as a mistake? The one who made that mistake will suffer less, but you will suffer a thousand times more. Therefore, it is better to understand each person’s situation. Everyone needs love. When you need love, do not think that others are any different. In India, we say, when your belly is full, that does not mean that everyone else is full as well. Some may be hungry. So, feed the others as well. When we satisfy our ego, then we say to ourselves, we are the best. And it is said that not every day is the same; every day is different for ordinary people. Since everything changes, it goes up and down. Understand it this way: every day is a golden day for those who are maunī, for those who are completely surrendered, and for the saints. Then all days are sacred. And from time to time, some great festival reminds us to be happy, so that we may forgive ourselves for various misunderstandings, and once again establish love, friendship, and kindness, so that you may regain humility once again. When someone comes to greet you, do not grimace. Or when he asks you something, you just answer him half-heartedly. Well, we don’t have that. I know you don’t have it, but you can say it like this, for example: "We are sorry that we do not have it, but we will try to arrange it somehow." Like the story of the man who lived in a small house with his wife, and in the middle of a cold winter, two men and a donkey and many other visitors arrived. That little house was five square meters. And in the end, that man had to leave the house so that another man could enter. So what is impossible? Everything is possible. And if there truly is no possibility at all, then kind words cost you very little. Kind, sweet words. So, say to yourself a good saṅkalpa, which you can adjust so that it is not too difficult to fulfill again. I wish you all the very best and the blessings of Śrī Alakhpurījī Siddha Pīṭha on the occasion of this Guru Pūrṇimā. All the best for all our guru-brothers and guru-sisters internationally. It will be tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock European time in the Czech Republic. All the best. Bless you on Guru Pūrṇimā. Om śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. May all be happy, may all be free from illness, may all see what is auspicious, may no one be unfortunate. Om śāntiḥ.