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Part 1: The Essence of Prayer and Inner Strength Today is Guruvar, the day of the Guru, associated with Jupiter. On this day, there is special spiritual support for everyone. Who said, "Whose guru is strong, other planets do not have such negative influence?" Furthermore, Jupiter is located in our palm at the root of the index finger. So when you open your palms like this, automatically the index finger should be higher, a little higher than the other fingers. So, look how it is. Everyone, look. Is your guru strong? Yes. Both in the hand and on the podium. That’s it. Well, now we come again to these programs for our life, for our success: physical, mental, social, spiritual. And it all depends very, very much on your mental work, how you work and how you surrender your mind. A person who can pray—only that one can pray who is completely surrendering from the heart. It is easy to kneel down, but it is hard to surrender the heart. Everyone can see your knee, how you are bending or not, if you are gritting or not. But how should we know if your heart is really surrendering? Your mental attitude. So, if you practice mantra, any kind of mantra, any kind of ceremony, then you have to put your confidence, your faith in that purpose, or that object, or that God, or mantra, or whatever it is. We are practicing these different mantras for what? To get the help. Do we need help? Can we do it ourselves? Yes. If you can do it yourself, then do it. And if you can’t do it, then pray. Why? Why should you pray? There is someone or something that is higher than you, stronger than you, mightier than you, and therefore you can only please, you cannot order. You are not a boss, but you are the one who needs the help, and the other one is a helper. So, if you need something, then you have to raise your hands in the front, stretch your hands like this, not like that. Like that, only one can have a hand that gives to you. So, God gives us that mantra, and therefore we have folded hands. Within our folded hands is our heart, our request, everything. And then you pray with this mudrā, prārthanā mudrā, prayer mudrā, and then God gives everything into your hands. Means your faith, your destiny, it changes here on your palm. If there is a negative prediction of your future destiny, and if you pray, then that will be changed. Only your prayer and God can change it, nobody else. Therefore, anything to anyone, either to a human, to Mother Nature, or to God, if you need something, then you should be humble. So, to take something with humbleness has beauty, has good fruits, and has harmony and relation. To take something—oh, there is another way too. You go with the pistol and say, "Give it to me." Okay, that person will give you, but the relation, the fruits, everything will be opposite. Not pleasant, not good. So prayer, prayer is a form of the love that you accept and you ask for. So when there is a prayer from the heart, your love from the heart, then the giver also has that love and is happy to give to you, and you are also happy to receive. So there is an exchange of mutual understanding, love, harmony, or peace. At that time, all the barriers disappear. There is only you and God, or you and the person from whom you ask something. If conflict arrives, negative thoughts arise, confidence is lost, and faith is lost, then slowly, slowly, it becomes a distance. You have seen many times, definitely, some kind of documentary film about the glaciers, about the snow, ice mountains, and ice rocks on the water, on the ocean. And then, due to this climate change or in the summer, it melts, and one after another, ice rock which is floating on the water has a little crack. And you see, you are standing there, easily you can go from one rock to the other rock, because there is a small distance. But slowly, slowly, due to time, hours or days, there is more and more distance. Now you are standing on one rock, and the other one is on another rock; you cannot go there. So you lost the communication, you lost the connection, you lost that relation, you lost that opportunity. Similarly, between us and God, there should be no doubts, no distance. And don’t pray to God only when you need something. That is very selfish. It is said: "Dukh Mein Sumiran Sab Kare, Sukh Mein Kare Na Koi, Jo Sukh Mein Sumiran Kare, Dukh Kāya Kā Hoi." "Dukh Mein Sumiran Sab Kare"—when there is a problem, everyone is praying. Everyone remembers God, everyone remembers Mahāprabhujī, "Please help," and Devpurījī help, and Gurujī help, and so on. When we are in difficulty, and when the thing is done, you don’t even remember it anymore. The student goes to school and says, "Please, God, help me with my examination." And when the examination is finished, even you don’t say, "Thank you, God." Immediately, you forget. Dukhme sumiran sab kare, when the troubles are there, everyone is praying and remembering God. Sukhme kare na koi, but when you are happy and comfortable and everything is best, you don’t remember God, you don’t pray. Sukhme śumiran jo kare. But those who are praying in this happiness situation also, dukha kāye ka hoi? Then why should trouble come to you more? So we are very selfish. As long as we need, and then we just quit it. A hungry person, very, very hungry, goes to the self-service restaurant, takes the plate, and, you know, the eyes are more hungry than the stomach, and you take so much on the plate. And then his stomach is full. Without feeling, you just throw it away, but it remains on the plate. You see, the food says, "How is this selfish?" This person first came hungry and, with great love, took it from me. And now his stomach is full, and he doesn’t even care. He just throws it away. So that we should not do. We should realize and understand the value of that. If you do like this in your life, your many, many problems will disappear. The problems which we have in the world. And that’s how, the way that one can help oneself. Now, similarly, there is a morning ceremony and an evening ceremony for yourself. For yourself, with prayer, with mantra. In the Upaniṣad, there is a mantra for this, and that is you are praying, "Lord, all my limbs should be healthy." Many people have problems in the knees, ankle joints, toes, hip joints, back pain, and neck pain. Did you ever sit down and say, "God, please remove this pain from me?" We go to the orthopedic doctor, and in the waiting room we are waiting half an hour, 40 minutes, till the doctor gets time to call us. We are waiting there, but did you pray at this time, waiting room time? Close your eyes and pray, or at home? We have forgotten this. In ancient times, there was more prayer than any remedy. By accepting it, one realizes one’s mistake. What I did wrong, what I was eating wrong, how unhealthy I was leading my life—only by realizing this, half the problems will go away, and I will accept. So, all my limbs should be healthy. And there, by doing abhiṣeka, you do to your hands, to your legs, to your heart, my organs, this organ, that organ. For this I offer my prayer to Thee, O Lord, in Saṅkalpa. My mind should not be attacked by negative blackmailing. Protect me, Lord. My mind should always have good, positive thoughts to protect myself and protect others also. Try to protect others. Protection in protecting is a protection. Sometimes they write on the road, in India mostly, here in Europe I didn’t see, in Europe it is saying, "Alcohol kills." This is true. Even if you don’t drive, it kills you. But there is a written protection for the drivers, a protection. So you should not make an accident, because if you make an accident, you kill someone, but also you are killed. So, protecting others is also a positive act that will reflect on your body, on your mind, on your psychic. Many people have fear, a fear without any reason, a fear indescribable. You don’t know why. If you know that you have fear from one mouse, then you will close the mouse in a cage. Be afraid, but fear is so deep. Without your will, it comes out. So only that person knows how a person is suffering, how terrible it is, how bad it is, how unpleasant it is, how painful it is, to have such anxiety without knowing any reason. If we know, we can remove, but we don’t know. Now, how to overcome that kind of fear? And that is your mantra and your pūjā. Why? Because that will build in you a strong willpower, a strength so that suddenly the fear will disappear. So you have to build a strong energy in you, and that is not through some nourishment. Nourishment is too weak for that. Don’t think that now you will eat many vitamins, so fear will disappear. Yes, vitamins are very good, and certain diseases and difficulties can disappear physically. But fear is something indescribable, and we cannot describe it because we don’t know. Now, we will say it is psychic. It is very easy for us to say, psychologically, you have some fear. But what is that psychic? That also, nobody tells us. So, things which you don’t know are psychic, but reality only God knows. And that reality is already written on your palms, in your book of destiny. And that only God can do. So, pray, give your trust into His hands. And therefore it is said in bhajan: Sanbhae raho niśaṅkā, kabhī mātā dhāraṇā tum nirbhae rahā. Due to certain conflicts, even in the house, disturbances come. That disturbing energy attacks the family, attacks the family members. And what happens? It creates disharmony between people. Parents to children, children to parents, partner to partners, grandparents to parents, and so on. And you don’t understand why. Why my child doesn’t follow me? Why is my child taking drugs? Why does this happen? Yes, why? That is a very good question, why? But the answer is there. It began a conflict that you people had no self-confidence. We are always thinking negatively. Mentally thinking self-suggestion, you know, that technique was very famous a long time ago. Now it has slowly, slowly become less, but before 20 years, 30 years, it was very much used, auto-suggestion training. Now it is also, but it is not so famous. These are the waves coming and going, many systems, but there are certain systems which are solid and steady; there is no flexion. So, according to that, autosuggestion training, you are giving suggestion to yourself, that is developed from yoga nidrā, and saṅkalpa from yoga nidrā which you make, that was. The Otokani training is more concentrated and developed by one yoga teacher, and he was from Paris, from France. Maybe he is living or not. And he was a disciple of Swami Śivānandajī of Ṛṣīkeśa, and after, he turned opposite, and like many, many things. So the end was not so good. Anyhow, whatever you think, it has an influence on you. And therefore, you should always think positive. If you think negatively that it will happen with my family, it will happen with my family, then you are blackmailing. And it will happen, and therefore it is said, always pray to God. It will happen. It will happen for what you pray to God; it will bring positive energy. So there is a very simple example. For example, about 20 years ago, one Austrian young lady went with me to India. We were a group of 25-30 people. And we had lunch somewhere, they invited us, the Indians. So one of our group, one lady, she went to the kitchen because she wanted to learn how the Indians are cooking, and would like to learn Indian cooking. And you know, when the ladies are together, what are they talking about? The old person is still not married, so they automatically think there must be something wrong. Yes, maybe family is not good, or family history is not good. You know, my God, what kind of parents you have, that they were not able to marry you. It reflects on the parents. Yes, it is. Now, maybe people—nobody will concentrate and think on this—but still, in certain countries, there is... You are an outer person in society when you are already so old and still not married. There must be something wrong. Now, many are fighting to get an official, legal status so that they can marry, you know, like gay marriage. So when you are 30 or 40 and still not married, then they think in that direction. Yes, it doesn’t matter if you have ladies, then they think in that direction. Part 2: The Duty of Parents and the Power of Prayer Or you say, "I am a sādhvī or sannyāsī, and I don’t want to marry." This is also a very good way to come out, a very good way. So she said, "What? I am surprised you are still not married? What are your parents doing?" Because it is the duty of the parents to make a happy life for the children. One, education, marriage, family, stabilizing everything, and then the parents’ duty is finished. Then it’s called Vānaprastha Āśrama. Your parents don’t care about it? She said, "No, I had many friends," and she was cooking the Mahāprabhujī soup, the Indian lady, you know. Please, can you tell me once more? Meanwhile, the soup went out because... She said, "Yes, I had many friends and..." So she asked, "Then why didn’t you marry? You could have married your first friend." She said, "Yes, it’s not so easy." He said, "What? Why? Then why did you have a friend?" You see, I had many friends, but I’m not sure if this friend will, if I marry him, he will stay lifelong with me. If he divorces after two or three years, then what? And then again, the Indian lady said, "My dear, you are still not married, and you are thinking about divorce." So this is a difference between modern relations and civilization, modern society and the ancient, old, solid societies. Though there is more emancipation and freedom for both men and women, now you will see that 80% have more problems than if they were following the old systems. No parent wants you to be unhappy. No parent wants you to have an unhappy marriage like this. But now, you don’t care, and you don’t follow your parents. So, this is all like, look, we are thinking that even if you are not married, you are already thinking about this. So, even you are not finished with your prayers, and you are saying, "Maybe it will not help me. I am praying, but maybe it will not help me." So, your doubts, your conflict, your fear that you have no trust and you cannot do this ceremony at home, that reflects on the family automatically, and it separates and spoils the beautiful situation. So it is the duty of the parents to do this and give this culture, or this beautiful wisdom, to the children. Don’t think that children will learn outside how to pray and this and that. Yes, they are very rare children, lucky ones, fortunate ones, and blessed ones, that they will somehow come to know this outside. But how many times will they be disappointed, suffering, unhappy, and so on? And then they will come to again, somebody will say, you know, there is a God and prayers and this. But if you, as parents, give this wisdom to your children, they will be very happy. They will have such a trust and love in divine power, in God. It doesn’t matter which God you believe in. I am not saying that you should only do this one. Then the children will be able to help themselves, and they will think before doing something stupid. So, you as a parent should be an example. They will first follow your footsteps. So, what you should do and what you should not do, and how you should explain to your children. This is a family ceremony. Then you will have no problem with the children. Otherwise, your children will go to the wrong place. Who cares about your children? When your daughter is 12 or 13 years old and already going to the disco or somewhere, who cares about this young child? Nobody, very rarely, will think, "Oh, this is a very young child." Very rare, one will think of your son. Nobody will think, "Oh, he is a nice young boy," you know. They all will begin to think, "Say, come on, and give some kind of injection, and try, try, in the drink, try." So, these children who are running out, it is a mistake on both sides. The parents are not capable of giving them something, and, of course, neither is the outer society. So, both are mistakes. So, these beautiful flowers, your children, should be taken care of very, very carefully. This joy, this happiness which you have, a beautiful flower child, should not one day become the subject of your suffering. Many mothers, many fathers, parents, grandparents, they are not happy with how their children are abusing drugs and what happens to them. So, if you want to have a child, then first your prayer should be that you will give a very nice, happy, positive, spiritual life. And that will be a healing power on this planet. The healing, planet healing programs, how to heal this planet, and that’s only through the prayers. And whoever will pray and understand will not do wrong to the mother earth, will not do wrong to the water, to the forest, to the vegetation, and so on. So one thing can correct everything. So we come to this Gurujī’s slogan: one in all, and all in one. So, we finally have to come to this point. There is no way out. Day by day, getting complications. Therefore, prayer. Asato mā sadgamaya. You know, where alone, just you chant, "Lord, lead us from unreality to reality." Asato mā sadgamaya. Each and every cell of our body is happy. You know, like someone is pushing you to the reality, to the truth, to the light. Along this sound, this resonance, of course, one has to understand the language. And the same can be in other languages too. All languages are good languages, the language that we have a love inside. The words which have love inside, and the words which have conflict and doubt and no trust and skepticism, then you are creating, you destroy the whole family, the whole society, everything. I know many have these problems, and maybe someone who is listening to this will be a little bit angry or sad, or will say, "Today, Swāmījī, you made my very sensitive wound open again." But that is not a sensitive wound. God, God heals the wound. God doesn’t create the wound. So any language you speak, it’s beautiful. Maybe it’s only a few words. You know, in Arabian countries, how many times through the mosque loudspeaker, they make a beautiful prayer. I don’t know which words they are talking about, but he said, "Nāda." And everyone knows it’s a prayer. And there are certain countries where, when they are chanting this prayer, you stand where you are. It’s great, or you pray, "How great." And if we will do here today in Hungary, in Vip, and somebody will speak through loud, "Asato Mā Sadgamaya," my God, the sect, this is the sect, you know. So, you lost it. You lost the relation to God. How far will you run away? How long will you escape? It’s like that someone is running and running to hide. They did not come into the hands of the ghost, Dracula. But he said, "How long will you run?" You go to this corner, he is already on the other side. How long? So, every language in God’s name is great. It’s great. It understands only humans, not others. But it is said that when certain prayers are done, even the birds and the flowers are happy. Make an experiment and make your mantra and prayer in your garden or near your room flowers, and see every day how happy they are, and then how happy it is. It influences everything. So, in the home, asato mā sadgamaya chanting, it means all negative energy should disappear, O Lord. It has an effect on your body, on your mind, on your psyche, on your children, on your parents, and even on furniture, on your walls and curtains; everywhere this resonance is, how to call it, stored or recorded. Lord, lead me, or lead us, from the darkness of ignorance to the light of truth. That light of self-realization, that light of a healthy life. Health is a light; illness is a darkness. So many things we can influence in our house, in our body. And that’s why the ceremonies and mantras are created by those great saints for the benefit of humankind, as well as the environment. Finally, because we all have a fear of death, we know that we will go one day, that’s for sure. Though we know, we don’t want that. Nothing is greater than the fear of death. And whatever we are doing, all is a prevention so that we will not die. Whatever we are creating, the comfortable thing is that we think we will enjoy and live long, but who knows? Who knows? Expectation can lead to disappointment. There is a little story from the Croatian coast. There was a farmer high up in the mountains who had a few nice olive trees. And the lady used to tell her husband, "This year we have good olives, and you know we will enjoy our olive oil." And he said, "Well, we will see." And every third day, time to time, she used to tell him, "Oh, we will have the best oil of our area." He said, "We will see." And then she was angry. "You are negative. Always, you are negative. Can you think a little positive?" He said we will see. Now the olive became big and ripe, a time for harvesting, and he and she, they were plucking the olives from the tree, and she said, "Now Igor," his name was Igor, not Igo, but Igor, "please Igor, don’t be angry with me, okay?" He is sitting and saying. This, you can tell me another name, okay. "Nice oil. We will enjoy nice olive oil." And he said, "Who knows? Oh God!" The lady was angry. Sometimes she didn’t talk with him for two or three days. Olives came, and they took olives to the mill where they pressed the oil out. And she said, "You see, now you were always saying, 'We will see, we will see,' but you see, we have our oil." He said, "Yes, I know, but who knows how we will enjoy." All the time, they had ceramic pots to carry the oil. And, all in all, they pressed oil out from these olives. It was about 8 to 10 liters. That was all. And a beautiful, nice pot, a ceramic pot, she was carrying proudly. And she was looking at him. "We have the holy oil. I tell you, today we will have a nice salad and this and that, we will enjoy." He said, "I hope." Because they were living on this coast, and you know, the Croatian coast, it has its stones also, which are good and not, and this is comfortable. And they came home, and she put the pot on the veranda. Because it was summer, a nice season, and she said, "Now we will make a salad and we will enjoy the oil." And he said, "I hope that you are a negative person." So she made a salad, and, you know, she was so happy, and she wanted to show her husband that she was right. And she took this pot to fill the oil into the other pot. And what happened? Because the pot was oily, it fell down. On the ground, there was a rock, and all the oil was in the sand. The poor lady was very unhappy. She was already crying. And Igor said, "Maria, I told you." And this is how you can make your expectations. But sometimes your expectation can be your disappointment. And therefore, you have to trust in God. God can do it. So let it come, whatever comes to us. So the fear of death, everyone has that. But sooner or later, everyone will go. And therefore, constantly it is said, we don’t celebrate birthdays, but we celebrate the death. Because that is the day when you came to reality again. From unreality to reality, you come to immortality. Something beautiful. But that we have to realize through our attitude, positive attitude, through our prayers, the ceremonies, meditations, and so on and so on. And so, this mantra, when you chant before meditation or after meditation, then with such a feeling, "Asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya." So when that home quarreling is there, some kind of dispute is there in the family, then you chant inwardly, you can chant even inwardly, Asato mā Sadgamaya. Immediately in the air, they are with the waves of happiness, and it will touch their brain also, which is in conflict. They will be solving the conflict. It is a science. It is a truth. So prayer is the only remedy that can heal the earth. And my prayer, and your prayers, and their prayers, everyone’s prayers are the prayers. Nothing else. It does not matter through which mouth, which language, or through which medium you pray to God; it is a prayer. And therefore, let us pray without conflict of religion, culture, nations, and so on. That will help us very, very much. Wish you all the best, and the next webcast will be at 7:45 in the evening. AM, PM, sorry, and I wish you a very nice Anuṣṭhāna, Kṛyā Anuṣṭhāna, and other programs. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānakī, Devī Svaramadī, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavānakī, Sanātana.