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We begin with a prayer to Gaṇeśa. The meaning of this Sanskrit śloka is: if we pray at the outset of any undertaking to the one who wears the entire sky as his umbrella, who is eternally young, who has four arms, and whose face is always pleasant and smiling, then all obstacles in our path will vanish. Next, we pray to the holy lineage of Gurus. This lineage was initiated at the beginning of time by Lord Śiva, sustained and developed in the middle period by Jagat Guru Śaṅkarācārya, and is now present in our Satguru Śrī Māheśvarānandajī. The entire grace of this lineage—flowing from Lord Śiva, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, Śrī Alagpurījī, Śrī Devpurījī, Śrī Mahāprabhujī, Śrī Holy Gurujī, and Swamijī—is available at the feet of our Sadguru, Śrī Maheśvarānandajī. Our salutations to this holy lineage which helps all humanity. We then pray to our Sadguru. The Guru is the creator, Brahmā; he is the sustainer, Viṣṇu; and he is the dissolver of the cosmos at the end of a Yuga, Maheśvara or Lord Śiva. The Guru is Saguṇa Brahman (Brahman with form and name), and he is Brahman itself. Our salutations to the Sadguru who has come to save us. As mentioned, this lineage was started by Lord Śiva and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, who walked the earth about 1200 years ago. He established a strong tradition of Sanātana Dharma. He took Sannyāsa at the age of seven, was a master of Sanskrit, and authored numerous texts, prayers, and verses in that holy language. Though his earthly life was brief—only about 32 years—in that time he traversed all of India three times on foot and established four maṭhas (religious institutions), each representing one of the four Vedas: Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva. His mastery of Sanskrit was unmatchable, and he established the principle of Advaita, or non-duality. Sanskrit is a supremely important and holy language. Another name for it is Devanāgarī, meaning "the citizens of heaven." These citizens are not elsewhere; they reside within us. As Swamijī explains in his book The Hidden Power in Humans, there are eight principal chakras in our body, each with a principal mantra and an upa-mantra. All fifty Sanskrit alphabets are represented across these chakras: four in Mūlādhāra, six in Svādhiṣṭhāna, ten in Maṇipūra, twelve in Anāhata, sixteen in Viśuddhi, and two in the Ājñā chakra. Therefore, learning and reciting Sanskrit verses has a profoundly beneficial effect, cleansing our inner being. When Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was around 30 or 31, it became apparent to his disciples that he would not live long. Distressed, they approached him and asked, "Ācārya, how will we live without you? What will guide us and provide wisdom and light once you have departed? Please tell us how we can carry on." Out of compassion, Śaṅkarācāryajī composed the prayer known as the Guru Pādukā Stotram. Pādukā means sandals, and stotram means prayer—a prayer to the holy sandals of the Guru. Of its nine Sanskrit verses, all possess deep and energizing meaning. Let us examine three of them. The first verse conveys: "Salutations to the holy sandals of the Guru. These sandals help us cross the endless ocean of repeated births and deaths (saṃsāra)." Anta means end; ananta means endless. To cross this endless cycle of transmigration, these holy sandals serve as a boat. They bestow two vital attributes: Guru Bhakti (devotion to the Guru) and an empire. Śaṅkara, a renunciant, was not interested in worldly empires. The empire he refers to is that of Vairāgya, or dispassion. An emperor possesses land, wealth, cattle, and buildings. A person with dispassion has no interest in anything temporary—not the senses, nor houses, nor cattle. From Śaṅkara's perspective, the person who possesses all physical things and the person who has no interest in them are equal. This is the empire of Vairāgya granted by the Guru's sandals, and they are worthy of our worship. The second verse is: Pāpāndha-kāraka-paramparābhyāṁ tapaḥ-prayāhiṁdra-khageśvarābhyāṁ, jāta-vyādhi-saṁśoṣaṇāvadātabhyāṁ namo śrī-guru-pādukābhyām. This beautiful verse is rich in meaning. In our transmigration from one body to another—this cycle of saṃsāra—we must understand what saṃsāra truly is. The basic tenet is rebirth. The soul enters a mother's body, beginning a cycle: the body grows from a child to a toddler, youth, teenager, middle age, and finally dies. After death, the bodiless soul rests or enjoys the fruits of its good deeds (puṇya) on another plane of existence. However, as Swamijī explains, this is like a short stay in a hotel. Once the merit is exhausted, as the Bhagavad Gītā states, one must return to the mortal world. This cycle, from entering one body to leaving it and entering another, is endless. The holy sandals of the Guru help us stop this cycle, reaching a stage where we need not take another body. Ādi Śaṅkara is saying that even after he is gone, his sandals alone can deliver and grant realization. In this verse, he states that during our innumerable births, we accumulate good and bad deeds (karma), which create our next body. The Guru's sandals aid us in this process. Śaṅkarācārya specifically mentions the three tapas or forces that afflict us, which Swamijī discusses in The Hidden Power in Humans: Ādhyātmika, Ādhibhautika, and Ādidaivika. Ādidaivika forces originate from celestial entities; Ādhibhautika forces come from other planets and systems; Ādhyātmika forces are vibrations from the tattvas (the basic properties of the physical world). Only the Guru's grace can remove the bad effects of these three fires. In the latter part of the verse, Śaṅkarācārya says, "Jāḍya abdī, saṁśoṣaṇa vāda vādya." Jadya means delusion; abdhi means ocean. We live in an ocean of delusion. Swamijī explains this delusion is caused by three factors: Mala (impurities in our antaḥkaraṇa, or inner instrument), associated with chitta; Vikṣepa (disturbances and distractions), associated with our restless, rājasic mind; and Āvaraṇa (a veil or curtain), associated with ahaṅkāra (ego), which blocks us from perceiving reality. Praying to the Guru's sandals can dry up this entire ocean of delusion. Thus, our salutations to them. The three tapas and their effects are also described in a bhajan by Achal Rāmjī: "Darśan jaldī denā, tṛptyāp ko bhujāne, darśan jaldī denā, itnā to kare nā Gurujī." Its meaning is: "Gurujī, please grant me this small favour: show me your form. Your form can reveal the entire form of Brahmā and can extinguish the three fires afflicting me. Please grant me your darśan." The sentiment of drying the ocean is beautifully expressed by Mīrābāī as well: "Bhava sāgar sab sukh gayo hai, chintā nahī̃ ab karhan kī." Bhava means "to become," referring to the cycle of taking one body after another. "This ocean of saṃsāra has dried up by the grace of the Guru's feet. Now I have no worry about crossing it." These sentiments, first expressed by Śrī Ādi Śaṅkara in Sanskrit, have been beautifully adapted into bhajans. The third verse we examine states: "Kāma is desire; kāmādi means desire, etc." Ādi Śaṅkara does not list them all but implies there are four. They are like snakes that constantly afflict us. The Guru's sandals act upon these four snakes like Garuḍa, the enemy of snakes. The four are kāma (desire), krodha (anger), mada (pride/ego), and lobha (greed). By praying to the sandals, we can rid ourselves of these. The sandals also grant positive qualities: Viveka (the discriminative ability to distinguish real from unreal) and Vairāgya (dispassion toward worldly things). These two are fundamental prerequisites for walking the path of self-realization. They grant Bodha Pradīpikā—Bodha meaning knowledge. Swamijī teaches there are two kinds of knowledge: Parāvidyā (worldly knowledge) and Aparāvidyā (knowledge beyond the worldly, which is constant and unchanging). Praying to the Guru's sandals instills this bodha, or realization. Śaṅkarācārya Jī elsewhere calls this ātmā bodha (self-knowledge or self-realization). It liberates us. Dṛta Mokṣa Dabhya: Dṛta means quickly; Mokṣa Dābhya means it grants mukti (liberation). Therefore, our salutations to the holy sandals of the Guru. These four afflictions (kāma, etc.) are also addressed in a joyful bhajan by Śrī Guru Nānak Jī: "Jana, kama, krodha, madha, lobha, nivāro, īrṣā, chodho, sant jana kahe na nakṣasuna, Bhagavanta kahe na nakṣasuna, Bhagavanta ye jad me nahi koi apna, teri viddhi umar kahe na madhina saman." Guru Nānak Jī says, "Avoid these four—desires, anger, pride, and greed—and give up your ego. In this world, nothing belongs to you." These are the exact words Mahāprabhujī also used to say: nothing belongs to you. These are the three verses sung by Ādi Śaṅkara. Let me recite all the Sanskrit verses together: Guru paramparāṁ guru brahmā guru viṣṇu guru devo maheśvara guru sākṣāt para brahma tasmai śrī gurave namaha. Oṁ śrī maheśvarānandāya namaha. Ananta saṁsāra samudra tāra lauka itābhyāṁ vairāgya-sāmrājyada-pūjanābhyāṁ namo mahā-śrī-gurupādukābhyāṁ. Āndhakārārka-paramparābhyāṁ tāpat-trayāhi-indra-khageśvarābhyāṁ khageśvarābhyāṁ jātyabdhi-saṁśoṣaṇavadavābhyāṁ namoḥ śrī-gurupādukābhyāṁ kāmādi-sarpa-vrajagaruḍābhyām. Śrī vairāgya nidhi pradābhyām, bodha pradābhyām, dhṛta mokṣa dābhyām, namo śrī gurupādukābhyām, namo śrī gurupādukābhyām... Thank you for watching.