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Part 1: The Illusory Deer and the Eternal Lineage Salutations to Cosmic Light and Holy Lineage. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. I am very happy to be here in Maroochydore once again. Yamuna spoke of enlightenment, so I came to the Gold Coast, the Sun Coast, to see the light, and it is beautiful. From time to time the sun appears, then a nice rain falls—it is very good. Today we are simply together as a family. There is a welcoming program, but whenever one comes home, there is a welcoming. For a sannyāsī, for a Swāmī who has renounced the world, the sky is his roof and the earth his bed, and the whole world is his family. That is called Vasudeva Kuṭumbakam: the entire world is my family. This is what every sannyāsī, every Swāmī, becomes when he comes to his disciples: he considers them as his own family members. So I am not a guest, nor a stranger. Though a sannyāsī, I must have some family, must I not? Because you have to renounce your own family so that you are no longer attached to one family. You should take all families as your own. Therefore, it is nice to be with you again and to see you all very happy. There is a long story in the holy book Rāmāyaṇa, the story of God Rāma. He had to go to the forest for fourteen years, and when he went, his wife Sītā also wanted to go with him. One of his four brothers, Lakṣmaṇa, went with him as well. The full account of why he had to leave is very long; I will tell it next time when I read from the book. They had to live in the forest, not entering any villages, not staying in the villages, and in this way tragedy came into the families. As you know, dynasties sometimes breed nasty things. That always happens when greed arises. Rāma’s stepmother wanted her own son to become king, not Rāma, because Rāma was the eldest brother. It was always the eldest who became king. Now we have democracy, which is good, but in those days there was no democracy. So the mother imposed certain conditions, and thus they survived. They stayed in the forest, and at that same time there was a king of Śrī Laṅkā named Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was known as a demon. He had studied deeply, was very wise, and possessed many siddhis, many powers. Yet he had only one weakness: his ego. Ego makes a man blind. When ego and greed come together, the heart turns to stone and the brain becomes a boiling substance, boiling with ego and greed. The whole family of Rāvaṇa had many siddhis, perfections as we call them, and his sister, too, had the same qualities. Once, she was flying—they had siddhis to fly, to dematerialize and materialize, just like in the Dracula story, where Dracula materializes in a room. She saw a beautiful young man guarding Rāma and Sītā. That young man was Lakṣmaṇa, the brother of God Rāma. She saw him, fell in love, and came to him. She changed her entire appearance and makeup, and she asked Lakṣmaṇa to marry her. He said, “I do not know you; I am seeing you for the first time, and besides, I am married. I do not wish to marry you.” She insisted, “You have to marry me,” and began forcing him. He replied, “No, I cannot, I will not.” Then she turned to Rāma and said, “I want to marry your brother.” Rāma answered, “I cannot decide. It is his personal matter whether he wants to marry or not; it is his choice.” Again she pressed, “No, I insist on this.” In doing so, she created a great, great problem for the three of them—Rāma, Sītā, and Lakṣmaṇa. Then she came forward to seize Lakṣmaṇa’s hand and take him away, and she even attempted to attack Rāma. She declared, “Then I will marry you.” At that moment, Lakṣmaṇa, who was a bodyguard, became angry. He took a sword and cut off her nose. Now, filled with rage, passion, disappointment, and ego, such a person is capable of anything. She went to her brother Rāvaṇa in Śrī Laṅkā and said, “Brother, look. These two boys in the forest, their parents sent them away, they have no one, and so forth. One of them cut off my nose.” Rāvaṇa was furious. “Who did it? I will pull them out like a carrot from the ground.” Rāvaṇa had another brother, who asked, “Brother, ask her why she went there.” Rāvaṇa said, “Aha, that is a good question. Why did you go there?” At that, she began to lie. “Brother, Rāma’s wife Sītā is so beautiful. I have never seen such a woman in the world, and I want her to marry you. You should go and take her as your wife.” Rāvaṇa said, “Aha, that is something good. I will do it.” But it was not easy to approach Rāma, nor to approach Lakṣmaṇa. They were divine. Rāvaṇa circled the hut again and again; he could not enter. He had an uncle, the brother of his mother, who also had the siddhi to change forms. Rāvaṇa went to him and said, “Uncle, you must do a favor for me.” The uncle asked, “What?” Rāvaṇa replied, “You must take the form of a golden deer and go before the hut where Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, and Sītā are staying. As we know, when a woman sees something beautiful, she will want to have that golden deer. This is the deer of illusion, the māyā. She will force Rāma to catch you, and as Rāma comes near, you must run far away, a few kilometers. Then I will go and kidnap Sītā.” The uncle said, “But Lakṣmaṇa is more powerful.” “Aha! After a few kilometers, you will disappear and then cry out, ‘Brother Lakṣmaṇa, come and help me! Brother Lakṣmaṇa, I am in trouble, come and help me!’ Lakṣmaṇa will go to aid Rāma, and in the meantime I will take this lady away. If you do not do this, I will cut off your head.” The uncle agreed and came. He stood before the hut, grazing, looking, and drawing near to Sītā. Sītā said to Rāma, “My dear, my lord, I want to have this beautiful golden deer.” Rāma said, “My dear, in this forest, what will we do with a golden deer? Let it be free here.” She insisted, “No, no, I want it.” Rāma knew what it was, but she persisted. “I know very well,” she said, “what the dharma of a husband is.” He asked, “You know, but tell me what it is?” She replied, “The dharma of the husband is to fulfill every wish of the wife.” He said, “In the middle of the forest, in such a life situation… but if you wish, my dear, I will do it. Yet give me your word that you will not go out of the hut.” She promised, “I will not.” And Rāma told Lakṣmaṇa, “No matter what happens, do not leave Sītā alone. I will never be in danger, and I will never call you. Stay here, whatever happens.” Rāma went after the deer. The deer would come near and then run away; he chased it for a few kilometers. In that moment, someone made a voice exactly like Rāma’s: “Brother Lakṣmaṇa, come please, help me, I am in danger, come, come…” Sītā heard it and said, “Lakṣmaṇa, your brother is in danger. Go and help him.” He replied, “No, mother.” (We always address an elder sister-in-law as mother.) He said, “No. My brother will never be in danger, and he asked me to be in your service.” She pleaded, but he said, “Please do not force me.” She retorted, “Aha, now I understand. You think that Rāma will die and you will then marry me. I understand your meaning.” Lakṣmaṇa said, “Mother, I never thought such a thing, never.” She answered, “You may say so, but I say otherwise.” She insisted again, “Go, help him.” So Lakṣmaṇa took his bow and with its tip he drew a line, a circle around the whole hut, about twenty to thirty meters in diameter. He said, “Mother, I have one request. Please, no matter what happens, do not go beyond this line; do not cross it. If you cross it, it will be terrible.” She promised, “Okay, that I will do.” Lakṣmaṇa went, and there remained the great circle. Then Rāvaṇa arrived. Sītā would not trust him, so he took the form of a ṛṣi, an old sage, and came seeking food. “I am hungry, Bhikṣām de,” he said. Some ṛṣi had come, some yogī. Sītā explained, “We do not have chapatis or bread; we live only on fruits.” She took a basket of fruits and said, “Come.” Rāvaṇa was filled with ambition: “I will seize her and kidnap her,” that was all. He approached the line, but as soon as he reached it, it was as if an electric current, perhaps five thousand or more volts, surged within. He tried again. Rāvaṇa thought, “Aha, Lakṣmaṇa has done something.” He declared, “I am not a person to come within limited circles. If you wish to give me food, give it; otherwise I will go hungry.” She said, “Please don’t go. Stay here.” She wanted to give the food from inside the hut. Again he said, “I am not a beggar. If you want to give, then give me here,” and he sat beneath a tree. She thought he was a good person. She stepped out with the basket of fruits, and as she did so, he kicked the basket aside, seized her, and tucked her under his arm like a rabbit. Lakṣmaṇa could not find his brother. At that time, Rāvaṇa had an aeroplane. This was ten thousand years ago, and that aeroplane’s name was Puṣpabhāna, the flower vehicle. The specialty of that aeroplane was that it could become larger or smaller as you wished. If there were twenty thousand people, it accommodated twenty thousand; if there were only two, it became a place for two. He took Sītā in his arms, placed her in the aeroplane, and flew towards Śrī Laṅkā. Along the way, she threw down her mālā or her ring, or something, onto the ground. A great Garuḍa, a huge eagle, fought against Rāvaṇa to free Sītā, but he could not succeed. Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa returned; the hut was lonely, Sītā was gone. And so the story goes on. That uncle of Rāvaṇa, his name was Marīci. So the door of Marīci is Māyā, and this place is called Māyā Nagarī, the city of illusion. This is just a little introduction to the name according to the ancient lore. In Chicago, there is a very large library, and about four Americans came for a whole year, every day, borrowing the Rāmāyaṇa and reading only the chapter about that aeroplane. They wanted to know what technology they had, but they could not find it; it was simply an aeroplane. Now, I wish to tell you another thing. Our paramparā, our spirituality, comes down from many, many yugas, from the Satya Yuga, from God Śiva. Śiva was the first. He is called Svayambhu: no one created him; he manifested himself out of nothing. The divine consciousness transfers into the resonance of the nāda yoga. Nādarūpa Parabrahma: the form of the Supreme is sound, that nāda. That nāda, if misused, can make you confused. It can kill all your good qualities, cover them with blackness and place you again in darkness. But a good nāda, a good word, can make you enlightened. Enlightenment does not mean a light like this physical one. When she said “enlightened master,” I closed my eyes and saw nothing. Enlightenment is a wisdom, a knowledge—that is all. Otherwise, the Master is a physical body. This is Pañca Tattva, the five elements. I am exactly a normal human being, just like you. Yet, you know, there is a diamond, a large diamond. I think this is very big. It costs a great deal of money. When you buy such a diamond, the jeweler gives you a beautiful box. It sits inside, nicely wrapped in some paper. You put that box in your purse or handbag; you do not check it in with your aeroplane luggage. You keep it close and, once home, you place it somewhere secure, where no one can access it—you open a safe, put the whole box inside, and lock it again. One day, you give that diamond to a jeweler to make a necklace or an ornament for your dear wife. You hand over the diamond, and now only the empty box remains. You can put the box anywhere. The box has no value; the value is in the diamond. So, the Guru, the Master, is that box. But what is inside—the love, wisdom, and blessing that Gurudev, that God, has placed within—that is what is important. Therefore, we adore that light which comes from the paramparā. You respect the Governor of Australia not for the person himself, but for his position. Similarly, when a disciple begins to see the Master’s body as something floating above pink clouds, that disciple is at a dangerous point. So, there is Guru Tattva, Īśvara Tattva, Brahma Tattva, and we are physical. You and I, we are physical bodies, mortal bodies. If it were otherwise, I would live for billions of years. But I have had enough of this life, even these limited few decades. This is a lineage from God Śiva. Nādarūpa Parabrahma proceeds, the resonance. That resonance is also in the ocean. When you sit and listen to the sound of the ocean, that is the Brahmaṇāda. Then out of this resonance comes what is called the Śivajyoti, the light. The light of life, consciousness. That light sparkles and shines in all the stars, moons, and suns. That is Śiva’s light. The stars and all the planets, the moon and the sun, they are all illuminated by that Śivajyoti. And you, too, are that shining star, the life. When this light departs, then very soon we organize a ceremony, unfortunately, which we call a funeral. This lineage continues, and then we have the great incarnation Śaṅkarācārya; we also consider him an incarnation of Śiva. And so the lineage comes down, authentic, from yugas and yugas, in the Vedas, in the Śāstras, in everything. That tradition, that paramparā, is acknowledged in India. It has great meaning and great importance. All adore it, all respect it deeply. There are different branches and committees. One such committee searches for a capable person who can be a leader in the form of a member of our organizations called Akhāṛās, as a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar. Mahā means great, and maṇḍala means that organization, that union. So, in the last Kumbha Melā in 2009, they spoke with me—2009, 2010. That remains one of the happiest days and happiest moments for me. When your son becomes President or General Secretary of the United Nations, will you not be happy? Similarly, when my disciple attains enlightenment, what you call spiritual development, I will be the happiest person. Part 2: The Boundless Love of the Guru and the Light of Practice When my disciple again falls down, misunderstands, and is in darkness, I am very unhappy. The heart of the master is like the heart of a mother, or even more. God loves us more than parents, and the Guru loves the disciples more than God. Holy Gurujī used to say in satsaṅg, and that is why I said, you are my family. Then, carefully, I spoke with Jasrājjī. If he would accept, he said, “Oh, it’s a surprise.” He said, “I don’t want, Swamiji, that you retire.” Because when you become a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar successor, in one cover you cannot put two īśvaras inside. Only one. They said, “No, no, no. I am the senior, and this will be the junior, and he must have his ashram.” So he has an ashram and everything. I want to say that Jasraj was born in Australia and grew up in Australia. His mātṛbhūmi, the birth country, is Australia, and his karmabhūmi is India and the whole world. So, on February 17th—no, it was the 17th of April? On February 17th, we had a very big ceremony for the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar, and it was a very nice ceremony. Forty-eight hours before, he has to be isolated and guarded so that nobody kidnaps him, yes, and so that nobody will say any negative things. To destroy him, how come? Blackmailing, you know? Good words can enlighten you, and negative talk can destroy you. And then there were certain ceremonies, and he had to go to the Akhāṛā, our head center, and there is Bhagavān Kapila Muni. Kapila was a great, great incarnation, a great saint. In the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa said, “Among the Siddhas, as a Siddha, I am Kapila Muni.” Mahāprabhujīp Karatā Mahāprabhujīp Mahāprabhujīp Karatā Mahāprabhujīp Karatā Mahāprabhujīp. This was a welcoming word or introduction for the coming. I will give you the lecture tomorrow. I don’t know what lecture can be different from what I am talking about now. Tomorrow, I will speak something similar about Maruchi’s uncle or something. So that is how you should see. We are mistaken only through the forms, but we should know what is inside and what light I got from you. What do you get from me? Yamunā is your guru here. She is teaching you such beautiful yoga in daily life, and yoga in daily life is the system in the world, I tell you. There are many. Yoga is only yoga. That’s all. Yoga is a yoga. Yoga and their life, or any yoga, is only one. That is yoga, and that is God Śiva’s science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul. The yoga science is given by Lord Śiva at that time, as this orange cloth and this blessing of light, to all to give freely. Give the knowledge, but give to them those—look first at the pot, the vessel. If it is clean, then give that. But nowadays we don’t have so much time to find out if it is clean or not, and we give it and we give it. My principle is this: I have a lot of seeds in my pocket, and wherever I go, I sow the seeds. If it will grow, it will grow. If it is bird seed, then it doesn’t matter. So Yamunā is leading a life, Yamunā and Tyāgpuri, like a ṛṣi husband and wife. A ṛṣi is always there, giving you good things. So what can be more than this? So always see what is inside. We in India say, “Bandī muṭṭhī lākh kī, kholne ke bād lākh kī.” If your fist is closed, it has a value of millions. And when you open it, it is just like dust. So what is within that, that we should discover inside. And that is the knowledge, the spirituality, what one is giving you. So we shall see the Guru Tattva. And that you cannot say, “I am Guru.” There are many called Swayambhu Guru. You know, Swayambhu Guru means self-made master. But you must have authentic initiation and acknowledgement, and like that. Australia has two passports. One passport is stamped by the Australian authority and given to you as a passport. And the second passport is a fake passport, a false passport. People are making passports and getting stamps, but at the border they are caught, right? So authentic has something, and so is that all. So, I was thinking that next Kumbha Melā I want to make 25 Sannyāsīs, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras, but still they are not ready. So now there is still a long time, so we will see. Maybe there will be one or two more Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras in Australia, if they practice properly. So, practice makes the master. It doesn’t matter what is coming in your life, but practice, practice, practice your mantra with confidence. Understand me? Who didn’t understand? Okay, who did not understand? Get chocolate. Okay, with this, I welcome you and thank you for welcoming me also. And this beautiful flower I adore, respect, and accept. Now I think I will give some words to Jasrāj Purī Jī, no? To tell something. Puri Ji Satguru Deva Kriya, Kriya,… Kriya, come again another day. And when you’re seeing that in Rajasthan, I feel like pulling my hair out, because it’s not there, but, you know, it’s welcome. You can send some over. Everybody there was thinking of you all this year. So many troubles have come to Queensland, or challenges, let’s say, challenges, a lot. But also at the same time, it came to everybody via the things that came on the internet—some of the beautiful things that came out of it—about people being together and people helping each other, and really finding that human spirit once again of being brothers and sisters. So, I guess it’s not something you would ever wish to happen, but some great things also have come out, and you really discover the quality of the people that are around. There is another story that comes just after where Swamiji was talking about the Rāmāyaṇa. And there is Hanuman, the monkey god, and he goes to try and rescue Sītā, actually to give her a message from Rāma when she is already in prison. And she is sitting in a garden, guarded by a lot of demons and demonesses. And first they don’t see him, and he manages to give his message because he keeps himself very small. And afterwards, they discover that she is there. You actually have to turn it on. And at that point, he comes surrounded by these demons. And he sees that they actually have these weapons in their hands, which are basically the modern equivalent of a nuclear bomb. So they’re all nuclear-armed demons, and they’re all staring at him. And one line comes in there inside. He says, “Well, you know, basically, I’m in trouble here. I’m surrounded by all of these demons that have these huge, dangerous weapons in their hands. But if I don’t think that they are those weapons, then they won’t give me any trouble.” What it means to me is, there are so many challenges that come before you. So many things you can think, I just can’t cope with this. But, if you don’t think of them as that which you can’t cope with, if you just see it for what it is that’s in front of you and try to deal with it in that present moment, then it’s amazing what capacity you have. And I think people here, during those times of difficulty, have discovered just what capabilities they have and what they can do when it comes down to the crunch, let us say. It’s a very beautiful analogy, and it is so applicable also when you are on the spiritual path, and sometimes you look at it and it seems so long, so difficult, and just actually beyond your capabilities to get through. But if you don’t look at it as difficult, it becomes much easier. And if you just look at what is in front of you, instead of looking in the distance, it also becomes much easier to deal with each issue as it comes along, to deal with each moment as it comes along. The same in your personal life. When you look at things and you dwell on them too long, and you think, “I have to do this, I have to do this. I will do it sometime. I’ll do it, but it’s so hard, I don’t think I can manage.” Better to get in there and just start, and then its power over you, that threatening effect that it has over you, tends to dissolve. It tends to get much easier. Talk about that light which Swamījī talks about, that’s within us all, that light of enlightenment, that light of God. You know, perhaps one small mistake we make, or I make, on the spiritual path is to expect that the light will always be the things that are beautiful, but it is everything. Here you have the beach, and some days you go down there and you look at it, and the wind is blowing offshore and the sun is shining. I want it to be a sunny day, I want it to be good surf, I want this, I want that. Every day is different. It’s not good for going out in the water; it’s good for walking. But it’s not good for walking; it’s good for sitting inside. If you’re not sitting inside, then rainy days are beautiful for sleeping. You can always find something good. And I was also thinking today of one song. You’re very lucky you have Swāmījī here for four or five days. And it is such an opportunity. Make the most of it. There’s one song from when I was young that was a favorite of mine, and the chorus went, “Right here, right now, there’s no other place I’d rather be.” Try in these five days, when you’re with Swamījī, at least when you come in this door, then leave the world behind, leave all of your problems behind. Just be here, just be in this moment, just take every moment of it as nectar. Enjoy every sip, enjoy every drop. The other things will all be there when you go back up again. You can deal with them then, no problem. Take this time, this wisdom which comes; take every moment of it and enjoy it. Every part of the class, every part of the bhajan, just be in that moment, in that present moment. It is so special to be with Swamiji. It is so special to hear the words coming from the ocean, from the inside, not speaking about the lightness, the lightness of the ocean. Can I sing a bhajan now? Yes, so then I will translate one bhajan. Jasarājī will sing one bhajan, or he can translate it. Śrī Pūjya Bhagavān Dīpanārāyaṇa, Mahāprabhujī awakened the sleeping swan in the holy Gurujī, in Mādhavānandajī. And Gurujī is saying that from bhajan, from singing the spiritual songs, and also from our mālā and from our mantra practice, from our meditation, we will find the real happiness. We will find the true happiness. We will find all the happiness. And that way to do that, the Guru can explain to us. When you think about how many, when you are talking about Hindu philosophy and reincarnation, and how many different forms of life there are, and as it says in the Bhāgavatam, it is really rare to get a human birth. And then they say also, in a human birth, it is hard to get a birth in a good family. It is hard to get birth in a good family, one that encourages you to be spiritual or gives you that love. After that, it is also good luck to then want to go on to a spiritual path, to feel the need to travel that road. And then, after all of that luck, the chance to get a master who can actually explain it to you and can show you that way. Āśram, Strīlky, Kumbha Melā, Jādan, Oṁ Śrī Alakh Purījī, Śrī Madhavānanda Purījī, Śrī Madhavānanda… A very original sadhu dressed as Swami Hanuman Giri. He lived long in India, in the Himalayas with his master, and how he came to me, and this and that, all. So, I think he can tell something about his life experiences. He followed, really, what you call ascetic, and he is still like that. You know, when he comes and all are looking to him, nobody is looking to me. I look very modern. Of course, I am not jealous about that. So, perhaps Hanumān Purī will speak something, okay? When did you go to India, and how? Okay, you can give him the mic. Stand up, okay. You can stand near Jasarājī, so it comes as a double picture with both of you—you and Jasarājī. Family story, no? That’s it. Now we will have prayer, Gurudev. We will take a five-minute interval. If someone wants to go and does not want to stay for the prayer, they may go. I don’t want to talk for very long and hold the stage, because I know I’m going to dust a few of their feet. I’ll just tell you a little bit about my experience in India. There are many sādhus in India in the orange cloths, but they are not all honest. There was one night when I was poisoned by a daitya. I wandered along the river. I lost my mind and also lost my memory. I went half blind for a day. My memory came back, and then I found my Gurujī. He was under Bābā Hari Giri. I’m near Antony Akhāṛā, and there are Akhāṛā’s different monastic orders. I think the Daśnāmī, the Trimburī, there are ten. That means there are ten monastic orders in India. Purījī, Purī Parvatī, Sarasvatī, Araṇya, Sarga, Paravat, and so on. And this means that they all come from different places. Some live by the ocean, which is Sarga. Some live in the mountains, which are Jī. Some live in the town, which is Puri. It is re-established by Śaṅkarācārya Jī. As Swamiji has explained before, the incarnation of Shiva. So anyway, I found my Gurujī after this massive dose of detour. Gurujī explained what had happened and took me on to train me, as the Nāgās said. He said that he would train me because I believe that the Nāgā Sādhus are the Hindu holy men of India. They protect the Mahātma Dharma, and they protect all life. All life is sacred, whether it’s an ant, an elephant, a human being, or a god. It makes no difference. But the highest form is the Guru, even higher than the god, because the Guru can transmit self-realization. To all of us, we surrender ourselves and the ego to Gurujī. The ego is a big obstacle, and we think that we have overcome ego, but the ego can come in a flash, just like that. Shari Lakshman Puri, I think he is a very good speaker, you know, he is a very, very good speaker. When he speaks, then everyone enjoys. So, would you like to say something? Today is a meeting, so come, share your experience, your life, and how you met me in India. What is it? We have known each other for more than twenty years, twenty-five years or more. Welcome. And it is always raining, that is why we are calling for the sun to come, Sunshine Coast. Sunshine on this coast. This is really interesting, actually. Early in the morning, we got on the bus, and I sort of played it from consciousness again and just carried on my normal, epic life. And then we came to know God, so I could trust Him, and He could teach other people as well.