TV Channel

Part 1: Salutation to Cosmic Light and Holy Lineage Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. I am very happy to be here in Maroochydore again. Yamuna said "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 comes, and then there is nice rain, which is very good. Whenever I come, it rains, and we need all the rain, a lot of it. Maroochy—what do you know? Do you know what "Maroochy" means here? Black swan. There is a big, long story about Marīci, and the story comes in the holy book, the Rāmāyaṇa. It’s a little bit... maybe you will not be happy to hear about Marīci. But before that, I want to tell you a little something. Today is just to be together as a family. There is a welcoming program, but always when one comes home, there is a welcoming. For a sannyāsī, for a swāmī who has renounced the world, the sky is the roof and the earth is the bed. The whole family, the whole world, is a family. That is called Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam—the entire world is my family. That is what every sannyāsī, every swāmī, feels when they come to disciples; they consider them as their family members. So I am not a guest. I am not a stranger. Though I am a sannyāsī, I must have some family, no? Because you have to renounce your own family so that you are not attached to one family. You should take all families as yours. Therefore, it is nice to be again with you and to see you all. I am very happy. There is a long story in the holy book Rāmāyaṇa, the story of God Rāma. He had to go into exile for fourteen years. When he went, his wife Sītā also wanted to go with him. One of his four brothers, Lakṣmaṇa, also went with him. The story is very long—why he had to go—and I will tell this next time, or you can read the book. They had to live in the forest, not to go into any village, not to stay in a village. And like this, there was tragedy in the families. You know, dynasties always have some nasty things sometimes. That always happens when greed comes. His stepmother wanted her son to become the king and not Rāma, because Rāma was the first elder brother, and it was always the elder brother who became the king. Now it’s a democracy; that’s good. But that time there was no democracy. So then, somehow, the mother put some conditions, and so, okay, we survived. They stayed in the forest. At the same time, there was a king of Śrī Laṅkā. His name was Rāvaṇa, and Rāvaṇa was known as a demon. He studied a lot; he was very wise. He had many siddhis, many powers. But he had only one weakness, and that was his ego. Ego makes a man blind. And when this ego and greed, these two things come together, then the heart becomes stone and the brain becomes a boiling matter. The brain is boiling the ego and greed. He and his whole family had many siddhis, perfections. His sister also had the same devilish qualities. Once she was coming—they had siddhis to fly, to dematerialize and materialize. You know the Dracula story? Sometimes Dracula comes into the room; he materializes there. She saw a beautiful young man who was guarding Rāma and Sītā. That young man was Lakṣmaṇa, the brother of God Rāma. She saw a beautiful man and fell in love. She came to him, changed her whole look and makeup, and asked Lakṣmaṇa to marry her. He said, "I don’t know you. I see you for the first time, and I am married. I don’t want to marry you." She said, "You want to marry?" She was forcing him. He said, "No, I cannot. I will not." Then she turned to God Rāma and said, "I want to marry your brother." God Rāma said, "I cannot decide. It is his personal matter if he wants to marry or not. It is his thing." Again, she said, "No, I want to do this." Well, she created a big, big problem for the three of them—Rāma, Sītā, and Lakṣmaṇa. Then she came and wanted to hold the hand of Lakṣmaṇa and take him away. She began to attack Rāma. She said, "Then I will marry you." At that time, Lakṣmaṇa was the bodyguard. He was angry, so he took a sword and chipped her nose. Now, a person who is angry, full of passion, full of disappointment, full of ego, is able to do anything. She went to her brother Rāvaṇa in Śrī Laṅkā and said, "Brother, look, these two boys who are in the forest—their parents sent them away and they have no one—and this one cut my nose." Rāvaṇa was very angry. "Who was that? I will pull it out of them like a carrot from the field." Rāvaṇa had another brother, who said, "Brother, ask her why she went there. Why did she go there?" So Rāvaṇa said, "Aha, that is a good question. Why did you go there? They are hot." Now she begins to lie. "You know, my brother, Rāma’s wife Sītā is so beautiful. I never saw such a woman in the world. I want that she marries you. I want to tell you that 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, not easy to approach Lakṣmaṇa. They were divine. Rāvaṇa went round and round; he couldn’t come there. He had one uncle, the brother of his mother, who had also seen these two change their forms. Rāvaṇa went to him and said, "Uncle, you have to do one favor for me." He said, "What?" "You have to become a golden deer and go in front of the hut where Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, and Sītā are." As we know, when a woman sees something beautiful, she will want to have that golden deer. That is called the deer of illusion, the māyā. She will force Rāma to catch it. And as Rāma comes near, it runs far away. He will run and run, a few kilometers far away. At that time, I will go and kidnap Sītā. The uncle said, "But Lakṣmaṇa is more powerful." "Aha! So after a few kilometers, you disappear and then scream, 'Brother Lakṣmaṇa, come and help me. Brother Lakṣmaṇa, I am in trouble, come and help me.' And Lakṣmaṇa will come to help. Meanwhile, I will take this lady away. Okay, if you don’t do it, I will chip your head," Rāvaṇa said to his uncle. Well, the uncle came. He was standing in front of them, eating grass, looking, going near to Sītā. Sītā said to Rāma, "My dear, my lord, this beautiful golden deer I want to have." Rāma said, "My dear, in this forest, what will we do with a golden deer? Dear, take it as yours. Let him be free here." She said, "No, no, I want to have..." She said no. It’s not because Rāma knew what it was that she said no. "I want to have, you know, the dharma of the husband." She said, "I know very well, but you can tell." He said, "What is the dharma of the husband? To fulfill every wish of the wife." In the middle of the forest, in such a life situation, he said, "But if you wish, my dear, I will do it. But give me your word that you will not go out of the hut." She said, "I will not do it." And Rāma told Lakṣmaṇa, "No matter what happens, do not leave Sītā alone. I will never be in danger. I will never call you. Stay here. It doesn’t matter what happens." Now Rāma went behind and ran after the deer. The deer came near, and then it ran away. He runs behind it a few kilometers. At that moment, someone, making the voice of Rāma, called, "Brother Lakṣmaṇa, come please help me, I am in danger, come, come, come." Sītā heard the voice. "Lakṣmaṇa, your brother is in danger. Go and help him." He said, "No, mother—we always call our elderly sister-in-law like a mother—my brother will never be in danger, and he asked me to be in your service." She told him a few times. He said, "Please don’t force me." She said, "Uh-huh, now I understand. You think that Rāma will die, and you will marry me again. I understand what you mean." Lakṣmaṇa said, "Mother, I never thought like this, never." She said, "No, but I say." She said, "You may say, but never. Then go, help." Then Lakṣmaṇa, with his bow, made a line, a circle around the whole hut, about twenty to thirty meters in diameter. And said, "Mother, I have one request. Please, no matter what happens, do not go, do not cross this line. If you cross it, it will be terrible. Terrible." She said, "Okay, that I will do, I will not do." Lakṣmaṇa went, and there was a big circle made with his bow. And now Rāvaṇa came there. He thought, "I will not trust her." So he made a form like a ṛṣi, an old sage, and came for food. "I am hungry. Bhikṣāṃ dehi." Almost. She said, okay. Some ṛṣi came. He came. She said, "We don’t have chapatis and bread. We are only living from the fruits." And she took the basket of fruits and said, "Come." Rāvaṇa is just full of ambitions. "I will catch her and kidnap her." That’s all. He came near, and as soon as he came to this line, it was like an electric current—maybe five thousand, or how many thousand, power inside. He tried to go again. Rāvaṇa said, "Aha, Lakṣmaṇa did something." He said, "I am not a person who is going in the limited circles. If you want to give me eating, give it, otherwise I go hungry." She said, "Please don’t go. Stay here." And she wanted to give food from inside, but again he said, "I am not a beggar. If you want to give, then give me here." He was sitting under the tree. She thought he was a good person. And she went with the basket of fruits to give. He kicked the basket away and took her like you would take a rabbit under your arm. Lakṣmaṇa didn’t find his brother. At that time, Rāvaṇa had an aeroplane. That time was ten thousand years ago. And that aeroplane’s name was Puṣpavāhana, a flower. The speciality of that aeroplane was it could become bigger or smaller as you wish. If you have twenty thousand people, it becomes a place for twenty thousand people. Or if you are only two, it becomes for two. He took her in his arms, sat in the aeroplane, and flew towards Śrī Laṅkā. She tried somewhere, then she threw her mālā or her ring or something on the floor. There was a very big Garuḍa, an eagle, a big, big eagle, fighting against Rāvaṇa to free Sītā, but he could not be successful. Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa came back, but the hut was lonely; Sītā was not there. And then the story goes further. So that uncle of Rāvaṇa, his name was Marīci. And the door, so the door of the Māyā, you know, Māyā. So this is Māyā Nagarī, a city of the Māyā. So this is only a little introduction of the name according to the old story. In Chicago, there is a library, a very big library, and there were about four Americans coming one year, every day, borrowing the Rāmāyaṇa and reading only that chapter about this aeroplane. They want to know which technology they had, but they couldn’t find it. Couldn’t find it, so that was an aeroplane. Anyhow, another thing I want to tell you is that our paramparā, our spiritual lineage, is coming from many, many yugas, from Satya Yuga, from God Śiva. Śiva was the first one. It’s called Swayambhū. No one has created him. He has manifested himself out of nothing. The divine consciousness transfers into the resonance, the Nāda Yoga, Nāda Rūpa Para Brahma. The form of the supreme is the sound, that Nāda. The misuse can make you confused. It can kill all your good qualities. It can put black on your good qualities and put you again in the darkness. Or a good nāda, a good word, can make you enlightened. Enlightened means there is no light like this. When she said, "Enlightened master," I closed my eyes and I didn’t see anything. Enlightenment is a wisdom, knowledge, that’s all. Otherwise, the master is a physical body. This is a pañca tattva, five elements. I am exactly a normal human being like you are. But you know, there is a diamond like this, a big diamond. I think this is very big. It will cost you a lot of money. And when you buy this, you get from the person, from the shop, from the jewelry shop, a beautiful box. And it’s inside and nicely wrapped with some wood paper. Now, this box you will take in your purse or in your handbag. You will not check it in when you check in your aeroplane luggage. You will keep it and come home, and you will put it somewhere that no one has access to, open a safe, put it in, and lock it again, the whole box. One day, you give this diamond to some jewelry person to make a necklace or some ornament for your dear wife. And you give this diamond to the person, and now there is only the box left, empty. So the box, you can put it anywhere. The box has no value. The value is in the diamond. So the guru, the master, is that box. But what is inside—that love, wisdom, blessing, what Gurudev, God has given to you—that is important. So we adore that light which is coming from the paramparā. You take care of your governor of Australia, not because he is that person, but because of his position. Okay? So when the person begins to see the master’s body like something above pink clouds, then the disciple is at a dangerous point. Īśvara tattva, brahma tattva, and we are physical. So, you, me, we are a physical body, which is a mortal body. If it were to be like that, then I would live how many billions of years? But I have enough from this life, even these limited years of a few decades. So this is a lineage of God Śiva. Nāda Rūpa Parabrahma is coming, the resonance. And that resonance is in the ocean also. When you sit and hear the sound of the ocean, that is that Brahma-nāda. Then, out of this resonance comes what is called the Śivajyoti, the light, the light of life, consciousness. That light is sparkling or shining in all the stars, moons, and suns. That is Śiva light. The stars and all the planets, and the moon and sun, they are all illuminated by that Śiva Jyoti. And that one we are also. You are like that shining star, the life. And when this light is gone, then very soon we will organize a ceremony, unfortunately, what we call a funeral. That comes lineage, and then we have the great incarnation, Śaṅkarācārya; we also consider him as Śiva’s incarnation. And then this lineage is coming, so it is authentic from yugas and yugas, in Vedas, in Śāstras, in everything. That tradition, that paramparā is acknowledged in India, and it has great meaning and great position. All adore it, all respect it very much. And there they have different branches and committees. And that committee is searching for someone who is a capable person, who could be a leader in the form of a member of our committees called Akhāḍās, Mahā Maṇḍaleśvar. Mahā means great, and Maṇḍal means that organization, that union. So in the last Kumbh Melā in 2009, they spoke with me. 2009-2010, both. We came in 2009 and then 2010. Last year. It was last year. I am Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar of that Akhāḍā now, nearly thirteen years. Twelve years is one mini-yuga. So all ācāryas, also leaders of this and that, were whispering in my ear, saying, "Swāmījī, will you accept?" I said, "What?" "We think your disciple is now ripe." I said, "What means that?" "That we would like to honor him as a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar." I said, that is for me one of the happiest days and happiest minutes. When your son becomes president or general secretary of the United Nations, will you not be happy? Similarly, when my disciples get enlightenment, what you call spiritual development, I will be the happiest person. Or 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 the mother, or more. God loves us more than parents, and the Guru loves the disciples more than God. Only Gurujī used to say in satsaṅg. And that’s why I said, you are my family. Then, carefully, I spoke with Jasarājjī. If he would accept, he said, "Oh, it’s a surprise." Surprised, he said, "I don’t want, Swāmījī, that you retire, because when you become a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar’s successor, then, you know, in one cover you cannot put two śvaras inside." All you want. They said, "No, no, no. I am senior, and this will be junior, and he must have his ashram." So he has an ashram and everything. So I want to say that Jasraj is born in Australia, grown in Australia. His mātṛbhūmi, the birth country, is Australia, and karmabhūmi, India and the whole world. So on the 17th of February, we had a very big ceremony about Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar. A very nice ceremony is done. Forty-eight hours before, he has to be isolated and guarded so that nobody kidnaps him. Yes, and nobody will talk some negative things to destroy him, blackmailing, you know. Then, Ādhā, good words can enlighten you, and negative talk can destroy you. And then there were certain ceremonies, and then he had to go to the Akhāḍā, 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 Siddhas, as a Siddha, I am Kapila Muni." And so, Bhagavān Kapila—you should read about Bhagavān Kapila. And so we had a beautiful ceremony in the presence of many, many authorities, all the spiritual leaders. And we had about, nearly a thousand sannyāsī sādhus in their presence. And then I was also sitting, and then they brought the Jasarājjī. They pulled out nice, washed and cleaned, and one was holding him here, the other was holding him here, and behind was like bodyguards, and the front was like escorting sādhus. It was a beautiful ceremony to see. Though I also became a mahāmaṇḍaleśvar like that, I forgot how it was. So it was good for me to look and see. So I congratulate you, my dear Australian Bhaktas, that Australia has this honor to be honored: a student of Australia as a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar, and you are happy that he is here today. Part 2: The Essence of the Guru and the Path So, we can congratulate him, no? These were words of welcome, an introduction for the coming lecture, which I will give you tomorrow. I do not know what lecture could be different from what I am talking about now. Tomorrow I will speak something similar about Marichi’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 received from you, what you receive from me. Yamunā is your guru here. She is teaching you such a beautiful yoga in daily life, and yoga in daily life is the system in the world, I tell you. There are many, but yoga is only yoga, that is all. Yoga is yoga. Yoga in 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 was given by Lord Śiva at that time, like this orange cloth and this blessing of light, to give freely to all. Give the knowledge, but first look at the pot, the vessel; if it is clean, then give. But nowadays, we do not have such a long time to find if it is clean or not, and we give it, and we give it. My principle is this: I have many seeds in my pocket. Wherever I go, I sow the seeds. If they will grow, they will grow. If it is bird seed, then it does not matter either. So, Yamunā is leading a life. Yamunā and Tyāgapuri are like ṛṣis. Husband and wife, the ṛṣi is always there, giving you good things. So what can be more than this? Therefore, always see what is inside. We in India say, "Baṃdī muṭhī lakhī, kholne ke bādh rakhī." 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, we should discover it inside. And that is the knowledge of spirituality, which one is giving you. So we shall see the Guru Tattva. And you cannot say, "I am the Guru." There are many called Swayambhū Guru. You know, Swayambhū Guru means a self-made master. But you must have authentic initiation and acknowledgement, and so on. Australia has two passports. One passport is stamped by the Australian authority and given to you as a passport. The second passport is a fake passport, a false passport. People are making passports and giving stamps, but at the border they are caught, right? So the authentic has something, and that is all. So I was thinking that at the next Kumbh Melā I want to make twenty-five sannyāsīs, mahā-maṇiṣas, but they are still not ready. Now, there is still a long time, so we will see. Perhaps there will be one or two more mahā-manṛṣis in Australia if they practice properly. Okay? So, practice makes the master. It does not matter what comes in your life, but practice, practice, practice your mantra confidently. Understand me? Who did not understand? Okay? Who did not understand, get a chocolate. Okay, with this, I welcome you and thank you for welcoming me also. And it is a beautiful flower; I adore it. I respect and accept. Now, I think I will give some words to Jasrāj Purījī, no? To tell something. It is very nice to be here and see you again, those who were here before and were here before. Of course, to be with Swāmījī, it is always raining here. I think Swāmījī also noticed that. I was thinking today of the children in our school because, in kindergarten, they are taught... English teachers do not think much about what they are teaching them. And so one of the first nursery rhymes they learn is, "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day." And when you are singing that in Rajasthan, I feel like pulling my hair out, because it is not there, but, you know, it is welcome. You can send some over. We would like to. We had a lot this year. Everybody there was thinking of you all this year. This year, so many troubles have come to Queensland, or challenges, let us say, a lot of challenges. 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 is not something you would ever wish to happen, but some great things also come out, and you really discover the quality of the people that are around. There is another story that comes just after, where Swāmījī was talking about the Rāmāyaṇa, and there is Hanumān, a monkey god, who 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 do not see him, and he manages to give his message because he keeps himself very small. And afterwards they discover that he is there. You actually have to turn it on. And at that point, he becomes surrounded by these demons, and he sees that they actually have these weapons in their hands that are basically the modern equivalent of a nuclear bomb. So they are all nuclear-armed demons, and they are all staring at you. And one lion comes in there, and he says, "Well, you know, basically I am in trouble here. I am surrounded by all of these demons that have these huge, dangerous weapons in their hands. But if I do not think that they are those weapons, then they will not 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 cannot cope with this." But if you do not think of them as that which you cannot cope with, if you just see it for what it is that is in front of you and try to deal with it in that present moment, then it is 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 is 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 do not look at it as difficult, it becomes much easier. And if you just look at what is in front of you, instead of looking into 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 about, "I have to do this, I have to do this, I will do it, sometime I will do it, but it is so hard, I do not 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. When you talk about that light which Swāmījī talks about, that is within us all, that light of enlightenment, that light of God, perhaps one small mistake we make, or what I make on this 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, and it is just that flat and beautiful, and the waves are this beautiful shape, and it just looks like heaven on earth. And on another day, and probably now if it was light, you would go and look at it. And it would just look like a mess, but it is the same ocean, it is that same water, it is that same, everything inside of it is the same, just that it presents different forms to us, a different day, a different hour, a different moment, a different time, a different form, but they are all that ocean. And all those people who come before us, all those people, whether they bring joy to us, whether they bring a challenge to us, whether they stir up our emotions, they are all part of that same energy. In their own way, they are all beautiful. In their own way, they are all us, they are all part of us, not even brothers and sisters, but they are just us. We are beyond one family; we are just all one. When you can go to the ocean and just accept that every day is beautiful, whichever form it may be, and then doing it again, those things dissolve, those issues you have that, "Oh, I do not want it to be like this, 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 is not good for going out in the water; it is good for walking. But it is not good for walking; it is good for sitting inside. If you are not sitting inside, then rainy days are beautiful for sleeping. But you can always find something good. And I was also thinking today of one song. You are very lucky you have Swāmījī here for four or five days. And it is such an opportunity to make the most of it. There is one song when I was young that was a favourite of mine, and the chorus went, "Right here, right now, there is no other place I would rather be." Try in these five days, when you are with Swāmījī, 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 a nectar. Enjoy every single, 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 Swāmījī. It is so special to hear the words coming from the ocean, from the inside. Not speaking about life, it is life itself. Can I sing a bhajan now? Yes, so then I will translate one bhajan. Jasarājī will sing one bhajan, or he can translate it. Then, Śrī Gurujī, by going deep into our life, Mahāprabhujī awakened the sleeping swan in our holy Gurujī, in Mādhava Mañjī. 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 Hindu philosophy about reincarnation and how many different forms of life there are, and as it says in the bhajan that 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 where you can, after that, then it is also... So, good luck to those who want to go on 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. As it says, it is a ritual that you would not want to waste. So, make the most of it. Śrī Nārāyaṇa Gyan. So now you will be wondering about others also. Today is just a welcoming meeting. Oh, very good. I have very seldom such occasions. Always, I have to come. We are very relaxed. Are you relaxed? Now you will be wondering, there is someone sitting on the left side from me, a very original sādhu, 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 asceticism, and he is still like that. You know, when he comes and all are looking at him, nobody is looking at me. I look very modern. Of course, I am not jealous about that. So perhaps Hanumān Purī will speak something, okay? When you went to India, and how, and this and... okay? You can give him the mic. Stand up. You can stand near Jasarājī, so it comes double picture with both of you, you and Jasarājī. Family story, you know. That is it. Now we will have prayer. Gurudev, we have a five-minute interval. If someone wants to go, and does not want to stay for prayer, they can go. The thing is this: only the body dies. I do not want to talk for very long and hold the stage, because I know I am only the dust if you just eat. I will just tell you a little bit about my experience in India. There were many soldiers in India in the orange cloths, but they were not all honest. There was one night when I was poisoned with a daityāsur. I wandered along the river, and I lost my mind and also lost my memory. I went half blind for a day, and my memory came back. And then I found my Gurujī. He was under Bābā Hari Giri, and there are different monastic orders. I think the Daśnāmī, is that Trimbur in the earth, ten? Yes. This means there are ten monastic orders in India. Yiddhi, Pulī, Bhāratī, Sarasvatī, Araṇyā, Sargā, Parāvat, 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 Yiddish. Some live in the town, which is re-established by the Śaṅkarācārya Jī. As Swamī Jī has explained before, an incarnation of Śiva. So anyway, I found my Gurujī after this massive dose of daityaura, and Gurujī explained what had happened, and took me on to train me, as Tāṇaka said. He said that he would train me, because I believe that the Tānaka Bhavas, the Hindu holy men of India, they protect Sanātana Dharma, and they protect all life. All life is sacred, whether it is 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. If 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 fresh just like that. 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 tell something? Today is a meeting. So, come, your experience, your life, how you met me in India, what, this. 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. I do not know what to talk much about. I am into astrology. I really started a long time ago. I always had some interest in your consciousness. And I learned to meditate, obviously, by translating meditation. And that sort of buzzed it for a while, and I tried various other systems. And maybe fifteen years after this, I was meditating one day, and I had the experience of noticing that my breathing had slowed, stopped, and I noticed that my heart had stopped, and I noticed that there was just a few thoughts left in my mind. And when I was aware of that, I was also aware that there were normally hundreds of thoughts in my mind, but those five thoughts... disappeared, and then I was aware of this Universal Consciousness in that unbounded time. That is exactly as they describe it to people. And this lasted for maybe twenty minutes, and then I came back to normal consciousness, and at this stage, I knew that this existed, and I sort of thought, you know, these last fifteen years when I thought it was going to be very easy to achieve self-realization, it actually helped me become one. I knew then that I needed a teacher. So I prayed, surprised myself, and for the first time in my life, I felt that my prayer was going to be answered. I knew that I was going to need a teacher. Still, years after this, I have forgotten all about this section, and I went to India. I met somebody who took me to Ashley, and here introduced me to a politician, and they have a couple of the Rāmāyaṇa, which he said was about ten years old. And he said, "Oh, my teacher is..." But I did not seem to have much substance, and I just lived in a small ashram and did not seem to know much more than I did, so I did not really think anything, and I thought I was not worried much. But anyway, I ended up in Jaipur where Assamjī was, and I went to an ashram there. When I arrived, Assamjī was not there, but the guy who was there said, "He is coming from Europe," and I thought, oh well, he might be interesting after all, but different from all the others, so I came back a couple of days later and saw that he was there, and I said, "Oh, yes, I could stay in the ashram," so I thought, oh yeah, that is okay. I was sure to go on that, yeah. I did not have much money, so I could stay there for nothing, so I thought, oh, that is really... good, so I stayed in the ashram for a few days, did some work, enjoyed it, but thought, you know, I am on my way to the port, and so I said, "Oh, I am going to leave." And she said, "Cool. But would you like to go and see the Taj Mahal?" So I thought, oh yeah, I will go and see the Taj Mahal. So she said, "Oh yeah, you can travel on the bus." It would not cost you anything, so I thought, yeah, that is okay. Then I will go. And so we went to the Taj Mahal. And when I was sitting in the Taj Mahal, this room afterwards, I had my trouble with this energy going through me. I did not really understand it. And then when I left in the middle of the night, I felt so calm, so peaceful. The world could talk where I might be. The bus then sort of faded from consciousness again, and I just carried on my normal way of thinking. So I could trust him, and he could teach other people as well.