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Hari Hi Om Tat Sat

A spiritual discourse on the nature of reality, illusion, and the search for truth.

"Problems are created by our body, our mind, our intellect, or our emotions."

"Vedānta says finally, 'Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā.' When you ask what is the truth, then realize the Brahman."

The lecturer delivers an evening satsang from Jādān Pālī, exploring profound spiritual questions through parables and scriptural analysis. He recounts the story of King Janaka's troubling dream to examine what constitutes reality, discusses the teachings of non-duality (Advaita) versus dualism (Dvaita), and emphasizes the need for spiritual practice. The talk concludes with an explanation of the great mantra Hari Om Tat Sat as a path to truth.

Filming location: Jadan, Rajasthan, India

Hari Om Tat Sat. Chant, chant this great mantra: Hari Om Tat Sat. Hari Om Tat Sat. Chant, chant this great mantra: Hari Om Tat Sat. Hari Om Tat Sat. Deep salutations to Lord Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, to Devīśvara Mahādeva. Good evening. Blessings to all devotees, seekers, and spiritual practitioners here and around the world. This message comes to you from the Holy Land, India, from Jādān Pālī, Rajasthan. It is a beautiful day, warm, just above 40-45 degrees, and the body is enjoying it. If we open more windows, the body will enjoy even more. There was a great saint named Swami Dayānanda Sarasvatī. He was a great learned scholar who studied and translated the Vedas. Once, Swami Dayānanda Sarasvatī went to the Himalayas for one year to conduct an experiment. He wanted to see if one could sit in the cold air of winter, near the snow and rocks, and manage. He sat without clothes on the cold rock. At that time, there was no electronic media, only some magazines or the radio. Some people went to interview Swami Dayānandajī in the middle of winter, high in the Himalayas where it was minus 15 to 20 degrees. They asked him, "Swāmījī, how do you manage to sit without covering your body?" He said, "It's very simple." They asked, "How? We cannot do it." He replied, "I know you can't. But look, you came here up in the Himalayas near the Badrinath and Kedarnath hills. I am sitting here, and you are dressed very warmly, yet your face is not covered. Why don't you feel cold on your face?" They said, "Well, the face is always uncovered and is used to it." Ānandajī said, "That is the answer to your question. In the beginning of summer, slowly, slowly renounce the cloth and renounce the comfort of being in the sun or in the cool shadow. Just live as nature lives. Then your body will get used to it, and you will not feel that cold." He said, "I made these experiences and experiments: by becoming one with nature, accepting nature—since our body is also nature—it will adapt to different situations and temperatures." Similarly, our physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual training is necessary so that we are able to digest or maintain ourselves without becoming angry or experiencing stress. Many people cannot sleep because they are stressed and unhappy. There are many ways in life to be happy, and many ways to be unhappy. One man came and said, "Swamiji, due to the global crisis, I lost all my shares, and I don't know what to do. I am day and night thinking of committing suicide." I told him, "By committing suicide, do you think it will help you get your shares back?" Can we have one fan on, please? I am still not trained to sit in the Himalayas, as I always sit in a comfortable room or a garden enclosure. So, if one thinks, "I will do this, and I will come out of my problems," that is not the solution. There was no problem, there is no problem, and there will be no problem. Problems are created by our body, our mind, our intellect, or our emotions. There is one bhajan that says: In whatever condition you are, through whatever you are going, do not bring turbulence; do not create turbulence. Say God's name. Your mantra: Rām Kaho, Rām Kaho, Rām Kaho. So, in the beginning, I told you the Mahā Mantra. It is declared which is the Mahā Mantra. The Mahā Mantra is called Hari Om Tat Sat. Hari is Viṣṇu. Hari is the universal one. Hari, He means Viṣṇu, is Aum. Aum is Hari, and Hari is Aum. Hari he Aum. But we pronounce it quickly, so we say Hari Aum. Between Hari and Aum, there is Hari and Aum. Tat Sat. Tat means "that." Yes, that. Hari he Aum. That Sat is the truth. That is the truth. We are searching for the truth, and that truth is called Hari Om. Hari Om Tat Sat. That is the truth. Further, we go to Vedānta. For Bhakti Yogīs, it is Hari Om Tat Sat. For Vedānta, it is called Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi: "I am that Brahman." Finally, Eko Brahma Dvitīya Nāsti: only one reality is the Brahman, which is in everyone, in every atom. Duality is unreality. Where there is duality, it is unreality. Eko Brahma Dvitīya Nāsti: there is no two. So Vedānta says finally, "Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā." When you ask what is the truth, then realize the Brahman. Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā. Mithyā means non-reality. Now, Dvaitavāda. Dvaitavāda means those who follow and believe in dualism. Vedānta, Śaṅkarācārya, the Brahma Sūtras, and the Upaniṣads believe in non-dualism. So Advaita and Dvaita: Dvaitavāda and Advaitavāda. Some say there are two, but Advaitavāda says there is no duality. And when there is duality, then one of them is the reality. How is it possible that Jagat Mithyā? Dvaitavāda says we are sitting here, we are talking; this is not a reality? The Brahma Jñānī said, "That's not reality." I have my body; this is not reality. He said, no, it is a temporary focus, like a water bubble. My mind, my emotion, my thinking—this is not reality. He said, "No, everything is but nothing." What you see is nothing, and what you don't see is there. What exists is unreality, and what does not exist is the reality. Because the reality is beyond form. It doesn't matter which form; even the sun or other planets have a lifespan. One day, we will finish. It is not a question of a thousand years, or billions of years, or trillions of years, but the question is: what happens after that is finished? But that Satya, that Brahman, will never finish, and that is the truth. Therefore, it is said in Vedānta that this life, this world, is a dream. Whatever you dream at night, in the morning you wake up. If it was an unpleasant dream, you say, "Thanks to Mā Prabhujī, I woke up." It was a horror dream. If it was something very nice and pleasant—you were walking through a beautiful garden with roses, flowers, and many other flowers, or rivers, or something very nice with good air—and you woke up, you said, "Oh, Mahāprabhujī, I could have spent a little more time in the park." But that is a dream. Now you want to have it again, but that dream is gone. The past, in one second, is gone. You cannot reach the past, even if you fly with rockets; it is gone. The future is not here. You cannot reach the future, even if you fly with a very quick airplane. You will always be in the present. Tomorrow will be tomorrow. So, we are existing, living in reality, but we identify ourselves with non-reality. Vedānta says to identify oneself with the wrong, with non-duality, is ignorance. And that is the cause of suffering. Like the story of the tiger cub found by a shepherd and raised with goats and sheep. This tiger cub thinks, "I am also a goat." He creates fear through his thinking. He acts like a goat. If a little dog comes, the goats run away, and the tiger cub also runs away. One day, a real tiger came and saw, "Oh, my family member is with the goats." The tiger cub was full of fear. The tiger tried to catch him and caught him. He said, "My friend, my brother, you are a tiger like me. Why are you running full of fear with the goats?" The cub said, "Don't lie to me; I am a goat." The tiger closed his eyes and said, "Please run away, run away, don't kill me; I am afraid." The tiger said, "You are not." The cub said, "No, no, you lie." The tiger said, "Come with me." The cub said, "No, no, I will not come; you will kill me." The tiger said, "No." He saw a small pond full of water. He said, "Look into your face and look at my face. They are exactly the same. Now look at the goats; how are their faces?" The cub looked into the water, looked at the goats, looked in again, and looked at the tiger. "I am a tiger," he said. The tiger said, "Yes, you are a tiger. Why then did you have this fear? Why did you believe you are a goat?" He said, "Because you had that saṅgha, that company." In whose saṅgha you are, in whose company you are, that kind of quality will develop—psychic qualities, fear. Therefore, you are not a goat. Go with me. Similarly, when we identify ourselves, thinking, "I am this body, you are a body; I am, you are; I am a good person, you are a bad person," and so on, this is fighting. But we are hiding the reality that I am the Brahman. There is the story of the great king, the father of Sītā, King Janaka. Janaka Vaidhehi, after he got the title of Vaidhehi, was completely liberated while living in the physical body. Vaidhehi, Vaidhehi, śarīra sahita dehe. Dehe means body. One day, the king was sleeping in the afternoon, having a little rest, and he dreamed. It was only half an hour or forty minutes of yoga nidra. He began to dream that another king attacked his kingdom of Videha, Janaka's kingdom. There was a battlefield for ten days or longer. He is dreaming in the dream, and in that battle, Janaka's army of soldiers was killed—thousands and thousands. Life is dear to everyone, though we know we are Brahman. But life is dear to all of us. We don't want to die. We don't want to give up our identity that I am this body. It is not an easy job. So, Janaka ran away; he hid himself somewhere in the forest because he knew the other king would kill him. Such things happen in the whole world. If you see past histories in Europe, how many kings were fighting, how much blood flowed. You see the Middle East, you see India, you see China—everywhere, humans were fighting for power, but where? Gone. Nothing could go with you, not even this body for which you are fighting. Janaka, at night sitting on a tree because of the wildlife, in the daytime hiding behind trees and searching for food or water, constantly thinking, "Janaka, what a pity my kingdom is gone, what a pity my soldiers are killed, and I had to run away. My kingdom is gone." After ten or fifteen days, he was very hungry and didn't find any food, so he was searching and found a farmer. He went to the farmer, begging to give him something to eat. "I am very hungry." The king thought, "What a destiny! There was a day that I was feeding my whole kingdom, and today I am like a beggar." Tulsī Dāsjī said about Kṛṣṇa's life: "When Kṛṣṇa went to Dvārakā and then left this world, all his disciples—gopas and gopīs (the gopīs are female disciples and the gopas are male disciples)—including Arjuna and Uddhava, were very sad because Kṛṣṇa gave up his body. So, they all packed their things to come back to Gokula, Mathurā. All Pāṇḍavas were with Arjuna, the mighty Arjuna with the Gāṇḍīva Dhanuṣ. No one was such a great warrior as Arjuna. On the way from Dvārakā to Gokula, somewhere perhaps near Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh, the tribe's people attacked, took everything away, and the Śālvas took all the gopīs away, kidnapping them. Arjuna was there, the Gāṇḍīva Dhanuṣ was there, but Arjuna was powerless. Therefore, Tulsī Dāsjī is saying: 'Go, Pī, why Arjuna? Where he bought Tulsī? Naraka cabaret, ah?' Tulsī Dāsjī said, 'Oh human, don't think that you are the greatest and mightiest one. Some, but our one time is the great cow. Eyes kidnapped the Gopīs, though the same Arjuna and same Gaṇḍīva bow was with him.' He couldn't do anything." In the same way, Janaka was sad and said to himself, "Look, I am like a beggar." The farmer was very kind, his wife was very kind, and they gave him something to eat. But Janaka was a yogī; he had his discipline, his yama and niyama. So, he asked the farmer, "Brother, my principle is this: every day I will not eat and drink without washing myself. Is it possible that I can wash myself before I eat?" The farmer said, "Yes, brother." He did not know this was King Janaka; otherwise, the farmer would have called him, and who knows how good a host he would be. Janaka took some chapatis, roti, in his hands and a gourd of water, and went to wash himself. About three hundred meters away, there was a nice lake. Destiny—one never knows how God shows us something and how God wants to give a lesson to all. A hungry dog came and saw the roti, the chapati, in the hand of Janaka. The dog attacked him to take the chapati away. He came, jumped, took all the rotis away, and with his legs, threw Janaka down. Janaka had tears in his eyes and thought, "There was a day the mighty warriors were afraid of me, and today I am not even able to fight against a dog." Janaka fell down and hit his head on the ground; there was some stone, and it was painful. In that situation, he woke up; his sleep was gone. He wakes up and opens his eyes. He is in his sleeping room, in his palace. No dogs, no forest, no war, no battlefield, not hungry. He looked at the clock—that time was a sand clock. He saw it was only half an hour. In this half hour, he became a king, had a kingdom, fought a battle, lost the battle, ran away, spent time in the forest, was hungry, became a beggar, and was not capable of fighting even against a dog. Now, Janaka sat on his bed, and he got depression. See how depression comes. Depression, deep rest, or deep pressure—pressure, you know. If you are not happy, we say you look worried. So, depression comes from worry. Why are you so worried? Why are you worrying? You ask someone, "How are you?" He says, "Swamiji, I am very worried." In English, you will say, "Oh, Swamiji, I am in a depression." Janaka's question was this: what is the truth? Is this truth what I see now with my open eyes? Or was the dream truth? Because when I go into the dream, then this world disappears, and when I come back from the dream, this world again appears, and the dream world disappears. So, if this life is a reality or the dream is a reality, we don't know at all. Who is sitting here in this hall? If we are dreaming, the day when we will give up our body, we will be happy that we gave this struggling dream away, and we wake up in some other reality. But there will also be something. We will remember how nice Jādon Ashram was, doing karma yoga. How nice it was to be with Swamiji, sitting every day and listening to such good satsaṅgs. Every day, some new knowledge, new instructions, how nice are friends and everything. And now, in Sūkṣma Loka, Yama is running behind us and torturing us. Nobody is there to help. Rākṣasas are torturing, or good karma, and you are... Happy there, there are other things. But Janaka is in depression, sitting. What is the reality? What is the truth? I am happy that I'm a king, but is the truth that I'm a king? His wife came and told him, "What happened to you?" He said, "I don't know." Every day, I don't know. She said, "Go to the psychiatric," and they call the psychotic. That's called psychiatric. It is manovijñāna. Manovijñāna. So, this psychology, psychiatric thing, is not only developed in the last centuries or this century. It comes from yugas and yugas, from ṛṣis and munis. Manovijñāna is called psychology. Manan, the manan, overthinking, realizing. Manthan. Manan manthan mano vijñāna. Manthan means, like we are churning butter or curd to gain the butter. Similarly, when you have problems, depressions, or anything, you should do the manthan. Which kind of manthan? In your intellect, churn your intellect with viveka. Viveka in that part of the tyāga, and add some water inside bhakti, the milk of love, the milk of love, happiness. And the butter of Brahman will come, manthan. If you will not overthink and act immediately, then you will not get the butter, but even that curd will be spoiled also. Milk can be spoiled, and curd also can be spoiled, and then you can't gain the butter. Therefore, sometimes it takes time to wait to give an answer. There was one good Gurujī, a very famous Gurujī. Many people were with him. One day, the master was walking through the market. Gurujī had a big beard, a little longer than mine. There was one businessman who didn't like sādhus and so on. He wanted to make a joke to humiliate, to offend that master. So, the businessman said, "Swāmījī, I have one question for you." He said, "Yes. Can you tell me what is different, or is there a difference between your beard and the tail of a donkey?" The disciples said, "We will kill this businessman." Swāmījī said, "It's okay, it's okay. Let's go. We go." All disciples were angry with this businessman. "We will just finish him." The master said, "No." They went to the ashram one day, two days, three days. The disciples were angry. "Why don't you do something with that businessman? He humiliated you in the middle of the market, and some people were laughing." He says, "Okay. Good that they were laughing. No one was crying. I want to see that they are laughing. But say something." He said, "No, silent." Mahātmā Gandhījī said, "Silence is the most powerful thing." First, you need a lot of energy to be silent. And second, the ones who are sparking the dogs, how long will they be tired and pull their tails between their buttocks and go away? But Gandhiji said, "Silence is a very minor but powerful thing. A minor crack is powerful enough to damage a house." But it is wise not to say anything. Say this, say this. Master said, "Prayer karo, dhyan karo." Now, life's end came. After forty years, it was time for the Master to pass away. In the morning, the Master said to one of the disciples, "Can you call that businessman? I said, you remember him on the last minutes of your life. You remember he was so stupid?" He said, "No, you call him because I owe him an answer. I was silent for forty years, but I should give him an answer. If I will not answer, then I have to be born again to answer, so only one credit remains on me to pay back. Is that answer? Call him." Forty years. That businessman was so sad. "How could I do that? How stupid I was, though this Swāmī didn't do anything to me, or tell me; he just walked peacefully. How stupid I was." For forty years, he could not forgive himself. One side was suffering, and one side was peace. He said, "I will come, but I don't know through which face I should go to him." He came to Swamiji and said, "I'm sorry." Swamiji said, "No problem. It's okay, my son. I only want to tell you, yes, there is a difference between a beard and a donkey's tail. Hari Om." Because he asked, "Is there a difference between your beard and the tail that is there?" He said, "I don't want an answer." He said, "Yes, but this is the answer, my son. I bless you." And he went away. Similarly, karmic accounts go with us into other lives—this life, which life, we don't know. So, Janaka was doing the manthan. Then someone came and said, "You need a brahmaniṣṭha śrotriya Gurudev." So, Janaka announced that Janaka needs one guru. My God, can you imagine how many came to become a guru of the king? Many SMS came, many messages came, and many ācāryas, paṇḍits, śāstras came, and they all went, but no one could give him the answer. What is the truth? This life or the dream? Then came one, a Brahmajñānī, Aṣṭāvakra. That is also called the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā. Aṣṭāvakra means he had eight kinds of defects in his body. He was disabled, physically. When he came, people were laughing. "He will give knowledge to the king?" All began to laugh. Aṣṭāvakra also began to laugh. So, the king said, "Why are you laughing?" He said, "I am laughing at your stupidity." Look, who is the brave who dares to say to the king? If you go to the president of your country and say, "I am laughing at your stupidity," what will happen? But Janaka had no fear of life or death; I am one always. He said, "Why?" He said, "Yes, because you collect here all skinners who take the skin of dead animals, animal skin." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Because they have knowledge about the skins, that's all." I said, "What?" He said, "Because they see only my body, that I have eight kinds of defects in my body. But they don't know what I have inside." The king began to think, "Yes, there must be something inside." His story goes very long. Then it was Aṣṭāvakra who gave the knowledge to Janaka. "Janaka, are you sure that you were dreaming?" He said, "Yes, Gurudev." "I can write or paint all pictures, okay. When you were dreaming, what did you think?" "I was thinking about my kingdom. I was a king, okay." "And after the dream, oh, I am again now king, but I am thinking of my dream. Who was there during the dream? Your body was lying here. Who was in the battlefield? Who was in the forest? Who was the presence? I." "But you were sleeping here." "No, my body was sleeping here. And now, who is left in the dream, and who is here talking? So, it means that neither that nor this is the dream. Reality. Reality is that one who knows from here to Brahman, and that is the Ātmā. O King, get that realization that Aham Brahmāsmi. Eko Brahma Dvitīya Nāsti. Brahma Satyaṁ Jagan Mithyā. So, this world where we are existing, what we have, this body is like a boat just to cross the ocean. When we come to the mainland, we will step out of the boat. Similarly, we will step out of this body. So, only in human life is there the chance to get that Ātmajñāna. Do not waste your time gossiping here and there. Do not waste your time in laziness. And do not waste your time by doing nothing. Remain on your path, practice, practice, practice. Therefore, this life is only a tool for us to work, a means to practice, to get the machine working, to come to our destination, and that is Ātmā Jñāna." And that was the mantra practiced by Bhakta Prahlāda. You know the stories of Bhakta Prahlāda. He was in the street, going and singing: "Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari... Om Tat Sat. Japā kar, japā kar, yahī mahā mantra Hari Om Tat Sat. Hari Om Tat Sat, japā kar, japā kar, yahī mahā mantra Hari Om Tat Sat." Therefore, God is the truth. That is the om. Hariḥ om. Repeat, repeat, remember. This is the mahā mantra. Practice, practice, practice. So, my dear, I wish you all the best, and tomorrow again at this time we'll see you in this hall. And to those brothers and sisters, the practitioners, the spiritual seekers around the world, see you also through the webcast, as our destiny will allow us. Till then, all the best, and I bless you in the name of Om Śrī Alak Purī Jīsida Pīṭha. Oṁ Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī jaya, Deva Puruṣa Mahādeva kī jaya, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān kī jaya, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī jaya. Om Śānti.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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