Swamiji TV

Other links



Video details

Morning farewell satsang from Strilky Ashram

The seminar's essence is a clear understanding supported by shared techniques. These methods originate from the teacher's personal practice. The core program is Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna, a purifying fire that burns karmic obstacles. The teacher's presence was felt throughout. A personal story illustrates that all beings originate from a divine source and should live to return without shame. Support for reconstructing the teacher's residence is an act of devotion. Another story demonstrates the power of trusting the teacher's word over sensory perception, as a timely warning allowed escape from a sudden deluge. Teaching yoga in a prison showed that even the most resistant individuals can find peace and respect through the practice.

"Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna is truly the most essential program. It is a kind of tapas, a fire that truly purifies."

"We should not believe so much our eyes, but rather the Guruvākyā."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Last, but certainly not least, we must not forget the one without whom this whole event would not have been possible: our Swāmījī. When we began planning this seminar, we thought it would be good to have Swāmījī a little bit present—perhaps by playing a video or a meditation of his. But in fact, Swāmījī was so present all the time. I saw Jyotī and Chakpurī arriving with presents for you. I had already given them to someone. Can you please give them now? Thank you to Chakpurī and Jyotī. To whom did I give Chakpurī’s? I didn’t give it? Then please come here. Okay, now he is there; he will take it. Thank you. We must remember that the clear understanding is the essence. It is a small scale, but originally, this is the heart of the seminar: to ensure a clear understanding and provide support. But most of all, I like to check… this was the case. The techniques we have shared are now very simplified, but originally, these are Swāmījī’s personal techniques—how he attained what he attained. I have been practicing this since 1987. At that time, Swāmījī was personally leading the entire program, and practically everyone who came came for that. It was mostly in Reichenau, Austria, in the beautiful mountains. The groups were not so large, perhaps 80 people. Most practiced in Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna, and for those who could not, there was a small side group. Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna is truly the most essential program. It would be good if everyone strives to reach a point where they can participate. It is not easy; it is a little demanding, though Swāmījī has already made it much easier. Originally, the programs were longer. But this is the real Anuṣṭhāna I spoke about at the beginning of our seminar week. It is a kind of tapas, a fire that truly purifies, burning away karmas that could be obstacles on our future paths. Otherwise, we might burn in these fires and lose our way. I think we can be happy that Swāmījī was very present here, and we are preparing everything so he can return soon. One part of this is the reconstruction of Swāmījī’s apartment. We mentioned this earlier. There is a donation box on the table if anyone would like to support it. Since not everyone may know what we are talking about, some pictures have been prepared to show the progress. Should we sing a bhajan? I think a bhajan is always good when we travel. You have to travel now, and I travel a lot as well. We are all travelers. This was just for two days… now it has been eight days. You can sing. We have only been here for two days, now it has been seven days. It is a bhajan for traveling. We are all travelers, and everything takes only two days. The seminar was for eight, but we will all go now. So, before it is prepared… Swami Gajananjī was trying to convince me to say something, at least from time to time, at satsaṅg. I successfully resisted because I just returned from India and am still not physically balanced. I did not want to make any tapasyā for myself or for you. But he told me, "Please say something at least at the end." So I said okay. We had a beautiful week here, full of harmony and peace, which in these days of Kali Yuga is very rare. I think we will remember these days for a long time. All of us could feel Swāmījī’s presence—his help, his love, and his guidance. That was very beautiful for us and a wonderful experience. We thank Swāmījī a lot, and we also thank him for the beautiful leading of the seminar. I would like to tell you a story that happened to me many years ago; I think it could be an inspiration to all. A long time ago, I was reading in Swāmījī’s lectures that during Yoga Nidrā, one can reach the first point of one’s own life. This interested me, and I thought, "I would like that too." Then I forgot about it, but the wish was working within. Once, while practicing Yoga Nidrā, all of a sudden I was somewhere else. I could see myself saying goodbye to Mahāprabhujī and going to Earth. It was very beautiful and touching, but it also felt like it was just for a short while—as if you are going shopping or on a brief trip. After a very short time, we are back again. I have remembered this experience many times. I believe it is relevant to all of us because I think all of us were saying goodbye to some divinity. It didn’t have to be Mahāprabhujī; it could be some other form of God, but it was God. So we should try to live in such a way that when we see each other again, there is nothing we have to be ashamed of, so the meeting would be, from our side, pure and happy. When we come back there, we come back as a victor—if not a full victory, at least a partial one. This is something I wish for you all, and for myself as well. Can we see the pictures now? Could you switch off these lights for a moment? I would like to show you how it looks. Up there, we have the flat. It will be small. There will be one window too. This will be the staircase. There will be a small changing room, a bathroom, this beautiful… a window which gives a view to the garden, to the park. Until now, we were doing all the work by ourselves. But now for the woodwork and the plumbing, we need to hire somebody. We are trying to be finished by the middle of August for the seminar. Was it enough, or do you want to see it once more? Maybe then with the Hungarian translation, because you didn’t translate properly. I translated from Czech to English and to Hungarian; it was very blatant. So, should we do it once more? It’s just three minutes or so. Please show us once more. Let’s have a look at your kindness. And bhakti is changing from the money and from karma yoga into the flat form. In the pictures, you see how it’s looking right now. It will be a small flat with a window to the east. To this room, there will be a turning staircase, a small changing room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and this beautiful window to the park. Until now we did everything ourselves, but for the wood and plumbing we need to hire help. We are trying to finish for the seminar in August. Our Kṛṣṇānandjī is one of the old disciples of Swāmījī, and I guess he might have to share something with us. Krishnanandjī is one of the very old disciples of Swāmījī, and he might have to share something with us. Krishnanand Swāmījī is an old teacher, and he would like to share something with us. Karatama Prabhudip Karataki Jai. Maybe an old teacher, maybe not. First of all, as yogīs always find something to celebrate, I was thinking about what kind of celebration it is today. Well, I have been a Swāmījī teacher for 33 years and twice for 33 days. Maybe an old disciple, maybe not, but as the book, you always find something to celebrate. I was also thinking now what to celebrate, and I realized that today I am 33 years and 2 times 33 days a disciple of Swāmījī. Even that was a miracle, that I managed to be a disciple, and since then, my life has become a miracle. It’s every day and every minute. When I can be with family, it’s also a miracle and very beautiful, and in this way, all day becomes a celebration. I probably could not tell all my experiences from these years, so I will tell only one. Could you give us an example of how Guruvākyā should be taken seriously? That we still have time to be with you, but he stayed here in Hungary, and we went on a national tour. That’s when the—not the first one, but one of the miracles, we can call it a miracle, which we don’t understand; we used to call a miracle, which I don’t even remember very well. In 1979, after the summer camp with Swāmījī, he said that he still had time to be with us. I think the time is finished that he can say such things, but at that time he said that he had time. So we went on a tour in Hungary, and then something happened, some miracle. People call it a miracle, but they don’t understand. And then he said he had time. I think it is not possible to say that he has time and can stay with us. So he stayed with us. We went on a trip to Hungary, and at that time something happened that we can also call a miracle, and many people do not understand it. We were traveling as a convoy of seven Trabants. When we came home, Swāmījī said, "There is a very nice area, let’s go there for a picnic before we get to Budapest." So we had a convoy of five or six Trabants, and we arrived in Budapest, and Swāmījī said that we should stop and have a picnic before we get to the city. After arriving, Swāmījī said that it was time to teach Yoga Nidrā only to you, and those who were there. Swāmījī said that you should lie down in Yoga Nidrā, and now I will tell you how to practice it. Swāmījī said that the time has arrived that I can teach you Yoga Nidrā, and so the people who were there, they just lay down, and Swāmījī told how to do this. We enjoyed it very much, we got to know each other very well, and once we only heard Swāmījī’s voice that here is the time to get up very, very, very quickly, sit up and open your eyes, and if you put yourself together, then you have two minutes to jump into the car, all of you, because we can’t get out of here in a short time, then the rain will come. We were very, very deep in the Yoga Nidrā when Swāmījī suddenly said, "Okay, so now this is the right time that you get up, open your eyes, sit up, and as quick as possible jump to the cars and go, because in two minutes there will be so much water here that we cannot move." I have to go now, because in two minutes there will be so much water that I won’t be able to get the vinegar. Well, I have to admit that maybe none of us believed this, because it was so hot that I squirted the water from the tricone. I looked up at the sky; the sky was blue, and the sun was incredibly strong. But Swāmījī just said that quickly, quickly, because the rain will start to fall. None of us believed it, really, because it was a very hot, sunny day. The sky was blue without any clouds, and the sun was shining very strongly, and we could squeeze the water from our clothes. One of us, I don’t remember who it was, said, "He’s the guru, he’s our guest. So if we can make him happy, then just go." And as soon as the last person was in the car, the clouds were just closing the sky, and it started to rain, because a few hours before, all the country was raining. Just Swāmījī wanted to have Yoga Nidrā, and that’s why, in that area, it was stopped. And the moment when the last person got in the car, they started to look at the dark area, and it started to rain, because then we found out that it was already raining in the whole area, but where Swāmījī wanted to stop, and he… I wanted to have the Yoga Nidrā, but it didn’t rain. Nem kell hinni, mint amennyire a Guruvākyának. And then we learned that we should not believe so much our eyes, but rather the Guruvākyā. Just a quick reminder, did I hear correctly that it was a prison before this ashram? I don’t know if I remember correctly, but I heard that this ashram was a prison. We have many memories from our childhood, and in 1956, my uncle was close to the prison because of some political reason. I was something like 10 years old at that time. Of course, like every teenager, I wanted to have some supernatural power to go there and free him. I had some puberty, so I thought that I would like to do something natural to protect myself. Then, for about five years, I was reading yoga books that could be found in Hungary, and I went to every circus where there was a priest, thinking that they were also yogīs. At that time, for five years, I was reading many, many yoga books, and I went to the circus if there was a fakir, because it was in my mind that fakirs are also yogīs. I went to the circus because there was a fakir there, and I believed that the fakir also does yoga. Well, then I forgot about it for many years, until I met Swāmījī. I forgot about this, but then I met Swāmījī, and once Swāmījī mentioned that maybe we could go to the prison to teach yoga. And it was my wish to go there, but it happened that I managed to do it just in one year. And it was my wish to go there, but it happened that I managed to do it just for the last year, that we went to the prison and made Yoga in Daily Life classes for the prisoners. So it was my wish to do it, and I managed to do it until last year, when I went to prison for one year, and we studied prison law there in my daily life. There are different groups, but I think the prisoners wanted to joke with us. They came to show us the exercises, and they thought that they would set up a group of us, where there would be a group of men with tricolours, between 20 and 30 years old. One of them was as tall as a three-storied chair. Maybe there were different groups, and maybe the girls wanted to make a joke with us, because they made a group with men between 20 and 30 with very, very big muscles. And I was there with Kiran, who was showing the exercises. 20, 25, 30 years old, with very big muscles, and I was there. I showed them my āsanas. They were all pressed into the yoga room. Yes, they were all so strong. They were all pressed into the yoga room, and they said, "Well, now we won’t have to get tired of each other." They came to the yoga room and they told each other, "Now we will not get tired." I told Mahāprabhujī what to do with them. Of course, we are constructing the altar from the books. Aha, and so we made an altar out of the books of yoga? Yes, with the picture of Swāmījī on it, and we put those out. There’s the picture of Swāmījī, and we put that. And in the book, in the book of yoga, there are pictures of Swāmījī, so we gave it to him. Well, I told Kiran to stay up until I say your name. We practiced a śalabhāsana. We were practicing śalabhāsana, and I told Kiran that anything can happen, but you should not return from the exercise until I tell you. I told them that we are everybody in different conditions, so everybody can return when they feel like, but most probably everybody will stay in this position till the end of the class. After two or three minutes, somebody let the head down or let the leg down, but I told them, "Oh, it’s no problem. Then you can take the position again, and you can practice this four or five times." After three to four minutes, I heard someone put his head down, someone put his foot down. I said it does not matter, you can take the position again and repeat it four or five times. No matter how strange these men with enormous muscles are, after a while one of them did not rise up, and then I said loudly to Király, "It’s very strange, but this man with very big muscles, finally everybody was just lying on the ground." And then I told Kiran, it was whispering, but loudly, so that everybody could hear, "Okay, slowly you can return, because nobody is practicing." They were also whispering amongst each other, "Oh, there is something in that yoga." I think this is a very interesting question, because I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not. So then they did everything: meditation, breathing, whatever we said, they all did it since then. And they are grateful to them, because they are on the strength side, the physical strength, on the strength side of the body, that there is a very great respect for Yoga in Daily Life inside the house. And since that moment, they did everything. They did all the breathing, and the peace, and meditation. And thanks to that, there is a very big respect for yoga in their place, because they are standing on the side of the power, the physical power. And the girls and the people who are working in the prison, they said that, "Oh, there is no justice. The prisoners can practice yoga, but we cannot." And Yoga in Daily Life, in our system, we really have to believe it, because these people, who are extremely stressed, when the yoga class is over, and I say Hari Om, but they don’t want to leave, they sit down. And we must believe in our system, Yoga in Daily Life, because these men who are very much in stress and tension, after the yoga classes when I say, "Hari Om, goodbye," then they don’t get up and don’t move, and when finally, when they go away, they say, "Hari Om, when will be the next class?" Because when I was there with them, I was learning the hour. And then I said, "This is the end of the day, you don’t have to get up. This is the end of the hour, Hari Om." So one person who was very stressed there stood up and said, "Hari Om, Hari Om, when will the next hour come?" Next week we will go there again, and I really hope that, thank you for the next week also, and I hope I can give them the Strylki atmosphere, because they need it very much. Thank you, Christian Andrzej. And I think now is really time to slowly come to an end. I think the best is if we sing the prayer to the end, then you can take this energy with you. Thank you very much.

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:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel