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Behind the turmoil of this manifested world, the infinity of existence is hidden. Beyond time, beyond space, beyond each duality, lies the eternal magnificence of the divine existence. Humanity’s insatiable hunger for happiness, peace, freedom, love, knowledge, and immortality, Purījī, could be satisfied utterly and eternally only at that level of the Divine Existence in Paramātmā, the Highest Self. That quest for the totality of life brought us to India, to Rajasthan, to the Viśva Dīp Gurukul Śrī Mahāśvarānanda Āśram. Here in the vastness of Rajasthan’s desert, this yoga center is a garden, a garden of life. The heart and soul of that garden is Vishwaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśwar Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānandajī, author of the world-famous system, Yoga in Daily Life. As a Yogīrāj, the king of yoga, and the knower of all dimensions of existence, even the deepest, Swāmījī, with his whole being, is in the service of life. This Gośālā, a refuge for sick and abandoned cows, is the support for the physical plane. Here, life is respected, protected, and nourished. Here, the newly born calf has a future as a member of the large ashram’s family and not as a steak on one’s plate. Each plant, each bird, and each animal is a flower in this garden. The special treasure of Gurukul is the children. Knowing that ignorance is the biggest source of suffering, Swāmījī built this school. Education is the next dimension of his service to life. Three hundred children receive here an immense gift: knowledge. For most of them, this quality of education would be simply inaccessible. Materially and educationally supported, they will join the world as equal architects of its future. Here, they grow up in a sense of unity and the oneness of the world. Youth and joy should be synonyms, and here they certainly are. The school performance is a moment of togetherness and gratefulness to Swāmījī for the gift of knowledge. In this school, this Gurukul, both the prāṇa and the non-prāṇa are being taught. That is why we have complete faith, we hope that the children of this Gurukul will go into the future and make a bright future. There will be a sunrise of humanity that will give light to the whole world. Serving through the gift of knowledge, Swāmījī continued in the town of Pālī as an honored guest in this institution that takes care of young people. In this land of the wise, even at the colleges, saints are welcomed with joy and respect. This is why they can speak the word of truth aloud and directly. Purāṇa hai, jitnā ye brahmāṇḍ hai, aur cauthā point jo hai merā, how to be successful in life, jīvan mein safaltā kaise prāpt kī jāe, in very short, the self-discipline is the key to success, the key to success is self-discipline. The third level of Swāmījī’s service to life is the service to those who search for meaning, for truth, for the self, for liberation. This is the absolute dimension of the Satta Guru, the one who leads from the transient to the intransient, from the relative to the absolute. This morning, with the Guru Gītā, the ode to the Gurudev, the festival supreme to all festivals begins. Swamiji begins Guru Pūrṇimā by visiting the room in which, until the very day of leaving this world, his guru, Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Śrī Mādhavānandajī, so recently lived and meditated. This room is the living temple of his immortal spirit. Blessed are those souls who even once had his darśan, who even once physically met Holy Gurūjī. On this day, millions of bhaktas, seekers, and devotees throughout India come to their guru to see, hear, and touch him. Some of these bhaktas, as a tapas, a sacrifice, an expression of love, have crossed 200 kilometers on foot to come here. Their first destination is samādhi, the monument of Holy Gurujī, which is still under construction. They bow down to the saint who was their refuge in hard times and their guidance toward meaning through the ruggedness of human life. Then follows Parikramā, the solemn tour around the Samādhi, in which Gurujī remains permanently and physically with us. Then began the festival of Gurudev’s glory. The Indian spirit, never limited by intellect and dogma, freely explores reality. Those who have realized through yoga the final, divine reality. Puri, India calls Sat Gurudev the true divine master. This is Guru Pūjā, the homage to the Guru as an embodiment, a presence of the living light of the divine. For thousands of years, numerous yogīs, sages, and saints of India have made it possible for these people to recognize the true Gurudev. That is why this Pūjā is so sincere and holy. Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā He Kevalam. The pure into pure, the sick into healthy, the ugly into beautiful, the animal into human, and the human into divine. He transforms with His Being, His Presence, His Word, His Love, and finally with His Blessing. He is already that which seekers long to realize. On this day of highest wisdom, the students of the ashram school pass through the initiation of brahmacharya. A brahmachārī is one whose full attention and energy are directed towards the highest, towards Brahma. For these students, brahmacharya means that they have decided to be utterly directed toward what is now the most important thing in their life: education. If during their schooling they direct their time and attention towards learning, then they will acquire knowledge as a powerful foundation on which they can steadily build their future. This initiation is a part of Vedic culture. The Vedas are the ancient books of wisdom about conscious living. We ignore that wisdom only to our own disadvantage. The power and light of yajña, the fire ceremony, endow the decision of the students with firmness. Then began the central part of the Guru Pūrṇimā, the encounter with all those who came for the Guru Darśan. The bhajans of Śrī Mīrābāī, the saint woman, the yoginī and the poet known throughout the world, perfectly completed the beauty of this day. So, the way you put your saṃskāra into your children, the same way your child will be. Your child doesn’t need your money. And your child doesn’t need you to feed them. Instead of money, there is knowledge, and instead of feeding, there is love. These two things are what children need. The Guru Mahimā, the greatness and glory of the Guru, is endlessly indescribable. As it is our divine self, the glory of the Gurudeva is hidden by veils and even by the thick curtain of our recognizable world and our worldly identity. Only if we are based in Him can we remove our own curtains of limited, transient, and therefore false identities. Thus, removing the curtains between our self and God, we completely realize His nature. Realizing His nature, we realize that He is our nature. India is the land of thousands of years of continuous living experience of such realization. This is why here, Gurudev is an inextinguishable lighthouse for the unquenchable thirst of those who understand the meaning of life. This is a world without dogmas, a world of unhindered attainment of the Supreme. Here, the division between God and man is healed. The evening began with prayer in front of Holy Gurujī, the personification of the attainment of the purity and perfection of human life. On this various, holy, divine occasion of Guru Pūrṇimā, I bless you in the name of our spiritual lineage, as well as in the name of all the great saints of this world. Dharma means duty. Dharma means responsibilities. It means that a human is born to fulfill one duty, and that duty is to know thyself. Know thy relation with the cosmic Self is thy dharma in this life to fulfill. And for this, we need a living master. We need a living person who can guide us. A medical doctor can only give you the treatment if he is alive. A king can give you even the kingdom if he is alive. Similarly, only the Brahmanist, the Kṣatriya, the Satguru, the knower of Brahman, who can inspire us and give the motivation to come to this spiritual path—that is a Satguru, a true master, only and only. Only is it possible to come to know that realization through the mercy of the Master, finally, Guru Kṛipā He Kevalam. The goal of our every quest is happiness. About this realized happiness of fulfillment, about Ānanda, yogīs are singing in bhajans. This is a dance of joy of Jīvātmā to the glory of Paramātmā. Life originates from wholeness, but this manifested life is unable to attain its wholeness without water. Only those who live in a desert genuinely know that water is life. This dried-up land awaits only one thing: the monsoon. But the monsoon rains are increasingly short and rare. This is why, in his service to life, Swāmījī has for years built this man-made lake, which can hold over a hundred thousand cubic meters of water. This is a lake for rainwater harvesting. The only thing left is to wait and hope that the clouds will finally bring and deliver their precious cargo. After many clouds that passed in vain, one day the real monsoon rain began to pour down. Big raindrops finally began to dance in the ashram. Like life, like joy, the water was poured, soaking the land which had suffered thirst for ten months. This gift from heaven was welcomed with great relief and gratefulness. The lake began to fill. The rain harvest began. Powerfully and solemnly, the reservoir of life fills. The thirsty desert became green overnight, and each inch of land absorbed as much as it could. What is left runs down into the lake. Each stream, including even the smallest ones, directs water into the lake. Every stream counts. Each precious drop is gathered. With excitement, people watch how the vision and effort of a sage, a saint, becomes the realization of what they have only dreamt about. The lake fills, and in the end, it becomes what this ashram is for. It becomes Pūrṇa. Śrī Madhavānanda Sarovar, the lake of Śrī Madhavānanda, is now Pūrṇa, the complete. This lake is like a saint. It is here for everyone, in service to all forms of life. The water awakens nature in all its colors. Even temporarily, a desert turned into a playful garden of life. This richness of greenery is a feast to the eyes and the soul of all living beings. The nāḍīs are full, and all is permeated with meditative tranquility. After Jadan, in this world-renowned Umed Palace, Swamījī is a guest of the Mahārājā of Jodhpur. Encounters with people bearing a distinct responsibility in society are a part of dharma, a part of the service of a saint. And so the reception at the Vice President of India, Śrī Beru Singh Shekhawat, was filled with warmth and mutual respect. Afterward, the love of the bhaktas took Swāmījī to their homes. In such places, we enjoy the full warmth of an Indian welcome. Here, the visit of a holy saint is considered the greatest blessing. Then, Swamijī left for a pilgrimage, following traces of his own spiritual lineage. This is the village of Genri, in which there is a house and a room where Śrī Mahāprabhujī occasionally stayed. This room is the temple of the immortal spirit of a great yogī. This is the ashram in the village of Bola Guda. Here Śrī Mahāprabhujī spent many years. And here Holy Gurujī grew up in the indispensable fires of tapas beside his divine master. These people were witnesses of Mahāprabhujī’s greatness. And they do not forget the blessing of his presence. This is the Śrī Madhavānanda Āśram in the village of Nepal, which as a whole radiates the infinite simplicity of Holy Gurujī. For Holy Gurujī, everything was simple. His life choice was his Gurudev, Śrī Mahāprabhujī, through whom it was so simple to reach the Supreme. That Supreme, that Divinity, fills both this space and the hearts which simply must sing. Here in the place of Rāṇī, Swāmījī has a double role. He is welcomed as Mahāyogī, as a saint, and at the same time, he is a pilgrim beside the feet of the great Indian saint, Śrī Śirdī Sāī Bābā. Shirdi Sai Baba, worshipped as the avatar, the divine incarnation, left this world at the beginning of the last century. This is the land of Sanātana Dharma, the eternal relation between God and man, and the unity of all the saints. Thus, Swāmījī is welcomed here as Brahmagiyānī, the divine messenger, whose word was awaited with great expectation. But the real arrival home, the real return to the heart of Swamiji’s true spirituality, is here in Kathu. Here, everything is saturated with Śrī Mahāprabhujī’s presence. Neither time nor social changes can erase the intransient magnificence of the one who is Viśvadīp, the divine light of the universe. This ashram in the village of Barikatu is the temple of numerous aspects of the divine, whose unity and fullness Śrī Mahāprabhujī embodied. Within reach of the ashram stands this house, and this room, many times blessed by the presence of Mahāprabhujī’s guru, Śrī Devpurījī. But the place where Mahādeva Śrī Devpurījī lived the most is this ashram in the village of Kailāśa. This gorgeous temple, which was built by Swāmījī, still preserves details of the living presence of the Mahāyogī. This Gufa, the meditative cave, Duni, the fireplace of Tapasvini, and the Samādhi under which is placed the body of the one who was the embodiment of Śiva. Today is the day of Śrī Devpurījī’s Mahāsamādhi, which precedes the day of Swāmījī’s birth. This is also the day of the solemn placing of the Charan Padukā, the symbol of the Holy Gurujī’s divine feet, on his Samādhi, the monument of Gurujī’s presence in this ashram. This group of Gurujī’s bhaktas participates in yajña, the ceremony of fire as a consecration to the pādukā. We watch the solemn beauty of Yajña from the ancient tradition of the Sanātana Dharma. Here are present witnesses of the life and teachings of Śrī Devpurījī, Śrī Mahāprabhujī, and Śrī Holī Gurujī. Some of them shared with us their memories of the great gurus. Sankh bajāwan to oḷā bandhu jāye, tūfān bandhu jāye, aur martī samay kair gayā, kī bhai mā jāthe marūn, jāthe jān deūn, bhāteyī manā dhaṅnā jī. Jo to āpkā gāon mein sukh śānti revalī, jiskā din sumā kā gāon mein sukh śānti hai. And today, until now, I mean, on the second and third day, not the second and third of the month, the shop of goods, the entire village ahead, drowning... My name is Bajrang Singh. I am a resident of Jhalun. I am 60 years old. I was three years old when I fell ill. I lost my life. Atelier Baba ke śaraṇ mein dād diyo, śaraṇ mein nāg diyo. Baba bola, "Ārā, ye to mar gayā, mar gayā. Isko le jāo, lāś ke kata hai."Nāyā ho athe Mahārab Baba, āp godī mein le jāo, mano pāṭśo le jāo. Laga gate ke gayā, or gate se Baba ne fāṭā ni kyā jachī? Uske dhyān mein to bola, "Uṭhā lao, uṭhā lao, uṭhā lao." Mano Otha Layao, Otha Layao, Bolta Ya To Bhukha Mura Hai Charan Padukā is carried to Gurujī’s samādhi. The ashram is full of bhaktas, the admirers of this paramparā, the living lineage of masters of the supreme truth and the supreme knowledge of ātma jñāna. Under the pādukā, Swāmījī places a completely cast copper urn, in which there are books: the Līlā Amṛta, Mahāprabhujī’s biography, the Divya Darśana, the Yoga in Daily Life system, and numerous books of bhajans written by realized yogīs of this paramparā. Now, Gurujī’s samādhi is a vivid symbol of his presence in this āśram. Charan Paramatmā ke kamal hain, Guru ke bhi kamal hain. Yeh kamal kīcaṛ mein paidā hotā hai, aur apnā āp kā vikās kartā kartā Paramatmā ke charaṇon tak pahunch jātā hai. Yeh kamal kā ek sandesh hai, aur ek grām Kailāś, Dhārmik Nagarī, Puṇṇī Nagarī, jahāṁ hamāre ārādhyā. Bhagavān Rev Purījī Mahārāj kī tapasyā kī virajman yahā̃ thī, and so has Swāmījī’s stay in India. As are all his days, wherever he is on this planet, he has been filled with service to life. The absolute depth and purity of such service is only possible to one who is the knower of the divine essence of life. Such a one is not himself anymore; he is life itself.