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Part 1: A Birthday Reflection I wished him a happy birthday from everyone. He was quite busy, with many people visiting. They finished their function this morning; it was very short, only two hours, plus an extra two and a half. But I don't think he was upset, as the extra time was mostly due to people coming to see him and speaking with him. He said he would definitely come on Skype this evening to see everybody. We'll sing one bhajan until everyone arrives. Is there anyone who can play the ḍolā for us? He sajanāvalī lāge sāsadāhi sattasaṁ, Surati yora santa sabhāgāve. Surati yora santa sabhāgāve, Cāraṇya vīrakatam, Ācāraṇya vīrakatam. He sajanāvalī lāge sāsadāhi sattasaṁ, Sukhabe kuntasvarga nāhi, durlabha durlabha he sattasaṁ. Rājapata anaginataka jana, Rājapata anaginataka jana, Hoi Apalakame Baṅg A, Hoi Apalakame Baṅg Surti or Sant Sabhagave, Surti or Sant Sabhagave, Charongya Vedakadang, ah, Charongya Vedakadang. Hey, Sajan Wali Lagesha, Sadahi Satsang. Satsangatna samakasina matura naiya prayaagnahi ganga. Satsangatna samakasina matura naiya prayaagnahi ganga. Hare Hare Naya Prayāg Naya Gaṅgā, nīca svabhāva mīṭe satsaṅg se. Nīca svabhāva mīṭe satsaṅg se, kīṭā hoṭā jhoṅgā, ākīṭā hoṭā jhoṅgā. He sajana vālī lāge sāsa-dāha sattasam, he sajana vālī lāge sāsa-dāha sattasam. Surti aura sant sabhāgave, surti aura sant sabhāgave. Charongya Vedakatham, Charongya Vedakatham, Sattagurusayap sridevapurisa mastapakiram alam, Sattagurusayap sridevapurisa mastapakiram alam. Arre, arre, mast fakīr malang Swāmī Deepā Kahe Kahāṭak Gaon Prabhu Deepā Kahe Kahāṭak Gaon Satsaṅg Mahī Maṭaṅg A Satsaṅg Mahī Maṭaṅg He sajana vali lagesa sadahi sattasam Surati or sant sab gāve Surati or sant sab gāve. Charoṅgyā Vedakāthaṅg Oh Charoṅgyā Vedakāthaṅg Hey Sajjanā Valī Lāgesā Sadāhī Satsaṅg Hey Sajjanā Valī Lāgesā Sadāhī Satsaṅg Om Bole Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān. Today is the 15th of August, which is of course Swāmījī’s birthday, and it is also Independence Day in India. I’m not sure if we will see the function that was on today in the afternoon; Swāmījī was already asking if we saw it, but it was on during sādhanā time. I just wanted to tell a little story about the 15th of August. I used to get invited to Jadon Village School for the 15th of August function. The function is full of patriotism and independence and stories about Gandhījī. Then, in the middle of the function, they were singing a song which means, "Get all the foreigners out, get all the foreigners out." I stood up and started walking towards the gate. They said, "What are you doing? You’re the special guest." I said, "I don’t know, you told me to go." Śrī Dīp Nadeem Bhagavān, Nikkī, Jay. Mike, is this okay? Yeah, hurry on. Yesterday we started Swāmījī’s birthday party with the special bhajan which Holy Gurujī wrote about Swāmījī. Jai Śrī Maheśvara Nānjī Mahārāj. I think it is somehow obvious we should go into that bhajan a little bit today; it is his day. I will not sing the whole bhajan now because I think then it would be too much. We can sing it again in the evening, but more just shortly, and then speak about it. Holy Gurujī wrote this bhajan when he was here with us in July 1999. This bhajan is introduced by a dohā, a mantra of two lines before it, which Holy Gurujī also composed. Let’s first sing this dohā. This is quite remarkable. The whole bhajan describes Swāmījī’s life and Swāmījī’s achievements, but this dohā goes a little bit beyond that. It gives a background about which we have to think for a moment. It says Lord Śiva sent a Yogīrāj from Śiva Loka. He was a Jñānī and a Siddha—a wise one and a perfect one. Bharat is the name of India, so he incarnated in the country of India, and it is Śrī Māheśvarānandajī Mahārāj. This is something else than just saying he was born in this time and this year and in this village, which would be the normal life schedule for someone. So how does Holy Gurujī get the background to say he was sent by Lord Śiva from Śiva Loka? Let us look in Nīla Amṛta. The appendix of Līlā Amṛt has a chapter about Swāmījī. Holy Gurujī speaks there about Swāmījī’s birth—this is now Holy Gurujī’s account. He writes: "The story of Swāmī Maheśvarānanda’s birth is meaningful, and I will tell it here. In the early 1940s, I was staying with Mahāprabhujī at Mount Abu. One day, while resting in the shade of an ashok tree, I had some worries and some thoughts about the future. Mahāprabhujī was nearby and glanced at me. 'Madhavānandajī, why do you worry? Your wishes will be fulfilled.' His voice spoke to my heart and put my mind at ease. 'May the whole world be enlightened. May your message reach all humans. I wish that a great soul would incarnate once more to show the way of truth for those who wander in the darkness of their ignorance, who wander around aimlessly. I pray that this soul may give to them, through yoga and Vedānta, the realization of ātmā and Paramātmā so that they can attain liberation. This is my humble prayer to thee.' Mahāprabhujī laid his hand in blessing on my head and said, 'It will be so.' Then he told me that many years ago, Śrī Devapurījī had already made a divine prophecy just on this subject. He said long ago Śrīdev Purījī made this promise to the British governor at Nākī Lake that one of the seven ṛṣis from Satyaloka will soon incarnate on Earth. During childhood, his name will be Mangilal. Due to the pledge made by God Maheśvara—that means Śrīdev Purījī Mahārāj—this child will be under his special protection and later rise to fame as Swami Maheshwarananda. The great task will be made known to this great yogī and sannyāsī, brave hero and knower of the truth, and through him your wish will come true." So this is the background. Holy Gurujī wrote this Dohā in the beginning. I think it is sometimes good to remember these words, because sometimes we get too used to Swāmījī as the guru next door, so that we easily forget the real nature of the Guru. The refrain of the bhajan is: Jai, glory to Maheśvara Nandājī. Jai, slava Maheśvarānandajīmu. Mahārāj, the great king. Mahārāj, the great yogī. Glory to Bhulībhāī. That is the original name of Swāmījī’s mother. Slava Pulibai, that is the original name of Swāmījī’s mother. Sláva milovanému synovi Pulibājī. There is such a feeling in the heart for Swāmījī’s maminku. The yogi who has been born on the 15th of August... The word "kamal" is not "kamal" (the lotus), but it means something like great, wonderful, miraculous. So he really made a wonderful and miraculous work, or you could say he had a great achievement in his life. Then Holy Gurujī, in the verses, really goes through the life of Swāmījī. It is like a biography; this bhajan is like Swāmījī’s short biography. Maharishi Garg Āchārya Kevanshne—he comes from the Vanj, that means the family line, the dynasty of the Gargs. This is famous through one old saint, the Gargācārya. Brahman Kulke Bal—he was a child of a Brahman family, and the Brahmins are by tradition the priests and the teachers. In his childhood already the devotion, the bhakti, awoke in him. Chaudhurya Jagajal—and he, you can say, threw away the net of the world. That means he left behind him this worldliness, worldly temptations. Now, if you don’t know Swāmījī’s life, it is sometimes a little bit difficult to understand what he really wants to say. Swāmījī expresses the events in his life in a beautiful, poetical language. This world is like a net in which we all get entangled—desires, karmas. To leave this net behind means practically to renounce. So Holy Gurujī refers here to the fact that already at the young age of 17 years, Swāmījī renounced the world and became a Swāmī. Pita Shri Krishna Chandraji Pandit—his father was Krishna Chandraj, and he was a pandit, meaning the family priest or the leading priest of the village Rupavas. So he, Swāmījī, appeared in the district Pali, Bharata, Rajasthan, in India. That’s a specialty of Holy Gurujī, that he likes to give complete postal addresses in the bhajans. I was thinking, why is he doing this? Not only in this one, also in other bhajans he gives the exact postal address. I guess it is simply because he knows the bhajans travel. If a bhajan is beautiful, then one gives it to another, and it might go to other parts of India where they have no idea about who this Maheśvarānanda is. If now some real spiritual seeker has a karma with Swāmījī and is really searching for him, then, no problem, he will find him because the complete postal address is there. So it’s a kind of care. Further, the biography: Guru Madhavānanjī ke Nepal Āśram. So he learned full of happiness, and his guru was Swāmī Madhavānanjī, and in the Nepal Āśram of him. Again, he is very precise. In a short time, all the knowledge came to him. He was a disciple without example, like no one else. This is very typical, indirectly also. Holy Gurujī says something through this: when we have in yoga classes, let’s say, 20 students, and all of them say clearly, "I never ever practiced yoga in my life. I don’t know anything," and you start teaching them, after some months you see a difference. Nineteen of them do fairly well, but one of them is special. For him, everything seems to be so easy, so natural. Why is that? Because this one obviously is a reincarnated yogī, so he brings all this knowledge already. He doesn’t know it, but it’s just reawakened. This is very typical for an incarnated yogī, like Swāmījī is one. He doesn’t need a hard struggle to learn things, to understand things; the things come to him easily. It’s just reawakening. That is really what he says also in the words sabbividyā ay, which means, literally translated, "all the knowledge came to him." Shri Satguru Mādhavānandajī Simil Dayā Mahāprabhujī Dayā. So now he says that through Holy Gurujī, Swāmījī came now in contact with Mahāprabhujī. That means in inner contact. Swāmījī said clearly and repeatedly that he never, in physical form, met Mahāprabhujī. So he came in inner contact, got the inner guidance through Mahāprabhujī. How often you have heard when Swāmījī in seminars suddenly said, "I got a message from Mahāprabhujī." So Swāmījī has the inner guidance from Mahāprabhujī, but physically he never saw him. And Holy Gurujī brought him in contact with Mahāprabhujī. Meherbhai Mahadev Śrīdeveśwar also received, through Mahāprabhujī, the mercy of Śrīdev Purījī. Jagī Jyotī Viśāl—and he awoke the light in him. Great. What does that mean? Again, it’s a poetical language. Huge light—we would say, enlightenment. That means through his mercy, he got enlightenment. So the whole process of learning, understanding, practicing, until enlightenment, was actually very short and very smooth. And it is only like that for someone for whom it’s just a reawakening. Whatever did Mahāprabhujī do to get enlightened? Nothing. He had it from childhood on. When and how the reincarnated saint shows his divinity, that is just divine līlā. Every yogī, every avatāra plays a certain different role. So Swāmījī played this role now as a disciple of Holy Gurujī for us. And what we practice now is Kriya Yoga, this Kriya Anuṣṭhāna that comes from the practices which Holy Gurujī gave to Swāmījī at that time. And if it doesn’t work so quickly for us, that doesn’t say anything about the techniques. It says something about us. Viśva Vāraṇā Kārake Yogeśvara. And now already comes the point when Holy Gurujī sent him into the world. We have here the word Viśva Brahman. Brahman here means journey. So please do not confuse it with the word Brahman which means God, and also not Brahman that means doubts. So here it means journey very clearly. So now he says, this Yogeshwar Swāmījī, he was now doing world tour. It started in 1971 when he came to England. As far as I have heard from Swāmījī, it was hard for him. He returned to India, to Holy Gurujī, and complained and said, "I cannot do that." But Holy Gurujī was strict and sent him again. So then in 1972, he came to Vienna and settled there. Just think what would have happened if Holy Gurujī would not have sent him again. Quite a lot would be different in this world, in our life. And now he took care of the foreigners—that is, we. Now he was teaching the wisdom, the nectar of wisdom, teaching the yoga sādhanā again in poetical words. Teaching the nectar of wisdom means giving satsaṅg. Yoga sādhanā means creating and teaching the system of yoga in daily life. So all is in this one bhajan, and in this way he makes everyone content, happy. Another important point of Swāmījī’s work: "Shakahari" means vegetarian, so he made the foreigners strict vegetarians, or pure vegetarians. This word is not unimportant because there are many types of vegetarians. Some also eat eggs. Some see eating fish as vegetarian. So he says clearly, "He made us pure vegetarians." I remember one situation when Swāmījī was in a very, I would say, reflective mood. He said, "Maybe I did nothing, but one thing I have done in my life. One thing I have really achieved: that through me, thousands and thousands of people around the world became vegetarians." This is really a very, very important point in the heart of Swāmījī and Holy Gurujī. Part 2: The Essence of Sādhanā and the Glory of the Guru The term Durvyasanon refers to vices and bad habits. He helped us overcome these, you could say, our Western lifestyle. Our chāri vichār bhakti should be seen as sādhanakārī trikāl—he helped them to do sādhana. Trikāl literally means past, present, and future; we can say all the time. To do sādhana all the time means not only for one or two hours of morning practice, but the whole day should be ācār (conduct, how we act) and vichār (our thoughts), with bhakti (devotion). Swāmījī later often gave lectures on four points: āhār, vihār, ācār, vicār. Holī Gurujī refers to this here. He then comes to the country of India, where Swāmījī incarnated. He says, "The guru of the world is India." Pramāṇa means proof, and Swāmījī gave clear proof of that. He is like a great son of Mother India. The biography continues. What is Swāmījī’s biggest project? It is the āśrama: Gyān or Yogi Siddhapit Om Vishwa Deep Gurukul Dham. He established the holy place of Om Vishwa Deep Gurukul. The complete name is like a postal address: a place of wisdom and yoga practice. Sādhaka āve: there, the sādhakas, practitioners, and seekers come. Sādhana karaki: they can practice. Pāri paramābhīśrām: in poetical language, this literally means "and they get the highest relaxation." What does that mean? What makes us restless? Desires. Paramahṛṣi: no desires. That means achievement, perfection, Self-realization. The ninth verse was made a little later by Holī Gurujī. He first forgot and said, "Oh, a very important thing I forgot. I have to make one verse more." Pūraṇ Kumbhakīpavan Parpa Haridvār legā yā jamā’at: in the holy Kumbha Melā in Haridvār, he was taken into the organization—meaning he took all his foreign disciples there. He took all his followers and became a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara of the Mahānirvāṇī Akhāṛā. Jasrat Shiza says: in the glorious history of India (Bhārat Kī Gaurav), something incredible happened, a new light. This is one aspect. Another aspect is that "Bhārat Kī Gaurav" is also a title Swāmījī received. Gaurav literally means someone one is proud of; Bharat Gaurav means someone the whole country of India is proud of. In the last verse, usually the author's name is given. Astonishingly, it is written as Ganeśa Purī. We know clearly it is Holī Gurujī's darśan. We discussed this with him. He did not want to put his name because it is against Indian tradition and spiritual principles: the guru should not praise the disciple; it is the disciple's duty to praise the guru. But such was Holī Gurujī's love and respect for Swāmījī that he wrote this bhajan praising his disciple. He searched for someone else's name to use and chose Swami Ganesh Purī, who lived with him for many years in Nepal. Ganesh Purī was happy and honored to be the official author. I asked Holī Gurujī, "But in the bhajan 'Juga Juga Jīvam Maheśvarānanda,' you gave your name." He said, "No, that is my blessing for him, that he may live long. That is a little different." So Gaṇeś Purī, Guṇa Gavegurava: Gaṇeś Purī, or Holī Gurujī, is praising the qualities of the Guru. Satya kaha Sabahal: and he spoke the truth. We know it is the truth. This is a long bhajan; perhaps we save singing it for the evening. Since we are a bigger group now, I would like to repeat a correction in this bhajan. In the refrain and the very last line, there were two confusing versions. I mentioned this to Holī Gurujī, and he simplified it. The text in the last line is now meto jagaduka pandan. Please cross out the other two words. Our practice is simple. We often want it to be complex, but that is human nature. Swāmījī has given us everything we need. Gurujī would often say, "Hari Om Tat Sat, baki sab gap sab." Hari Om Tat Sat is the truth. Bākī is everything else; gapsap is gossip. What we have here—this satsaṅg, our practice, our mantra, and Swāmījī’s darśan and satsaṅg—is Guru Vākya, the truth we need on our spiritual path. The rest, other practices or things we collect, is essentially gossip. It may be interesting or entertaining, but the essence is just there. What Swāmījī gave us—our mantra, our practice, and his teachings—is more than enough. We just have to understand it, practice it, and realize it. Let’s make our practice successful by focusing on the present moment. Whether in satsaṅg, meditation, or daily activities, be fully in that moment. That is how we truly enjoy and benefit from our sādhanā.