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She may not be able to offer the most special type of meal, but she can offer something simple, served with love. She may not be able to decorate everything with gold, but she can ensure the simple things are there. The same is true for all of us when we perform seva. We may not be able to offer perfect seva, but what we can offer, we can offer with our whole heart, giving the best we possibly can. We may not be able to perform perfect sādhanā, but what we can do, we can do with our heart and with all our application. None of us are master musicians who have practiced all our lives, like a superstar. But when you sing a bhajan from the heart, it is worth even more than that. In everything, whatever it may be—like in that bhajan we were saying—"I don’t have special things to offer, but in their simplicity, they are special." They are special simply because of what I want to give, because it is coming from my heart. You may know the story of Sabarī from the Rāmāyaṇa. She was a tribal woman who wanted to offer food to Rāma. The only thing she had to offer was a type of fruit, a berry. These berries could sometimes be incredibly bitter and sometimes sweet. She wanted to give him only the sweet ones, so she tasted each one to check. In Indian culture, it is not proper to eat something that has already been touched by someone else's mouth. Those with Rāma said, "You cannot take this; it has already been eaten." But Rāma said, "This is served with so much love; how can I possibly refuse?" As Swāmījī always says in his lectures, Nāpa Bhavmehe—the value of something lies in the feeling towards it, or the feeling with which it is given. So, when we are doing seva, when we come to the ashram for seva or satsaṅg, or when we are doing our sādhanā, we should not get too stuck in thinking that if it is not perfect, it is not worth doing. The beauty and specialness are in giving the best we possibly can. Now, since it is Gurujī’s birthday, let us return to stories about Gurujī. This story is perhaps a bit like the one with Draupadī and her sārī, but it shows how the small things we do for Gurujī are remembered. I was once sitting with Gurujī at someone’s house in Ajmer. Someone came, and Gurujī immediately recognized him, though the man looked embarrassed. He approached very cautiously, like a young boy who knows he is in trouble. The story unfolded slowly. Thirty years earlier, Gurujī had been in Ajmer, and this man had taken mantra dīkṣā from him but had never returned to see him since. As soon as Gurujī saw him, he recognized him. Gurujī said, "Yes, I remember. You received dīkṣā from me in such-and-such a house." The man replied, "Yes, Gurujī." Gurujī continued, "And you gave me a woolen shawl, dark brown in color." "Yes, Gurujī." Gurujī even remembered the exact amount of rupees given as dakṣiṇā. "Yes, Gurujī." How could this be? It was thirty years prior, and Gurujī had never seen the man again, yet he remembered every detail. You might think that with so many people coming to Gurujī and taking mantra, such a small offering would go unnoticed. But witnessing this showed the bond that forms when you take the mantra. We may forget, but Gurujī does not forget, even the finest details. After this pleasantry, Gurujī began to examine him. "Why haven’t you been to see me for thirty years?" The man said, "Gurujī, I see you every day." Gurujī replied, "No, you don’t. You haven’t been to see me in thirty years." The man insisted, "Yes, Gurujī, every morning I perform my āratī thinking of you, and I come to the ashram and do praṇām in my mind." Gurujī then asked, "Why don’t you come to the ashram or to Jaipur at least once or twice a year for Guru Pūrṇimā?" The man explained he was too busy with his family and work. Gurujī said, "Come on, you could take some time to come once or twice a year." Again, the man said, "But Gurujī, I come every day." Gurujī said, "Okay, good. Close your eyes. Now, imagine it is morning and you are doing your āratī. Then you have breakfast—your wife brings such a good meal, and you eat heartily. Your children come, greet you, and get ready for school. You go to work and have a completely successful day; everything you do turns to gold. Business is perfect, with many customers. You return home; dinner is ready, the children greet you, and you talk with them. Imagine that perfect day. Now open your eyes. Come on, now come with me to Jaipur." The man said, "But Gurujī, what about my breakfast? I have to go to work. What about my children?" Gurujī replied, "But you just did the whole day! If you can visit me every morning by just closing your eyes and coming to the ashram, then you can also, for one day, do it with your family." The man sat there whispering, "Oh, Gurujī..." Gurujī said, "At least once or twice a year you must come." Of course, he said yes. I do not know if he came, but the lesson is there: we need to keep in contact with Swāmījī. Of course, we keep that contact from within, but when you have an ashram, satsaṅg, seminars, and classes, it refreshes that memory and refreshes your sādhanā. Also, through webcasts or other means, when Swāmījī is in contact, it is different from just having it inside. Perhaps a stage comes where it is not necessary, but while we are all children on the path, we need that contact in one way or another, also through bhajans and programs. The second story is about a man from near Nepal, a truly amazing bhakta. He was so poor he could barely feed his family. He came to Gurujī for mantra dīkṣā. After giving it, Gurujī asked, "What is your wish?" The man said, "Gurujī, I am sorry to ask, but I need money to feed my family. I need to be able to earn." Gurujī said, "You should go to Mumbai; there you will earn all the money you need." He had no money for the trip and spent three months saving just to buy the train ticket to Mumbai. He returned to the ashram in Nepal for blessings. Gurujī said, "Oh, you are going to Mumbai." Then, Gurujī gave him a prescription for medicine and asked him to go to a village about 8 km away to get it. The medicine cost all the money he had saved for Mumbai. He bought it, brought it back to Gurujī, and said he would have to save again. He left and started saving once more. After a few months, he returned. This time, Gurujī asked him to get something else from somewhere else, and again, that money was spent. From his side, there was no question; Gurujī asked for seva, and he did it. He went home and began saving again. When he returned a third time, Gurujī finally gave him his blessings and said, "Go." That story is about twenty or twenty-five years old now. That man is now extremely well-off in Mumbai. He went there with nothing, but everything he did turned to gold. He built several small businesses, and the stories of how they succeeded are incredible. He told me one story that sums up the blessings with him. He was importing Pampers, baby nappies. Suddenly, there was a shortage in Mumbai, and he had a stock. Not only was there a shortage, but a craze emerged where every wealthy person in Mumbai wanted their baby in Pampers. About fifteen years ago, he was selling one packet for 3,000 rupees (about 50 euros), while the normal price was around 2 euros. The demand was immense because he had the only stock. The contrast between the poor in the villages and the rich in Mumbai is incredible. The situation grew crazier as he sold his entire stock wholesale to other shops at that high price. The very day he sold the last packet for 3,000 rupees, a ship arrived full of Pampers, and the price dropped back to 120 rupees. He had no stock left, so it did not affect him. He constantly has such unbelievable stories, and he knows where his success came from. Gurujī would often call him when organizing functions, needing something. On his side, there was never a question. The flow keeps giving; it comes and goes. Now, every year, he calls in February or March, determined to sponsor one of the functions at Gurujī’s mahāsamādhi. If I tell him both sponsorships are already taken, he gets upset and says, "Can’t you get them to cancel? Give one to me." The trust he showed at the beginning, when Gurujī sent him three times—each time he had to collect everything from scratch—is kept in mind. Another bhakta from Jodhpur was a jeweler with a big business. Gurujī once called him out of nowhere and asked him to donate a large sum, about two thousand euros, to a gosālā that same day. The man said, "Oh, Gurujī, I don’t have any cash. It’s not a good season." Gurujī said, "Okay. If you don’t have any cash, what can we do?" It was no problem for Gurujī. Two days later, the Income Tax Department raided his house and found more than 200,000 euros in unaccounted cash. He immediately called Gurujī, crying for help. Gurujī said, "I was helping you two days ago, but you said you had nothing in the house, so I thought you had no problem. I knew they would come. If you said you had no cash, then it’s no problem when they come. What to do?" It is hard to listen sometimes to what Swāmījī or Gurujī says. Sometimes it seems against logic, but if we cannot take the message when it comes, we miss the chance and the power of that Guruvākya. There was a saying Gurujī always used, mixing English and Marwāḍī: "Ave to welcome, ni ave to be you to come." Which means: "If they come, they’re welcome; if they don’t come, the crowd is little." For me, it was like a mantra for how Gurujī lived, and how sādhus should live. You all know Gurujī as sitting there doing his mālā, happy in peace. But if anyone came, it was immediately satsaṅg. If they came, they were welcome. If they did not come, the crowd was less, but that also meant more time for mālā. It was the same with food. If good food was there, Gurujī enjoyed it very much. But if the food was exceptionally good and you ate too much, you would get a stomach ache and be unable to do mālā. I always felt with Gurujī that if the food was good, it was welcome; if it was not and he did not eat much, it was better for doing mālā again. In that way, if the crowd was less there, he was free here, which is much better for sādhanā. It was the same with money. If someone gave a donation, he would worry deeply about using it properly, taking great care that it was not wasted. I laugh at myself because once, on a morning walk, I saw some lights on in an old building from Gurujī’s time and had to go turn them off because it was already light. Anyone who walked with Gurujī in Jadan would remember he would see a light on and say, "Run and turn it off quickly; it’s wasting electricity." You would spend the morning walk running here and there to save these small things. People know Swāmījī also takes care of small things; it is a rare quality. For Gurujī, whenever any money came, a great responsibility came with it to use it properly. So if it came, it was welcome, and he would use it properly. If it did not come, the crowd was little; he did not have to think so much about it, and it was better for doing mālā. If he was invited to programs and traveled, it was welcome because Gurujī’s life was satsaṅg. But if there was no program, it was time for doing mālā. Our life constantly ebbs and flows between activity and space. When activity is there, it is welcome; we do it. When the chance comes that it is not there, we go back to our sādhanā, our practice, and awareness. A teaching from Gurujī that is most special to me was his explanation about kṛpā (grace). He said there are four types of Kṛpā. The first is Devatā Kṛpā: from the gods, we receive a human birth. Gurujī explained that we get the chance for this human birth so we can do something spiritually. To get a human birth is like receiving a priceless diamond. The second is Śāstra Kṛpā: from the holy scriptures and teachings, the spiritual fire and inquiry are awakened within us. As Gurujī said, the main thing these teachings do is awaken in us a desire to find a guru. The third is Guru Kṛpā, which we all know about and Swāmījī talks of so much; it is in all the bhajans. Without Guru Kṛpā, we cannot attain realization. We need the Guru’s guidance, knowledge, and mantra to perform sādhanā. The Guru opens the door, shows the path, and guides us. Then he said there is a fourth kṛpā, without which nothing can be done. You might immediately think, "But the bhajans say Guru Kṛpā Kevalam—Guru’s grace is everything." Gurujī said that is true, because without it, nothing can happen. But the fourth is also necessary. The fourth type is Kūṭ Kṛpā, which means grace or blessing towards yourself. Swāmījī can give us all the tools we need for the path, but we have to bless ourselves by actually putting them into practice. There is a saying: you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. The horse must do it itself. Similarly, we must give ourselves that blessing by putting the mantra and sādhanā into practice, not just expecting Swāmījī to do everything for us. Without the Guru, it cannot be done. The Guru gives the required equipment and guidance and opens the door, but we must walk. We must put in the effort, the tapasyā, to realize what we have been given. Gurujī said you must realize that both must come together: Guru Kṛpā and Kūṭ Kṛpā. Both are needed for success. We all have the mantra from Swāmījī and the instructions for practice. He cannot practice for us. If we practice and have questions or problems, we go back to him, and he can solve them. But the practice and effort must come from us. Sometimes we get lost thinking, "Swāmījī will take care of this." Yes, he will take care, but we must do our part. We must realize that while it may come from him, our part we must do. I would say the reason we are so lazy in doing this is perhaps we think we do not deserve it—to be that special or go so far on the path. Why not? We have everything we need. The required things are not missing; just the effort must come from us. Swāmījī has provided the tools. The constellation is there: we have a human birth, the blessing of the śāstras, the desire to find a guru, and we have a guru. The one of those four kṛpās we must ensure is not missing, or is more present, is the last one. We must bless ourselves with that effort, practice, and constant sādhanā—whether it be karma yoga, haṭha yoga, rāja yoga, bhakti yoga, bhajana, or awareness while serving in daily life, with family, or at work. We must apply ourselves in everything as best we can. It is almost like we always have the image of the lotus. Swāmījī gives us the lotus, but through our effort, it unfolds. So let us make it unfold. Again, we start in small ways, like the teaching from Draupadī about the small piece of sārī that came back so greatly. Whatever it is, in small ways we start that process and keep going. Understand that even the smallest effort is worthwhile because it adds up. There is a beautiful story from school textbooks in Rajasthan about a crow that wanted to drink water. It found a matkā (earthen pot) with only a little water at the bottom. The crow could not reach the water because the opening was too small. So it started picking up small stones and dropping them into the pot. It kept bringing stones, and as it filled the pot with stones, the water level rose until the crow could easily drink. Every small thing we do with awareness is like putting a stone into that pot, raising the water we can drink. Sometimes what Swāmījī asks us to do may seem unrelated to our spiritual path. But what do stones have to do with water? They bring the water up. You will not drink the stones, but you will drink what happens after you put them in. For me, the essence of what Gurujī taught was that one thing about kṛpā. It was the key. He sat face-to-face with me and said, "Remember this." What Gurujī taught me about kṛpā touched me from the bottom of my heart. I feel everyone should take that in: take the treasure Swāmījī has given us, keep polishing it, and ensure it shines. That is why I know each of us should polish and work on what we have received. Give yourself that blessing. In the bhajan meeting, we practiced a bhajan that fits very well here: Mānamā namayā linu sattva guru shyām, a Kṛṣṇa bhajan. Everyone knows Holy Gurujī, from the beginning of his life and lifelong, remained a special worshiper and adorer of Lord Kṛṣṇa. You could always make Gurujī happy by singing Kṛṣṇa bhajans. Mannā māyelīnu sattva-guruṣyā, Mannā māyelīnu sattva-guruṣyā, apahi apalaka vinaśi... Kya dunyā sikā? Kya dunyā sikā? Nandamannu Satya Mannamuya Antaryāmī Nindaniyabhe Chennai Pallabhar... Viśargāyatamā Viśargāyatamā, mujhako darśī ek bharabar, jaṅgal aura graha. Namo sattva māyā abhināśī. Āpaiya lakabhināsī Kyādunniyā sīkadunniyā Namanmanmanmantriyamiṣya Palamega Palamebhaja Me has has kar ha ga Dandamannaki sab suddhi bisari, Dandamannaki sab suddhi bisari, mann muh yad vinaasi. Apahi alak vināśī yad duniyā sikhā? Kyā duniyā sikhā? Mannā mannu moherī no sattu gushā. Mannā mannu moherī nthariyā viṣayā. Jap tappatī rat vrat sabjuta... Nāhi Bhāvakaidāna Allā kuddha īśvara nahī̃ manu, Allā kuddha īśvara nahī̃ manu, Nāhi māna mērā, nāhi māna mērā, Māna māna māya līnu sattuṣyā, Māna māna māya āntariyāmiṣyā. Alaka vināsi, āpai āpa. Mannamannamoyali sattikurushya. Mannamannamoyali nantaryavishya. Om Soham Summiran Naimaam. Om Soham Summiran Naimaam. Na hū sadh prāṇāyām, na hū sadh prāṇāyām. Iḍā piṅgalā sukhamānā naimān, iḍā piṅgalā sukhamānā naimān. Unnā hī śivarām kainā, unnā hī śivarām kainā. Man man mohilī no sattu syā, man man mohilī antariyāmī syā. Āp hī āp alak avināśī, āp hī āp alak avināśī. Kya dunyā sikā manna mannu sattva guru manna mannu māyā intaryāmiṣyā jī deva pārēsā brahma he mannamoha Jīva-parīṣa-brahma-aimāna-muhannu-manna-bhāveṣyāma-bhū-manna-bhāveṣyāma Siddhi Pakehi Karankothi Vandana, Siddhi Pakehi Karankothi Vandana, Saranda Kamal Vishra, Saranda Kamal Vishra, Manna manna muyalina satta gurushya. Manna manna muyalina antaryamishya, apahī āpā lak vīnāśi khyādunni āsikā. Manna mannamu yalino sattva guruṣyā. Manna, manna, moye, lino, anter, ya, mi, shi, ya, guan. Sussī Mātov Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān.