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Raṅgadhenī Amārī Chadarīyā Raṅgadhenī Amārī Chadarīyā, May Kārī Garā Sunake Āyā Chārā Raṅga De Māṛī... Acha, Rangatho Aage Rangia Bahutarina Takbhai Paka Ranga Bina Paranna Jaahi, Paranna Jaahi Suchaahi, Ranga Dini Amari, Charani Amari, Charariya, Pari, Pari, Charariya. Chādara esi raṅgake dina paka raṅgame bāi. Chādara esi raṅgake dina paka raṅgame bāi. O jhāva-rāṅgade nāri, jhāva-rāṅgade nāri, ādāri, ādāri,... ādāri. Mange kahe ranga kaba hu na utar tam bhai? Ranga dene hamaari, chhara dene hamaari. Holy Śrī Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jayā. Śrī Śrī Satguru Deva Kī Jayā. Hum bole, Śrī Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī jaya. Śrī Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva kī jaya. Dharm Samrāṭ Paramahaṁs Śrī Svāmī Maravanan Purvājī Mahārāj kī jaya. Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁs Śrī Svāmī Maheśvaran Purvājī Satguru Deva kī jaya. Hari Om. Many greetings from Jodhpur. Today, Swāmījī was calling us from Nepal and gave us a new instruction. She said that for today, we should have the webcast with a translation into Czech. So this is the first time we are doing this here in Jodhpur. If we make some mistakes, please forgive us. As many people will know, Swāmījī is on retreat in Nepal. He said to send his blessings and his love to all the bhaktās around the world. He expects that within the next 24 hours he will have a good internet connection where he is, so that very soon he will also be able to join the webcast. He said he was looking out from the place where he is staying at the most beautiful view of the Annapurna Mountains, one of the holy mountains in Nepal. It is also an area with many pilgrimage places. He is staying there on the side of a lake in Pokhara. As he was describing it, one could only imagine how beautiful it is. Just the other day, on Thursday, there was a special constellation called Puruṣa Nakṣatra, Guru Puruṣa Nakṣatra. It is a very special and auspicious constellation, and this time it also fell on Gurupūrṇimā. So what better time to remember the Guru and to remember our Master? He may be physically with us or far away, but according to our inner self and our inner thoughts, we are far or near from Him. It is up to us and our love, our application, as to where we stand with Him and where He is in our heart. According to that, we can receive the blessing and the guidance. Many will have experienced that feeling at a moment when you have a wonderful connection with Swāmījī, and at the same time, the question you want to ask him just seems to be answered from within. Or someone will come who will answer that question for us, or a situation will arise that answers it immediately. It is not just a coincidence; it is that inner connection that allows it to happen. What is important from our side, the key in that relationship, is to be open to accept the advice or guidance Swāmījī gives us, and to accept the answer that will come. It might not be what we want to hear; it may be the exact opposite. But through our openness and through the trust we have for the Guru, He can give us not the answer we want, but the answer we need—the answer which is good for our spiritual development, our personal development, and for taking us on our path. It is so important for us to develop that openness and that humbleness towards the Guru, to be able to accept those things. There is a Buddhist writer, Jack Kornfield, who wrote about living many years in a monastery in Thailand. He said the hardest practice for him when he first arrived was to bow. It was difficult for him mentally, and physically he felt stiff. In that monastery and culture, every morning he had to bow to everybody, not just folding his hands but touching the ground in front of everyone. He wrote that over time he became flexible toward that idea and realized what a beautiful practice it was. He realized it had nothing to do with the person receiving the bow getting anything, but that he was getting all the benefit. He was becoming flexible and accepting, opening himself to accept what others had to offer him. We also have a similar practice here in India. I often see that for many people, it is difficult when they come, especially to the school. The children do praṇāms to their teachers, the teacher to the principal, the principal to me, and of course, we all do it to Swāmījī. When those children go home or wake up in the morning, they also do the same to their parents, uncles, and aunties. When you actually accept that, it is such a beautiful practice because it acknowledges that the person you are doing praṇām to has something to give you. It comes back to the English word "understanding." If you split it into two parts, you have "under" and "standing." In order to understand what somebody has to say, you have to stand underneath them. You have to acknowledge that they have something to give down to you. When we bow to the Master, it is a physical, mental, and emotional acknowledgement that Swāmījī has something to give us, and that hopefully he will let that knowledge flow down to us. In the yogic, Vedic, and Hindu traditions, when a great master like Swāmījī comes, we bow to their feet and touch them. What we are doing is saying from within that, even if we cannot come to the level of his head and upper chakras, at least we can be there with his feet. Ādi Śaṅkarācārya said in the Guru Aṣṭakam: if you haven’t understood the Guru’s feet, then every other type of knowledge is useless. When that knowledge of the Guru, that understanding of him even at his feet, comes within us, then all other knowledge awakens. In an Indian house, when the guru comes, the first thing the family does is wash his feet. The ladies of the house take that water as a prasāda and guard it especially. That water is sacred because it carries the dust and the blessings from the Guru. A similar practice occurred at the Last Supper when they washed the feet of Jesus. For me, at the Kumbh Melā, people often say they cannot bathe in the main bathing place where Swāmījī is because the crowd is too big. My solution would be to bathe 100 meters downstream. That water has passed over that sacred place and has passed over the feet of saints like Swāmījī and others bathing there. You get both together: not only do you bathe in the Amṛt of the Kumbh, but you bathe in the Amṛt of the Guru Caraṇ. It is like the Kumbha Amṛt with interest coming to you. When you wash the guru’s feet, that water is called caraṇāmṛta, the nectar of the guru’s feet. Within Hinduism, there are many types of Amṛt, like Jñāna Amṛt, the nectar of knowledge. But of all the types, the most sacred is that which comes from the Guru Charaṇ. We all know the Bhajan "Guru Charaṇ" which says that one can go on a pilgrimage to all the holy places of India, but just as effective is to go and understand your guru, to sit at his feet and take his blessings, to give a chance for that jñāna to come to you. Holy Gurujī would sit and just do his mālā. It was very rare that when we sat with him he said something. But you would sit there at his feet, and when you left the room, something had changed. If you came in full of anger or restlessness, sitting there for a few minutes, inevitably, because of that amṛt coming from him—just his sheer presence—you would leave less angry, without that restlessness, with a glimpse of the peace and love within you. Somehow, without any words, just by his presence and vibration, that started to be revealed. That is what we should remember. We have such a special constellation like the one on Thursday. We should remind ourselves of what it is to have such a great guru and a great lineage, a great paramparā. Through what past karmas, through what good things or blessings, did we get this chance to be here, to be a disciple? When you come to Swāmījī, when you come to your guru and you offer something—as we figuratively offer everything we do at his feet—there is nothing special about that giving. Of course, it is special to give, but even more special is to have somebody who can accept it. In our daily lives, we often hear people say, "I’m just looking for somebody I can have a relationship with, who can love me." Even harder to find is someone who is willing to accept our love and accept us as we are. That is what we have if we have a master who accepts everything we give to his lotus feet. Such a special chance on this special constellation. I have told this story a few times in Europe, but no harm in saying it again. At the last Kumbh Melā in Ilāhābād, I went to ask Āśaramjī Bāpū, one of the great saints of India, if he would come to our camp so we could have his darśan. He has huge satsaṅgs. That day, there were about 60,000 people in the tent. He wasn’t there yet, but knowing somebody, they took me around the back and said he would meet me when he came. I was standing where his car would arrive, partitioned by a tent. On the other side were the 60,000 people; on my side, I was all alone. It was surreal. Everybody was singing bhajans, the atmosphere was electric outside, but inside it was a little bubble of quiet. Āśaramjī came in his car quite quickly and stopped suddenly. As everywhere in the Kumbh Melā, it was accompanied by a large cloud of dust. As the dust settled, he opened the door, came out, and marched towards me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and started to shake me, saying, "You’re from Maheśvarānandjī, aren’t you?" He had come from out of nowhere. I don’t know if he had been told who I was. As he shook me, he kept saying, "Don’t let go, hold on to his feet. It doesn’t matter what he tries to do. He may try to kick you off, just hold on, don’t let go." When you have a chance to be with somebody who has that realization, like Swāmījī, at times, because of our inner shape or our inner difficulties and obstacles, it can be a somewhat rough or demanding ride. In Ilāhābād, after that, we drove up the road a little and got stuck in a traffic jam, resulting in everybody sitting in one place for about half an hour. At that moment, I was so excited about the whole bathing and how beautiful it had been to be with Swāmījī. I was open and enthusiastic. I thought, we’re standing here doing nothing. I said, "Swāmījī, can I go on behalf of everybody and give one flower mālā to each of the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras sitting there on their rath?" It was out of a joy of giving, because I was so happy to be part of that atmosphere and to be with Swāmījī. If you have been to the Kumbh Melā after the bathing, you know that basically everybody is happy. There is such purification and exhilaration. I went to each one, first from the Ācāryajī, the most senior, all the way down the line of Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras. Someone was with them with a whole armful of flower mālās, and we gave one to each person and did praṇām. The next day was more restful, but there was such an energy within my body; it was almost like I was shaking. It wasn’t nervous energy; it was something really beautiful and special. I was talking with Premanāñjī, trying to work out what this was. After some discussion, I suddenly realized: it was the blessing from yesterday from giving those mālās. Somehow, through my innocence, I had gone there, and for everyone, it was the first mālā they received after the bath. Every one of those saints was glowing with happiness, and I feel they were so open that they gave me an unbelievable blessing. It was no intelligence of mine; it was nothing I had understood to do. It was just being a little simple and doing it. What I realized from that is the power in the blessing of those saints. It is a śakti you shouldn’t miss the chance to take at every opportunity. When you see Swāmījī, take the chance to do praṇām, to touch his feet. Every day, the first time you see him, do that praṇām. Just as Jack Kornfield said: after some time, he realized he’s not giving anything to the person he’s bowing to, but he gets everything from them. When we are children, we bow to our parents to acknowledge that they can give something to us, give us love. When we come into prayer, we bow to everybody because they all offer us something. We touch the Guru’s feet, but we also acknowledge everybody else, acknowledging their beauty and their spirituality. Some of you will have seen at the Kumbh Melā, when sādhus have a bandārā, there is such joy in greeting every single person sitting there, thousands of people. For some, it is just a formality, but for those who understand and know, it is actually the best part of the Bandhāra. So, what I wanted to say is there in Āśaramjī’s words, especially on this special constellation for the Guru. Just remember that those feet are there; don’t let go. Śrī Śrī Devīśvara Mahādeva Kī Jaya, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Mārvaṇānjī Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarān Purījī Satguru Deva Kī Jaya, Dhan Dhanāha Saha Sāya Bhajao Mbalī Hara... raja, dina, daya, luma, chara, prabhu, icchā. Rāja dena gurusamu yecharanam, rāja dena dayāluma yecharanam. Prabhu rāja dena gurusamu yecharanam, rāja dena dayāluma yecharanam... Prabhu Rāja Dena Gurusamu Yecharanam Prachadevayalum prachadesamoye prachadevayalum prahulcharam prachadevayalum prachadevayalum. So, to everybody, good night. Hari Om. We hope you can all join us again tomorrow. To everybody around the world in all the different countries, from all of us, praṇām. Om śrī śrī deep nārāyaṇa bhagavān kī jaya, śrī śrī deva puruṣa mahādeva kī jaya, dharma samrāṭ paramahaṁsa śrī svāmī mādhavānanda purījī mahārāj kī jaya, viśva guru mahāmaṇḍaleśvara paramahaṁsa śrī svāmī mahāprabhujī satguru deva kī jaya, mahāmaṇḍaleśvara svāmī śrī jasrāj purī mahārāj kī jaya.