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Part 1: A Welcome to the Mahāprabhudīp Āśram Good evening, dear friends, brothers and sisters. I am very glad to welcome you to Mahāprabhudīp Āśram tonight. I believe you had a pleasant journey from your physical homes to our spiritual home, which is here in the āśram in Střílky, and of course in every place where Gurū Dev dwells. Even though Swāmījī is not physically present at the moment, his presence is very intense. I believe we will have a beautiful seminar. It is always very nice to share the fact that we can be together, that we can practice together, that we can have meditation together, satsaṅg, and sing bhajans. So once again, good evening, and have a beautiful seminar. I would like to welcome here Swāmī Gajananjī and Sādhvī Pārvatījī, but it is very hard to welcome them here because they are staying here. So I would like to say that we are just happy that we can be here with them. But you know, somehow we are not staying here. I just returned from Poland, and Pārvatī just returned from Prague. Thank you very much. Good evening, everybody. It is nice to be together again here in our yoga family. To come to Mahāprabhujī’s Mahāsamādhi celebration was for me always something special, and I was always looking forward to the program with Swāmījī. That ended, actually, when I went to India; in the last 18 years, I did not have it anymore. Today Swāmījī is not with us, but still I hope we will have a very nice celebration in the glory of Mahāprabhujī. The program is known to everyone who knows the program. No? Okay, maybe just to give you an overview first. This evening we have satsaṅg, that is clear. We will start our morning program at 6 o’clock. Mahāprabhujī is the guru of the gurus, so definitely we should start with meditation on Guru Gītā. But now, in this case, really as a meditation, listening very carefully, not as a chanting. Because we have, from the languages, three groups, we will be in three different halls at that time. For the Czech and Slovak friends, it will be here. Then there is a group from Austria, so in German language we will have the Guru Gītā in the Nepal hall, which is just on the other side. We requested for the Hungarian version. Did someone bring it? For the Hungarian friends, tomorrow morning they will meet at 6 o’clock in this dining room, but not the main room—on the left side there is a smaller room. This is simply because that room is heated and the kāṭhū hall, which would be much nicer, is not heated at present; it is a difficulty. So we will meet at six o’clock in the three different halls and start with the Guru Gītā. You have one hour time for that. That means when it is shorter, you can still continue with a little bit of meditation in the end. At least the German version really lasts one full hour. Then at 7 o’clock, we meet all here. We have prayer first, and afterwards, āsanas and prāṇāyāma till 8:30. Then 8:30 till 9:30 is breakfast time. Then, at a quarter to ten, we will meet here again, and I will show one quite old video lecture from Swāmījī when he speaks about Mahāprabhujī. Also, in between, there is a little bit of some impression from the Kāṭhū Āśram and from Mahāprabhujī’s room in the Kāṭhū Āśram. Afterwards, we will continue with the meditation. Because we had in the morning only meditation on Guru Gītā, we also have proper meditation then. From 12:30 till 1:30 is lunch time, and then you have one and a half hours of free time. Those who have personal kriyā can practice in this time, so there is no need to squeeze it in these few minutes in the morning and to cut it off from breakfast time. If someone is willing to do some karma yoga, that is welcome. In this time, if you want simply to meditate or to rest or to go for a walk, that is welcome. Then, from 3 till 4 is yoga nidrā time, and afterwards, about an hour, our time for āsanas and prāṇāyāma. Then at five o’clock, we hope to have a Skype interview with Swāmījī. I spoke this week with Swāmījī. I think most of you will know he is at present in Nepal, close to the Annapurna range. I know this place is actually very good, because I was there myself two times. He is also inviting anyone who can come there in the next weeks, as he will still be staying there. He seems to be quite busy, like always, because he has a list for the Skype interviews. So it just depends if, at that time when we are on the list, the technical condition will be okay. Afterwards, from 6 to 7 is dinner time, and at 7 o’clock, evening satsaṅg. Sunday morning, basically the same program in the morning to breakfast. Then we will have a goodbye satsaṅg after breakfast, at 9:30. From 11:30 is lunch, and this is still included in the seminar. So, who is still here is welcome to take lunch. The most important is to start, so I repeat: we start at six o’clock in three different groups. All who want to listen to the Guru Gītā in Czech language are welcome here. In the German language, I welcome you to the Nepal Hall, which is here on the opposite side. And in Hungarian language, in the side hall inside the main eating area. You enter like you go to the kitchen, but then you turn left into this room. The player is already there. Just please bring your CD or tape, whatever you have, and then you can play it there. Okay, is the program clear so far? Maybe let’s start with a bhajan. We can look at how many bhajans we have from Mahāprabhujī. Guru Deva Darśana Nandana Ho, Guru Deva Darśana Nandana Ho, Guru Deva Darśana Nandana Ho. Prabhu Tanna Manna Dhana Harpaṇa Ho, Guru Deva Darśana Dāna Ho, Caitanya Ānanda Gāna Ho. We came together to celebrate the Mahāsamādhi of Mahāprabhujī. The end of his life was after 135 years. I think it is not just to think about the end of life, but about the whole life. Like in Christian churches, I have sometimes the feeling they see Jesus only on the cross and not what he did actually for 30 years. So the greatness of Mahāprabhujī is in his whole life, and it also shows in the way he left this world. Mahāprabhujī was a saint, a guru. There are different types of saints. One is, and this could be we, if we struggle and practice, follow the Guru Vākya, do the Guru Seva, and then one day, through the mercy of the Guru, we could achieve mokṣa. In this case, two things can happen. Mokṣa means you are not anymore identified with this body. Like now, we know we are not the shadow, but we are still identified with the physical body. But in mokṣa, the body also is for us like the shadow. It was a vehicle to bring us there, but now we are there. Like you need a boat to cross over the ocean, but now you are on the other side, and you forget about the boat. So this is the one thing which can happen. Many saints, enlightened saints, actually forget about their body. They have basically no interest anymore in that, and they neglected it, and actually, then they leave the world quite quickly. Or they achieve, many achieve also the mokṣa in the process of the death. In both cases, it is good for them, but not good for us. That means they are liberated, but we do not have a master, a teacher. Now, in some saints, when they get enlightened, when the compassion is so great, they actually stay here for quite some time and they become teachers, gurus. So this is what we usually call Jīvan Mukta. This is one type of enlightened saint and guru. So not necessarily every Jīvan Mukta becomes a guru. It depends simply on which plan God has with his soul. A saint has no ego. He does not want to show, "Oh, I am great, I have many disciples." Some saints just live a normal life and are hardly recognized. Some saints are maybe living in a cave in the Himālaya, meditating, and through their meditation, they help to balance this world. Some saints even appear as eccentric or maybe crazy, and the people laugh about them. But some take on themselves the important role of teaching and become a guru. There are many gurus of this type among us, and I hope that many of us will reach that state, Jīvan Mukta. But Mahāprabhujī was not a Jīvan Mukta. So that is now the counter statement. Mahāprabhujī was enlightened right from the beginning. Mahāprabhujī was a divine incarnation of the Paramātmā on this world, as we say in our prayer always: Nirguṇa se āye, saguṇa ban āye. That is a very nice combination in Hindi. Āye means you came, and ban means you became. That means you came and became something. Because in nirguṇa there is formless, but in saguṇa you become something. God comes from the formless and takes a concrete form. Fortunately for us, mostly a human form, but not necessarily. We know from the incarnations of the Lord Viṣṇu that he also came in other forms: of a fish, of a boar, of a half-lion, half-man. So basically, God can come in any form. Only for us, it might be difficult then to communicate with him. So this is what we call an avatāra. But even among the avatāras, there are, I would say, different types. Tomorrow evening, I will speak a little bit more about that. In Līlā Amṛta, Holī Gurujī already pointed this out: that Mahāprabhujī is not just an avatāra but a really special avatāra. This occurs as soon as we start reading Līlā Amṛta. Because if we compare Mahāprabhujī’s biography with the biographies of other saints, who are also seen by millions as divine incarnations—like, for example, Lord Buddha—then immediately you see a big difference. The biography of Lord Buddha starts with the fact that he actually became a seeker. After going out from his kingdom and seeing different views, suffering, old age, and death, he left the kingdom and became a seeker, and went to a group of sādhus who did quite strong tapasyā. One day he realized that he does not actually achieve anything in this way, that he was not using, but misusing, somehow torturing his body. Then he developed what has been called the middle path and went on in his seeking. After many years of searching, seeking, and trying, he finally became the Buddha. But now compare this with Mahāprabhujī’s biography. It starts that as a baby already, he is talking, giving lectures to his parents. The parents prayed that he might start speaking. Do you remember? First, what he did was sing Oṁ, and second, giving a lecture which is actually given to us. So definitely you cannot speak about any kind of searching and tapasyā and development; it was everything right there, right from the beginning. So basically, it was from zero to a hundred. Everything came straight away. But we know that Mahāprabhujī practiced a lot. The places where he did his tapasyā are known, and people who were eyewitnesses are still living. Also, it is obvious that Mahāprabhujī did not need a guru, because he was enlightened right from the beginning, but he took a guru. And how much devotion he was serving him all his life! Is there any bhajan from Mahāprabhujī where he does not mention his guru? And in a few bhajans, even the name of Śrī Alakpurījī, the great guru. So he did all this as guidance for us. When God incarnates on the earth, then he has only one motivation: compassion, seeing us suffering, to guide us. The guru is doing this in two ways: on the one hand, with a practical teaching, but on the other hand also through his own life, through his own example. In many cases, this alone had so much inspiration for others. The physical form which God takes also has a power. The physical form radiates that which is behind. I give you an example that I remember just from Hamburg. It was when we made an advertisement for Swāmījī’s seminar. I just fixed a bigger picture somewhere in the city on a pole, and while I was doing this, some lady passed by and saw this, so she showed interest and asked who it is and where to come, when to come. She was interested to come to the seminar with Swāmījī, and then she went. When she had gone already 20 meters, then she turned around and asked, "Actually, what is he teaching?" You see, she was not at all aware that Swāmījī is teaching yoga. Basically, she was just reacting to Swāmījī’s picture. She saw the picture, it touched something, she knew, "I have to go there." This is how the light attracts everyone. The radiance of a saint is actually attracting everyone, especially, of course, those who already have a karmic connection to this Guru Paramparā, so that we actually were already connected to this Guru line, and now we find back. The connection to our master and the mantra which he gave to us, these are the best parts of our karma. So Mahāprabhujī was such an avatāra, teaching through his life mainly and also through his words. But his mission was obviously to teach everyone, the simple people, everyone. Therefore, he did hardly any effort to write thick books, which are more studied by intellectuals often. His teaching is in a very popular form in the songs which the people sing. So the main teaching of Mahāprabhujī is all the bhajans which we have. So when you are asked which book did Mahāprabhujī write, here, that one, the bhajan book. And from all the saints who came from him—you know, this is also a little bit special from Mahāprabhujī’s tradition—that not only he was composing so many beautiful bhajans, but at least five of his disciples—so Holī Gurujī Swāmī Madhavānandajī is one of them, Swāmī Brahmānandajī, Swāmī Śivānandajī, Lālā Nānajī, and one more, Maṅgīlālajī—and the same teaching, we can hardly distinguish one from the other. Now, what we know about Mahāprabhujī, we know basically from the Līlāmṛta, and you know how the Līlāmṛta came to us. Basically, Mahāprabhujī did not want it to be written because he was afraid it would create another split, like creating another religion. Just to remind you, Holī Gurujī requested Mahāprabhujī repeatedly to give permission, and Mahāprabhujī did not give. Only in the last moment, when it was the time of his Mahāsamādhi, and Holī Gurujī repeated his request, then Mahāprabhujī could not refuse. His love was so great, he said, "Okay, I give the blessing." Then Holī Gurujī first of all wrote down his own experiences with Mahāprabhujī. You know, I think for about 20 years he was serving him day and night, which is not an easy job. Then he went from village to village, collecting what the people told him, and of course this is going on. So there are many different versions of the Līlā Amṛta. It was funny for me once when I looked on one of these websites against our tradition, that someone said, "Oh, Līlā Amṛta, that is all a fantasy," because more and more people’s stories were invented. I am the first one who knows that, because I built up the library in Jādan, and I took big effort to collect all these different versions to save them for us, to see how the Līlā Amṛta actually gradually developed. Also in German and English, I remember that first a small booklet with the title "My Master" came out, and then it was extended; that means more and more stories came up. What we have now as Līlā Amṛta, I tell you, that is also not ready. Līlā Amṛta is a book still in progress. If you watch the webcast now from Swāmī Jasrāj and from Swāmījī in the last weeks, traveling in India, they still keep hearing more and more new stories, which are not yet in our Līlā Amṛta, but there should be. I remember one story which Swāmījī told recently. I hope I remember right; you can correct me. It is a story about Śrī Devpurījī, where once he came to a village and ordered to dig a hole for a pig, and then to put the pig inside and cover it with sand. So it was a little bit like putting it into a grave while it is still alive. The people thought that is actually cruel, and they did not understand anything. After some time, they dared to ask him about that. Then Devpurījī very relaxed said, "Oh, it felt so hot." But the people said, "It is a desert here. Now, in the hole, it is also not cooler." And so Devpurījī said, no, no, it is in the water. They thought Devpurījī is a little bit confused. Then he said, "Okay, you can go and get it out." So the people went and removed the sand, and they saw the animal very happy in the water. So, one of the many miracles. Was it rightly remembered? I am not sure if I remember every detail precisely. Another two stories which I heard from Swāmī Jasrāj, just I think this week. He met in one village an old man, now in his 80s, so he was with Mahāprabhujī in the 1950s somewhere, and they were together in Kāṭhū Āśram, the old āśram outside the dūnī. This is about two kilometers far from the village, Barikāṭū. In between, there are these mountains, small mountains. Mahāprabhujī points to a certain point and says, "In the mountain, there is gold." The people did not understand what he was saying, but he was very clear and said, "In this mountain, in this place, there is gold." He predicted later that there would be a reason for the fighting between the people to get this gold. The elders of the village came together and discussed it, and they could not make any sense out of it. That was then forgotten, but this man remembered that. Now, about 15-20 years ago, they started—there was a mining in this spot, there where Mahāprabhujī actually pointed. It turned out that in this spot, there is a very, very precious stone which has a golden color and inside, many other colors, which make it very beautiful. This stone is very, very precious, and now it is exported to Italy and other countries in Europe. So it became, for those who possess it, literally a mine of gold. Unfortunately, also the prediction became true, that now the people are actually fighting against that. Another story which Swāmī Jasrāj told just recently. When he was in one small ashram between Jādan and Jaitāraṇ, there was a Mahāsamādhi function for a saint who had left the world 200 years ago. There was also a very old man who remembered Mahāprabhujī. He said that Mahāprabhujī, when he was traveling from Kāṭhū to Bālāguḍā, he actually came always through this village and often stopped there for satsaṅg. Once when he was there, he pointed to a certain place and suggested to the villagers to dig there and make a well. The villagers did. According to their technical equipment, it was not very deep, but it was a good well. Now what happened? This well turned out never, never to become dry. It has always sweet water, and in Rajasthan, you know, that is not normal. It is really a desert of drought. The more heat there is, the more the groundwater level actually goes down. The fact is that around this, in this area, there are many more tube wells which go much deeper, but it happens, when they are dry, this one will still give water. These are just three of the new stories which we have to put in our Līlā Amṛta. I did not always see the webcasts; I know there was more. Maybe someone else remembers something more? Did someone see something more? I think Swāmī Jasrāj told more stories. It happened somewhere near Kāṭhū. Jasrāj Pujārī Mehtā, who was about 12 years old when he met Mahāprabhujī, was near Kāṭhū. Part 2: The Radiance of the Saint Mahāprabhujī once asked a little boy, "Are you able to heal this wound?" The boy looked and saw the wound on Mahāprabhujī’s shoulder. Something came to his mind. They had cows, and when the cows had wounds, they would take a very small piece from a clay pot and put it on the wound, and it would heal. So he did the same to Mahāprabhujī’s shoulder. After a few hours, the wound had completely disappeared. The remarkable thing is that now, the third generation runs a hospital and cures people with this same material. Every day, about fifty people come to this hospital and are successfully cured. At the hospital, they are advised to go back to Mahāprabhujī’s āśram, to sit under the banyan tree and pray and meditate. I myself tried to organize something but unfortunately failed. I know an Indian man from the village of Ghenari. In their house, they have a bed of Mahāprabhujī. The whole family was very close to him. This man, when he was young, became a personal disciple of Mahāprabhujī. He is now in his seventies, living near Atlanta in America. I spoke with him when I was in America twice. My wish was to make a Skype interview with him, and I asked Swāmījī as well, but the problem is he seems to still be in India, and I cannot reach him. So we have to postpone that. Swāmījī said he had spoken earlier, but I think no one knows about that. He knew Mahāprabhujī personally. I remember asking him some years ago how Mahāprabhujī gave satsaṅg. He said it was not like Swāmījī does now. There were usually no loudspeakers. People came and sat together in groups. Mahāprabhujī would then go from group to group and speak with them for some time. But I cannot say too much because I didn't really start; I hoped we could speak with him. I hope we can still arrange it at a later time, but most probably not this weekend. From him, we could likely get a new chapter for Līlā Amṛt. People who knew Mahāprabhujī personally, or even his direct disciples, are still among us. So there is no need to put the whole thing into doubt, as some people try to do to confuse us, saying it's all fantasy. I remember when I was in India one day, we were in a village. There was a very old woman, and Swāmījī asked her to speak to us. You may recall the story from Līlā Amṛt where parents brought a dead child. Mahāprabhujī was at first a little reluctant and said, "What are you bringing?" He saw the faith and devotion of the parents, and then out of his divine mercy and power, he awakened the child. This woman said, "I am that child." This I remember; it just came to my mind now. It was in one satsaṅg when we were traveling with Swāmījī, several years ago, maybe ten or fifteen. The radiance of a saint remains. Where he lived, the whole atmosphere was loaded with his energy. This is what Swāmījī emphasized when I was first in India in 1987. I was just a fresh disciple, having had the mantra for only a few days. Towards the end of our journey, we went to Kāṭhu Āśram. I will tell you how I personally felt the radiance there. I was a very intellectual type, emotionally very controlled, which also meant something was suppressed. Practically, I could not cry. It never happened to me, even when someone died. Somehow, there was a wish in me to open up so that I could cry. We were in Kāṭhu Āśram in that very holy atmosphere, in front of the Mahāsamādhi of Mahāprabhujī and Śrī Devaprabhujī. We were quite a small group, maybe twenty people. Swāmījī gave a speech to us. I remember it well; it was about Prakṛti and Nivṛtti—those who are still searching on worldly paths, especially those who always want to go sightseeing—and then he spoke about Nivṛtti, the spiritual path, where you don't have this type of desire anymore. It was towards the end of our tour. Swāmījī said, "In a few days, when you go in the airplane and you leave the country, then you will cry because you will realize what you leave behind, this spiritual radiance." He spoke about the holy land, India. When he said, "Then you will cry," it was like pressing a button. I started crying and couldn't stop for about half an hour while Swāmījī continued his speech. It was just flowing, but it was not sadness. It was something deep in me that was touched and opened. This was, on one hand, Swāmījī's words, and on the other hand, I am very much aware it was this holy, pure atmosphere there. Two years later, when I was again in India, I spent a little more time in Mahāprabhujī's small room. For those who were not there: you have the main room with the altar, and in the back, there's a small door that is always open. Behind it is a small room of Mahāprabhujī, just a few square meters with one bed. They had hung some pictures of Mahāprabhujī. By then, I had been practicing yoga for about two years. I made a special exercise for myself: I did tratak on Mahāprabhujī's picture, on his face, standing on one leg to increase my concentration. For some minutes, I was really doing tratak on his face. Then, by special mercy, I think, the face changed. It changed again and kept changing all the time. I saw so many different people in his face—man and woman, children and old people. Basically, I saw the whole of mankind appearing one after the other. It was like a precious message to me: "I am in all, and you should see in all me." That is what Holy Gurujī always says: "One in all and all in one." I think this could only happen there in that special holy atmosphere. If some of you would like to share some experiences now, especially with Mahāprabhujī, you are most welcome. Just to remind you, in the beautiful small booklet we have, Divine Perceptions—I think there are copies lying outside for free—please, whoever doesn't have it, don't miss taking it. An Indian man speaks about his deep meditation experiences, seeing Mahāprabhujī again and again. But I hope everyone has studied that, so I don't want to speak about it here because I suppose everyone must know it. Can you sing the bhajan "Guruvara"? Me? No? Can you sing? Then I will sing. Is someone there who can sing this bhajan? Otherwise, I will sing. Then give me the harmonium. Is there someone who would like to share some experiences with Mahāprabhujī? I mean, one I know, but he is not here. That is Swāmījī. He spoke quite often and said, "Oh, I got a message from Mahāprabhujī." Swāmījī, on the other hand, says clearly that in physical form he never met Mahāprabhujī. Maybe one thing I forgot about Kāṭhu Āśram: when we were there in '87, Swāmījī said, "Mahāprabhujī lived here so long, so it is sure that in his long life in this place, he must have touched each and every stone and each and every speck of dust here. This here is all loaded with his energy." He suggested to us, "Go and collect one stone." When he has touched it, and now you touch it, it is like you touch Mahāprabhujī. So I went and collected one, and I still have it—a beautiful stone from Kāṭhu Āśram from '87. I keep it on my altar and in my heart. Now, I'm not sure anymore because, meanwhile, so much construction work has been done there. Maybe the dust is already a little bit more mixed, but surely this atmosphere is there. Let us sing the bhajan "Guruvaramaya Chalungsa Unadesh." As far as I know, we don't have any bhajan directly on Mahāprabhujī's Mahāsamādhi. But we have a bhajan from Mahāprabhujī, which he wrote on the Mahāsamādhi of Śrī Devapurī. I remember very well that when we had Mahāsabhā, the celebration with Swāmījī, we always sang this bhajan. One time I remember we sang it three times in one day. This bhajan is a little special for me. I will speak about it and then translate, because this bhajan tries to describe the indescribable. It says, "I want to go with you to this divine world where you are going," trying to describe this divine world. Therefore, for me, it's a very peaceful, very pure bhajan—not such a powerful one, but more a really very gentle one. Deep down, one is at peace. > Yāmi me chālūṃ sa undhidhī > dhūkha lāja sab taj ki kalapannā > dharki vairāgan dhīr > Rākibē Rādhānvē Rāvārmē Chālūsauṃ > Nantrāyāmi Mē Chālūsauṃ. > Bhīṣame nāmarānākā > Kālaṅkane, Iliṣame nāmarānākā. I'm still a little bit handicapped from my last tour; I was in Poland last weekend. It was a little bit too much. This is the bhajan of Mahāprabhujī, dedicated to Śrī Devapurījī when he left the world. It is our Mahāsamādhi Bhajan. But maybe first we have to think a moment about what Mahāsamādhi actually means. When someone dies, when they leave this body and this world, there are actually three different ways. Most people, when they die, it means they have to come back according to their kāmas. This is called mṛtyu. We have no choice; we have to do the karmas, but afterwards, it is not our choice anymore. Theoretically, it could even happen that we do not come back in human form. But this does not actually apply for bhaktas, for spiritual seekers. Swāmījī made this very clear some years ago when he changed just a few words in the bhajan Abhasopadhyaya. First, I did not understand why he was so particular about changing a word which made nearly no difference. There was one verse, the third verse. It started with "Jo," meaning "if I come back in human form, then let me be the worshipper of your holy lotus feet." Swāmījī didn't like that. He said this includes the doubt that it might not happen. So he changed from "Jo" to "Jabba," meaning "always when I come back, then let me be the worshipper of your holy lotus feet." Swāmījī said if someone is a real bhakta, they shouldn't have doubt about that. So if we keep the minimum rules—to be vegetarian, not to create huge kāmas, and to have bhakti for the guru—then we can say we are somehow on the safe side. And if mṛtyu happens to us, at least we will be reborn in human form. The second form of leaving this body is svargānivāsa. That means identifying myself with that good thing which I am doing. We have a good weapon against that, which is our mantra, Nāhaṁkartā. So when we act in the sense of "Nāhaṅkartā," and it is good, then we know it's not my good, it's my Prabhupāda's. I could practice this very nicely last weekend in Poland. On Saturday we had a workshop which was too much for me, and really, I had no energy anymore the next day. But in the evening, there was a public satsaṅg, and I had no idea how to do that. But in the end, it was a beautiful three-and-a-half-hour satsaṅg. And I knew very well that it was not me. It's very good; you have nothing to hold on to—the ego has no chance. So, svargānivāsa can happen when we do good karmas but don't overcome the selfishness. Then we get the reward of our karmas: heaven, enjoyment. We can say heaven is something like an enjoyment loka. But we cannot act there; we cannot do karma there. That's a problem. However long it is there—it might be some millions of years—it is still counted, and one day these millions of years are over. That means this karma is over, and now comes the next. And you have no idea what is next. I remember Swāmījī sometimes saying even Lord Indra, the highest of the devas from heaven, maybe when his karma is over, has to come back as a small ant. So heaven is still part of the cycle of birth and death. You are not liberated. Therefore, this is actually not our aim. Our aim is really the Mahāsamādhi. That means the highest samādhi, the final merging into the divine consciousness. In India, actually, the term Mahāsamādhi is not so much used. Instead, usually the term is Brahmalīn. When Holy Gurujī left, they said, "Gurujī, Brahmalīn hūgai." That means Brahmā is God, and Brahmalīn means to merge, to dissolve into Brahm, into God. So that is actually our aim. Now, this bhajan was made by Mahāprabhujī when Śrī Devapurījī was about to leave. Guru Vara made Śāluṅga Unādej. "Guru Vara" is respectful; it means the best of the gurus. For every disciple, his guru is the best of the gurus, like for every child, the mother is the best of mothers. "Śāluṅga" especially means to go together with someone, to go along. So, "Let me go together with you. Take me with you." "Unādej" means to that country, to that world where you are going now. In the next line, Mahāprabhujī refers to what the people around are thinking and doing. Because everyone has certain feelings when someone is leaving the world. Some have the confusion that a saint in the physical form would never give up his body. There might be a kind of shame, or "now our guru died." Or they don't understand that it's actually Mahāsamādhi, and they are weeping as if someone is just normally dead. Also, certain traditions, that then the old women came and cried and cried and made actually a lot of noise. So lokalāge means actually all this worldly noise, all this conventional correct behavior. Sabotage all that, and kalapana means something like lamentation and weeping and wailing and pain. That means if we don't understand the essence, then we are just sad. And of course, as a bhakta, we are also sad. We saw it in Swāmījī when Holy Gurujī left, and the Mahāsamādhi was just closed, that even Swāmījī in public was crying. Mahāsamādhi is always hard for everybody, but we must understand there is a joy in that because it is samādhi. It is the highest, the greatest samādhi. It is the final victory of a life. Therefore, it is our aim. When we can achieve Mahāsamādhi, that means our whole life made sense. If we went into mṛtyu or svargānivāsa, then we have to come again and try again, as Swāmījī always said, "There are many, how to say, tragical events in life, but the most tragical is..." If someone dies without liberation, then Mahāsamādhi is the liberation. So for the saint, it is actually his final merging into the divine. So my Prabhupāda says here, "I don't care how all the other people react—how they are lamenting, and how bad it is, and weeping, and in pain. I renounce my home on this earth. Full of vairāgī, I want to follow you." Now, you must say, fortunately, that didn't happen. So in this case, Devapurījī did not give him his approval, because this was in 1944, if I'm not mistaken, and Mahāprabhujī continued his mission until 1963. Now Mahāprabhujī tries to describe this world. In that world, there is no birth, there is no death. That means you are free from the cycle of reincarnation. There are no black spots of karma anymore, not even a little bit, because karma is why we have to reincarnate. Jīvan mukti prāpte kāmakor. Then the jīvan mukti, the liberation, is attained. Now, we should not be confused. Mahāprabhujī uses here the word jīvan mukti. Usually, we understand it as someone who attains liberation during life and continues living. Here is a different meaning, more in the literary meaning: the jīvan is liberated; the individual is now liberated. So it's a little bit different meaning here: Brahmananda, Hamesh Brahmananda. Then you live all the time in divine bliss. In that world, in that country, there is an uninterrupted, unextinguishable light. It's not a physical light. This light is there, but there is no moon, there is no sun, anything like that. What is this light? This is actually the origin of the light that gives the light to the sun and the light to the moon and the light to the fire that is deep. And that's Mahāprabhujī. Raṅganarūpa Anūpa Anādi. There is no form, there is no color, there is no form. Anupa means this world is incomparable. In other words, it's unique; there is no second world like that. And it's Anādi. Anādi means beginningless. That means it's an eternal world. Nahi pongcha ranka nareesh. There is no one who can actually come. Ranka means a poor one, a beggar. And he says, "No one can come there." Doesn't matter if you're a beggar or a king, you cannot get there. And in the next verse, this is even more clarified: āgam. Agam means inaccessible. Like you see a mountain, but it's so steep, no one can ever climb up there. You must understand, inaccessible—that's a clear hint now. We cannot get there through any kind of effort. No climber can ever climb up there, but still we can get there. If someone is there and puts a rope down, then they can pull us up. It's one of the many hints which we have in our bhajans: through our own effort, we cannot liberate ourselves. Mokṣa mālaṁ guru kṛpā. Only through the mercy of the guru can we attain mokṣa. This is the world. This is the inaccessible world where all the saints are living. Baram bar Adiś. Again and again, my salutation to them. Ami means the nectar. Ami is plural; you can say rivers of nectar are flowing there. Satta Guru Indra Suresh. Now we have here two words, Indra and Suresh. Indra is like the highest of the gods. But the gods are in Svargaloka, which means in heaven. So we can say he is like the boss of the devas. And Suresh means actually the lord of the gods or the lord of the devas. But in this—this is now, of course, another world. It's not Svarga; this is not Pramaloka. It is also called Satyaloka, the world of truth, of reality. So here, the boss is not Indra, but the Gurudev. So it says, Sataguru Indra—the Satguru is the Indra, the Lord of all. That means without a Satguru, you cannot get there. Siddhipākahī, Mahāprabhujī says, "My mind desires such a world or such a place where you are not reborn anymore." Ab means you. So without saying the name, but now he addresses again his guru, Śrī Devapurījī. So this whole bhajan is actually addressed to Śrī Devapurījī when he leaves. Sima-san—that is, some of you saw, I think, photos from Swāmījī in Holy Gurujī, the lion's seat, the respectful throne. And sādār means the chairman, the boss. So Devapurījī says, "Please take your place, or you please sit down on the Sīmā Sān throne for the chairman." And he concludes the whole saying, "I describe this, so is this world, which is completely without any worries." This is Mahāprabhujī's description of Brahma Loka or Satya Loka, trying to inspire us to go there. So that is our aim. I think now, does anyone of you want to say something personally about Mahāprabhujī, maybe? I know it might be personal, and some might not want to share, but if someone would like, you're welcome. So I would say, then let us have our prayer, and tomorrow evening I would like to go deeper a little bit: what really is Mahāprabhujī? What really is the Guru? And what is the speciality of Mahāprabhujī among all gurus? Okay, we will speak tomorrow evening about that. And tomorrow morning we will watch one older lecture from Swāmījī, where he also speaks lovingly about Mahāprabhujī. Okay, so then let's have our evening prayer.