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Part 1: The Divine Lamp: The Mantra that Cleanses the Mind and Dispels All Sorrows Śrī Dīpanirañjana Śabadukabañjana Prabhudīpanirañjana Śabadukabañjana Īśī Mantrasī Hove Manamañjana Īśī Mantrasī Hove Manamañjana Śrīdīpanirañjana Śabadukabañjana Prabhudīpanirañjana Śabadukabañjana Īśī Mantrase Hove Manamañjana Īśī Mantrasī Hove Manamañjana Prabhudīpanirañjana Śabadukabañjana Prabhu Dīpa Nirañjana Sabaduka Isi Mantrasi Hove Mana Mañjana Isi Mantrasi Hove Mana Mañjana Śrīdīpa Janasabaduka Bañjana yāna sabha-dukha-bhanjan prabhu-dīpa-nirañ yāna sabha-dukha-bhanjan isi mantra se hove mana mañjana isi. Mantra se hove mana manjan, siddhi-pānīrān yāna, sabha-dukha-bhanjan Prabhu Dīpa Nirañjana. Sabha dukha isi mantra se hove mana manjan, isi meṁ hove mana manjan, Śrī Dīpa Nirañjana. Sabha dukha Prabhu Dīpa Nirañjana, sabha dukha Śrī Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Śrī Śrī Deva Puruṣa Mahādeva kī. Satguru Swāmī Mādhvanājī Bhagavān kī Jai, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī Jai. Good evening, blessed selves, dear spiritual seekers. Chakras and Kuṇḍalinī are hidden powers in humans. Yesterday we spoke about prāṇāyāma, the yogic breath, and how to breathe in and out. There are only three prāṇāyāmas: pūraka, recaka, and kumbhaka. But these three can be practiced for different aims, for different effects on the body, mind, and consciousness. Then there are many techniques: Nāḍī Śodhana or Chandra Bhedana, Sūrya Bhedana, Anuloma Viloma, Ujjāyī Prāṇāyāma, Bhastrikā, Kapāla Bhāti, and so on. Just now we were chanting the mantra. Our mind is polluted by modern civilization, by many pollutions—the pollution of visions and sound. It is said, jaisī dṛṣṭi, jaisī sṛṣṭi. What kind of visions you have, how you think, what you see—like that will the world appear in front of you. Thinking is a very powerful influence on all the kośas: the annamaya, prāṇamaya, manomaya, vijñānamaya, and ānandamaya kośas, or on an entire life. Not only this, but it also influences the outer world. Thinking is so powerful that it forces us to do things we do not want to do. Therefore, the mind should be pure. There is one bhajan from Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, a beautiful bhajan. In it, he says: "O Param Guru Swāmījī, O Param Gurudev, you have made my life successful today. You have blessed my life. I was sinking in the ocean of worldly troubles, but you brought the boat of satsaṅg to cross the ocean of this māyā." The eyes express the quality of our thinking. In our visions, we should always have nirmalatā—purity, spotlessness. If you look at the eyes of an angry, jealous, or greedy person, you can psychologically tell what kind of energies are moving in that person’s mind and body. The senses are there, but in whose eyes is there nirmalatā—pure thinking, kind thinking? O Gurudev, if I had not met you, it would have been a terrible tragedy. What tragedy? I would have had to go again through the 8.4 million cycles of birth and death, O Param Guru Swāmījī. How you see creates the world in front of you. So, Prabhu—Prabhu means that Param, Paramātmā, Parampitā, Parameśvara, the Brahman, the highest. The Satguru comes from Satyaloka and brings the satsaṅg so that this Jīvātmā can merge into the Ātmā of the Brahman. Brahmā, Satya, Jagat, Mithyā—Brahmaloka and Satyaloka are the same. Prabhu, Bhuvu, is this Bhuvu maṇḍala, this mortal world, that from time to time incarnates on this earth. That is known as a Prabhu. Dīpa Nirañjana—that has a cosmic light, the divine light, and that light is a very pure spotlight, Nirañjana. Alakha Nirañjana—indescribable. Alak means the indescribable. Nirañjana is pure, spotless. That light which is manifesting here on this earth, that Prabhu, Param Gurudev—when we remember this and repeat these mantras, all troubles can be solved. But there must be faith, discipline, and practice. Through this mantra, we can achieve purity of mind. In yoga practices, especially concerning the kuṇḍalinī and cakras, we should know all the functions of the body—not just the physical, but the subtle energies in different forms: Mind, Consciousness, and Intellect. Consciousness is a presence, and it has three levels, which we spoke about three days ago: suṣupti, svapna, and jāgrata. Practitioners of Kriya Yoga, Kuṇḍalinī, and the higher levels of yoga should first master these three levels of consciousness, including the dream state. We spoke four days ago about a beautiful story of King Janaka and dreams. The first step is this, and it is not easy. Do we know how our consciousness transfers from the awake state to sleep? That minute or second to observe is not easy. But first we must master this. What do we do? We go to bed, lie down, and say, "Now I am going to sleep." We do not know exactly in which minute or second we fell asleep. Only in the morning, when we get up, do we say, "I slept well," or, "I didn’t sleep well." So, in those minutes of transition from jāgrat to suṣupti avasthā, from awakening to sleep, what was the process? Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī speaks of this in a bhajan about yoga nidrā: Yogī Janakī, yog nidrā, koi virlā śānt janjanī hai. Virlā means rare. Rare beings know what yoga nidrā is. In Yogānanda’s life, there is a beautiful chapter about yoga nidrā. This yoga nidrā bhajan was sung—or dictated, or written—by Bhagavān Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī around 1935, a long time ago. That bhajan is evidence of his teachings. The teachings of saints are often put into poetry or song. If you write an article, anyone can manipulate it. But a poem or bhajan—if someone manipulates it, you will immediately know it is changed. For example, around the world, in almost every human language, one divine book, the Bhagavad Gītā, is translated. Not only thousands, but I would say millions of people have given commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā. They can do so according to their understanding. Translation is not so easy. You may know your language perfectly and understand Hindi or Sanskrit, but still you cannot translate perfectly. For translation, you must first know the languages, but you must also know Śabdārtha. If you translate word for word, the meaning in the original language can be different. We always speak about sukha and dukkha, but there is no exact word for dukkha in the languages I know—Hindi, German, English, and so on. Sukha is also not translated exactly. So, Śabdārtha: to translate one word into another language, one word can be completely different. For that, we need Śabdārtha and Jñānārtha. We must utilize our knowledge. You have to think in your language: which word will be exactly like that? Third, we need Śabdārtha, Jñānārtha, and Bhāvārtha. It helps the translator if one knows the Bhāva. Bhava means feelings, devotion, or clarity. When śabdārtha, jñānārtha, and bhāvārtha come together, then you can translate exactly what it means. Otherwise, we gauge and say, "Okay, it’s like that." The Bhagavad Gītā was written nearly 6,000 years ago, purely in Sanskrit. But no one in the world, till today, has been capable of or found a necessity to change even one letter. In a Sanskrit śloka, if you change half a mātrā, the meaning becomes completely different. To know the pure, original teaching of Kṛṣṇa’s words, you must learn Sanskrit as well as these three: śabdārtha, jñānārtha, and bhāvārtha. When you translate with bhāvārtha, that pure knowledge will awake in your heart, changing your entire suffering and ignorance. It is said there was a philosopher, Max Müller, whom the English asked to translate the Vedas. But this is a dry language—what we call English. A linguistic professor from Austria-Salzburg told me something very interesting long ago, nearly 18 years ago. He said, "Swāmījī, the best language is one that activates both our brain hemispheres equally." Every language is good—human language, animal language—all are good. But very few balance and activate both hemispheres. I asked, "What do you mean?" He explained that at a conference, a great philosopher stated that in a particular language, when you read, both hemispheres are equally influenced. Second, when you think in that language, both hemispheres are equally balanced. Third, when you speak, and fourth, when you sing—in all four, both hemispheres should be equally active. He told me this language is Sanskrit. We know Sanskrit is the mother of many languages. Second, he said the Parsi language. When you speak Parsi perfectly, both hemispheres are equally affected. The old Greek languages were also mentioned, as well as two languages from the former Soviet Union that are very close to Sanskrit; if you understand them, you understand Sanskrit. Latin activates both hemispheres only when you sing or think very calmly in it. I asked him, "What about English?" I am sorry, dear listeners; I am nothing against the English language, and I myself am speaking with my small knowledge of English. But he said, in a scientific way, the English language is not a language. The English language is a sub-language of the German language, as well as the language of the French kitchen. I am not saying this myself; I am reporting what he told me. English is easy to learn, so many people learn it, and now it has become an international language. We work with computers and have nothing against it. But I am talking about the effect of language on our body, mind, consciousness, intellect, and entire way of living. Therefore, we need śabdārtha, bhāvārtha, and jñānārtha to understand any holy book or any book written in another language. Otherwise, artha kā anartha ho jātā hai—the meaning can become confusion or a great mistake. It can be a wrong translation. Second, pronunciation. Pronunciation is also very difficult to understand. We have more feeling for our mother tongue, and so we say, "My mother tongue is this." Why not the father tongue? We call it the fatherland, not motherland. The mother begins to talk with the child even when it is an embryo. The mother first takes the child in her hands and lap, breastfeeding, and while doing this, she talks with the child. The mother’s pronunciation, the mother’s feelings—everything is transferred to that baby. Therefore, Bhāvārtha. A few days ago, we were talking about food and jhūṭā. Jhūṭā nahī̃ khānā. The European tongue cannot pronounce jhūṭā; they say, "No, jhūṭā hum nahī̃ khāyeṅge." Jhūṭa means food that has been eaten by someone, which we then do not give to others. That is it. That’s called jhūṭa, which you have eaten. If birds have eaten fruit and it falls half-spoiled from the tree, we will not eat it because it was eaten by birds we do not know. And now, "hum jūtā nahī̃ khāte." Here, pronunciation is difficult; they may say "jūtā." But "jūtā" means shoes, and "khāo" means "I don’t want someone to beat me with shoes." Arth ke andar ho gaye na—the meaning has become confused. So, bhāvārtha. As long as you do not understand the bhāvārtha, śabdārtha can also confuse us. Therefore, at that time, the great scholars, the truly learned—the Bhagavad Gītā is the essence of the Upaniṣads. Upaniṣad gāthā gāī wo Gītā. The glory that was sung is the Gītā. Kṛṣṇa jāne so Gītā. Those who have realized what Kṛṣṇa was or is know what the Gītā is. Māta jāne so Pitā. Only a mother knows who the father is. There is a very deep sense in it. In translation, many scholars have translated the Bhagavad Gītā beautifully, putting their own feelings and bhāvārtha into it, and people like to read it. Similarly, it is said that wisdom is put into three things: either songs—perfect songs, though anyone can make a song—like a bhajan or poem. In poem, we call it dohā. Dohā means two; the question and answer are in it. Then they put it into dance, mudrās—very ancient classical dances like Bharata Nāṭyam and others. If they are exact and original, they are dancing. Dance was not for mere enjoyment, though now you go to a club and see dance for enjoyment. No. Part 2: The Discipline of Perfection Perfect bodily movement is an indication of mastery, as seen in mudrās and the ritual of āvāhan (invocation). A single wrong step means you are out. Similarly, in modern dance or Olympic events, one slight wrong movement leads to disqualification. Ordinary people watching on television might exclaim, "Oh, how perfect! This poor person was so good," yet the judges see the error. Technology replays it, revealing the minute flaw. That is masterwork. It requires daily practice, ten hours a day, to achieve perfection and win the gold medal. And at the crucial moment, concentration can still falter. Abhyāsa, abhyāsa. O Kuntīputra, abhyāsa. It is said, "Practice, practice, practice." O son of Kuntī, Arjuna, practice, practice... We think, "I practice āsanas, a little prāṇāyāma, and ten minutes of meditation; I will be a yogī." It is better than nothing, but we are still far from what we dream about and wish to achieve. Then there is drama, a play performed in such a way that you understand it without language. So it is with this Sanskrit śloka, or the bhajan written by great saints of the world—many from beyond India have also written—it is a beautiful, beautiful composition. So that is what we... the mind, again we are coming to the mind. So, mana, the mind is polluted from the external world: sound pollution, vision pollution, and the pollution of smell. It is a very interesting thing; it creates the inner quality of the person. There is a beautiful poem: "Chandan makhi par hare, durgandhi vahan udh jaye. Aise agyani satsaṅg nahi sune, oṅgay ke uṭh jaye." Chandan makhi par hare, durgandhi vahan udh jaye. A priest or paṇḍit was making sandalwood paste on a stone for tilak. He took the paste, put it in a bowl, and continued making more. A fly came and sat on the sandalwood paste, which has a very good, pure, refreshing, and pleasant smell. At the same time, what happened? The paṇḍit's grandchild, a few meters away, relieved himself. The fly immediately flew from the sandal paste to that filth. Why? Because the inner quality, the nature of that fly, is always attracted to that kind of stinking smell. It will fly there and will not remain on the sandal. Like that, an ignorant person does not like to listen to satsaṅg. Either we begin to sleep in satsaṅg, or after a few minutes we get up and leave, like the story of the wasp. The wasp searches for a particular worm, which will become the wasp. Madhyam, Kaniṣad, and Uttam. These are three. Similarly, the quality of the aspirants, the practitioners, the seekers, is also like that. Kaniṣad is the lowest consciousness; Madhyam is the middle; Uttam is the aware, Chetan. And therefore it is said: "Chetan ho jāre, musāfir gaḍī jāne vālī hai." Chetan ho jaare, musafir gadi jaane wali hai. Gadi aane wali hai, gadi jaane wali hai. Chetan ho jaare, musafir gadi jaane wali hai. O traveller, O tourist—'tourist' implies risk. Wherever you go is a risk. So this human life is also a tourist journey; we are in the risky world of this māyā. "Chetan ho jāre mūsha phir." O traveller, wake up, you are sleeping. "Gaḍī jāne vālī hai." Gaḍī means the vehicle—the train, the bus, the aeroplane. Which vehicle? This body. This body will very soon go away, and you will be again nowhere. You have done nothing. You are missing your chance. So those who are awakened and alert understand: "I am human. What does it mean for me to be human? What makes me human? How do I cultivate those human qualities, and how can I be successful in achieving my human goal or dharma?" Ko’ham? Katham idaṁ jātaṁ? Ko vā kutasya vidyate? Who am I? From where do I come? For what did I come? What am I doing? And where will I go? Know the answer practically. This is the answer to all your questions in this life. So, man, mind. Man lobhī, man lālchī, man cañcal, man chor. Man ke māte na caliye gharipālak man aur. Therefore, a wise man tells: man lobhī—the mind is very greedy. Man lobhī, man lālchī—more than greedy, it is desirous, expecting, hoping. "I will get it. I will get it. I will. A little more, a little more." When I was small, our school book had a nice story for students: don't be lālchī. What happens to the lālchī? The story was set on a beautiful road near Dehradun and Haridwar. Trucks were transferring grain, and as they moved, some grains would fall on the road. Birds would come and eat. When a truck or other vehicle approached, the birds would fly away. But one bird was very lālchī. That bird thought, "The truck is coming, but I will take two seeds, one seed more." As soon as it jumped to take them, it came under the truck. So, lālach, this kind of greed is very bad, very harmful, terrible. Man lobhī, man lalāchī. Man is a lobhī, a greedy one, and lalāch—wanting more and more. Man lobhī, man lalacī, man cañcal—and the mind is very restless, like a fish. Very chanchal, very restless; you cannot catch it like this. You cannot catch your mind. Try to catch your mind. "Okay, I will put my mind on one point. I will not think anything. Meditation." Now you are saying, "I will not think anything," so you are already thinking about not thinking. So the mind is very chanchal. Man lobhī, man lalacī, man chanchal, man chor. And the biggest, most terrible thief is the mind. It will steal everything good from you and hide it somewhere else. Man ke mate na chaliye—therefore, do not lead your life according to your inner thinking, your mind. Why? Because the gṛhapālaka man—every minute, every second, the mind is thinking something different. Therefore, Iḍā Nāḍī, which represents our mind, is the emotion. So, the controlled purification of the Iḍā Nāḍī through Chandra Bhedana Prāṇāyāma is the first thing a yogī should try to do and practice. Mānas Devatā, the principle of the mind, is the moon. And the moon is never equal; every day it is either increasing or decreasing. Similarly, the mind is every day increasing or decreasing, changing this and that. And therefore, the mind—we must constantly observe it. There, Gurudev was telling a beautiful story about the mind, which I will tell you now. There was a farmer, a very healthy farmer. Farmers are mostly healthy because they have fresh air, a lot of movement and exercise, and they work very hard physically. He had a very big land, a few hundred hectares. In Nepal, that would be too much, but big countries like India, Australia, America, China, and others have such big lands. So the farmer went to his farm and was working. He had some tools and was clearing the field to cultivate. One day at midday, a ghost appeared. Some people believe in ghosts, some do not. The farmer did not believe, but he saw one—very strong, like a bodybuilder, terrifying to behold. The farmer said, "Hi, who are you?" It said, "I am a ghost." "What? A ghost? Why did you come here?" "I will kill you." "Why will you kill me?" "Well, that is the nature of a ghost." The farmer said, "You can't kill me." The ghost said, "Oh yeah, I will do it." The farmer said, "Then come and fight with me first." "Okay." So the farmer and the ghost got ready. Then the farmer said, "Wait a moment, my friend, wait a moment." Look how positive the farmer is. "One moment, my friend." He said, "What is the challenge? What should be the result?" The ghost said, "Whoever wins will kill the other and eat him." The farmer said, "Okay, okay." They began fighting. The farmer was the winner. He pulled the ghost to the ground and sat on his chest. The ghost said, "Sorry, I lost." It pleaded, "Please don't kill me. I will do anything for you, whatever you want. Lifelong, I will obey you." The farmer said, "That's very good. I was searching for a worker to help me. But one condition." The ghost asked, "What is that?" The farmer said, "If you don't give me work, I will kill you." Ghosts have extraordinary, miraculous power. The ghost thought, "I will finish all his work by evening." The farmer said, "I have a lot of work for you. Go and clear all the wood from my hundreds of hectares of land." The ghost said, "No problem." It did something like this, and all the wood was cleaned and piled in one place. "Give me work." "Put all the stones and rocks from my field in one place." Again, the ghost did it within no time. It cleaned everything. "Give me work." Two hundred hectares of land, cleaned and ready for cultivating crops. No problem. Within no time, it was all done. "Give me work." The ghost thought, "Before sunset, I will finish him." The farmer thought, "Will I be his slave for life?" Now the farmer said, "Time for lunch and rest." The ghost said, "I don't want to rest; I want work." The farmer said, "Go and bring the feeder for the cows and clean that area. I will go and have my lunch." The farmer went to his master, who was sitting in a beautiful little hut. The farmer came there. The master said, "Oh, what happened? You came today at midday. You always come in the evening for satsaṅg." He said, "Gurudev, I have trouble." "What kind of trouble?" He told the story. About the ghost, Gurujī said, "No problem." The farmer said, "Sir, for you it's no problem, but for me, it's my life." Gurujī said, "Don't worry, sit down, eat something, have a cup of tea." The ghost came, "Hey farmer, give me work!" But the ghost did not dare come near Gurujī. Always, a minimum of 150 meters away, all negative energies remain far from where a saint is living. The ghost was sitting there, calling, "Come!" Gurujī told the farmer, "Don't look at him. Peacefully sit, eat, drink your tea, and relax." But the farmer said, "Swamiji, how long will I relax? He is sitting there; he will kill me." "No, no, don't worry. He needs work. I will give you some work which he cannot finish in a whole lifetime." "That is very good. What?" The ghost was calling, "Hey, guy, come!" Gurujī told him, "Go and tell the ghost, 'Bring the biggest, strongest, and longest bamboo from the Himalayas.'" So he went and told the ghost. The ghost brought a big bamboo. When we in Europe speak about tall bamboo, nearly 20–30 meters, people think it is a joke—bamboo cannot be so big. But bamboos are that big. We see in Nepal how big they are. So he told the ghost, "Bring the tallest one from the entire Himālaya, wherever it is." The ghost said, "Yes, no problem." It disappeared and within a few minutes returned. You could see a big bamboo coming through the air. It appeared and said, "Here is the bamboo. Give me more work." The farmer reported, "Guruji, the bamboo is here. He gave me work." Guruji said, "Tell him to plant this in the ground as it was originally standing." So the ghost hauled the bamboo and drove it three meters deep into the earth. "Work! Gurudev, Gurudev... what to do now?" Guruji said, "Go and tell the ghost your duties: climb up. When you are up, come down. When you are down, go up. Up and down, up and down. If you stop, I have a bamboo stick in my hand." So the farmer very happily went and told the ghost. The ghost said, "Work." He said, "Yes, your work duties. Until I give you other work, day and night, go up and down, up and down. When you are down, your duty is to go up. When you are up, come down. And when I need other work, I will call you. You have to finish that work." Now the ghost is singing, "Oh my God, this Swami, this Gurujī, he caught me, he spoiled my life, my freedom." The meaning of this story is: this body is a farm. Our Jīvātmā is that farmer who is working in this body. And the mind is that ghost; that mind does not let us work, always searching for something new. Our Viveka, or our Ātmā, is the Gurudev. Viveka, the Jīvātmā. The biggest bamboo in this body is our spinal column. Tell the mind: when you do not have other work, then go up and down, ascending and descending, with breath consciousness and the "so’ham" mantra. And when you need your mind for work, then you just occupy it there. When restless, stupid thoughts come into the mind, the vṛttis, tell them to go and climb the bamboo up and down. That is what we call in the kuṇḍalinī: there is Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumṇā passing through the spine from the Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, the Ājñā Cakra, and Prāṇa and Apāna. Both up and down, ascending and descending consciousness with the mantra. Then our mind can be calmed down. Otherwise... Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Haṁsabhādāsa Prabhuśaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Haṁsabhādāsa Śaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāyaṇ. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāyaṇ. Haṁsabhādāsa Prabhuśaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Dāsa Prabhuśaraṇa. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhudīpa Nārāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhudīpa. Om Namah Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāyaṇam. Om Namah Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāyaṇam.... Om Namah Śrī Prabhudīpa Nārāyaṇam. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai. Śrī Śrī Dev Purīśa Mahādev Kī Jai. Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandjī Bhagavān Kī Jai. Satya Sanātana Dharma. Nāma karta prabhu, dīpa karta Mahāprabhū, dīpa karta hi kevalam. Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti.