TV Channel

Good evening to everybody, to all brothers and sisters and spiritual seekers here and around the world. This evening’s blessing is coming to you from Śrī Mahāprabhujī’s āśram. This ashram has a very special atmosphere and divine energy. There are two reasons for this. First, our dear Satguru Dev, Holy Gurujī, came and stayed here for nearly one month. Second, for 17 years since 1995, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 people have visited each year. That is 85,000 people, and with tourists, nearly 100,000. These 100,000 people have practiced the divine science of yoga in daily life, with mantras and prayers, and followed the principle of ahiṃsā, non-violence. Imagine if all 80,000 people ate meat while staying here for one, two, or three weeks. How many animals would have lost their lives? All who come here are very health-conscious. Through these facts, this ashram has become a holy place. Those who come here and breathe this air automatically experience spiritual development. For those who practice their sādhanā here, it is a great advantage. Every teacher and organizer of yoga in daily life from the Czech Republic and other parts of the world should bring their students here for a weekend or a week to experience the yogic way of life—sāttvic and balanced. A healthy vegetarian diet will do them good. As a teacher or organizer, you do not only bring the group here; you also receive a benefit. If you bring a hundred people and they gain physical, mental, and spiritual health, peace of mind, and spiritual development, you will receive credit. Ten to fifteen percent of their spiritual development will automatically be credited to you. They will be thankful to you for bringing them. This is how one also gains benefit. It is said that you are not hunting the animals, but if you see hunters and show them where the animals are—deer or rabbits—then you also gain the sin of that killing. If you had not shown them, that innocent animal might not have died. Once, a yogī was meditating in a small hut in the forest. At that time, the human population was small. Every king struggled to keep people in his kingdom. If someone left, it was a shame, and kings would even go to war to bring them back. Now, there is a large population, and it is hard to get a visa to go somewhere. Times change. So, a yogī was living in the forest. One evening, a deer came running past his hut. After ten or fifteen minutes, a hunter came running with a bow and arrow and asked the yogī, "Did you see the deer? Which direction did he run?" This is called dharmaśaṅkaṭa—a kind of test of whether you follow your dharma. It is said you should not lie. If the yogī tells where the deer ran, he is guilty of killing the animal. If he says, "No, I didn't see," he is lying. He closed his eyes for a minute, thinking, "Should I lie or not?" Then he remembered the words of the scriptures: "Brahma satyaṃ, jagan mithyā." This saved the situation. He said, "Yes, my dear friend, I would like to help you very much, but what can I tell you?" The hunter said, "Don't waste my time. Tell me which way!" The yogī said, "That is what I want to tell you. Who speaks cannot see, and who can see cannot speak. So what should I tell you? The mouth speaks but does not see. The eyes can see but cannot speak." The hunter thought, "He must be a crazy man," and went away. The yogī said, "For a while, it is good to be crazy, but not to be a part of that sin." So, if you lead someone to good things, you share the benefit. If you lead someone to bad things, you share the bad with them. This is very important. We lead people to good things. This ashram in Strelky is beautiful; all four seasons are indescribable. It would be very good for you to come with your friends, sisters, and families. This is a real retreat. You treat your body and mind every day at home, but it is not enough; everything is lost. So you come here to retreat again. Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health. The body is not immortal, but without this body, everything is nothing. As long as we live, we should live happy and relaxed. Who knows how long we will live? It does not depend on age. Whether you are 100 years old or 10, we cannot say. Our destiny is written somewhere else. Look, we are here together today, and next weekend we also have a beautiful seminar here. But who knows who will be here and who will not? Be aware of the present time. The time which has gone is gone, and the future is not here. Try to harvest good things in the present. Therefore, Guru Nānak said: "Teri Bītī Umara Hari Nāma Binā Sumeraṇa, Kāle Mere Mana." (Your life has passed without remembering God's name; now, O my mind, remember.) We talked yesterday about Likhita Japā, the writing of the mantra. While writing your mantra and concentrating, the sound automatically awakens in you. That sound is the eternal, universal sound. What we call God is love, and love is God. It is that divine, eternal sound of the universe, which means God is love and love is God. The ṛṣi Nārada asked Bhagavān Viṣṇu, "Lord, where are you mostly staying? Whenever I come, you are in the divine ocean, the ocean of milk." Bhagavān Viṣṇu said, "O Nārada, I am not living in Vaikuṇṭha, nor in the heart of the yogīs who only try to practice but do not follow the principles, Guru Vākya, the mantras, and so on. But I am there where my bhaktas are singing my name." When you sing the name, automatically your aura or the waves of your thoughts reach that God, and there is an eternal, unbreakable relation. Gurujī said, "While inhalation and exhalation, ascending and descending, the breathing breath is resonating thy name, O Mahāprabhujī." And so, automatically, feelings awake in the heart. When a musician or singer sees a song or a poem, they have feelings to sing it, or you remember the melody. So, while writing this divine mantra, that indescribable vibration, beautiful harmony, and happiness awakes in our heart. Thus, you transfer your technique from Likhita Japā to singing Japā, to Vekrī mantra. Now, you know this bhajan, this mantra; many of you have it. Those who know this mantra know it because we chant it often. You may have your eyes open or closed, but now you have to experience, as we did yesterday with the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya Mantra. Observe your entire body, your mind, your thoughts, your feelings. How do you feel when you chant this mantra? We will chant it a few times. The seat of sound is in the Maṇipūra Cakra. Whenever we speak or chant, it influences our Maṇipūra Cakra, the solar plexus. The center point of our body is our navel. Our body developed from the navel. Therefore, the seat of the soul in the form of nectar, fire, and light is Viṣṇu, who lives in water. You cannot live without water. Thus, the soul begins from here, and the manifestation of the entire body begins from here. It develops the intestines, spine, head, then limbs, and so on. So, the awakening of spiritual consciousness actually takes place from the Maṇipūra Cakra. The Maṇipūra Cakra is where energy is taken in and used energy goes out. Like an exhaust, it takes out the used air from the room and simultaneously sucks fresh air inside. These two forces in the Maṇipūra Cakra are called Prāṇa and Apāna. When we speak or chant, an enormous amount of pure energy comes inside, and through this vibration, all toxins and poisonous substances are purified. This light and sound therapy are both in the Maṇipūra Cakra. Anytime you speak, before speaking, put your hand on your stomach or navel, and when you speak, there is pressure. Of course, it is controlled and centered by the brain, but a very important center is the Maṇipūra Cakra. So, Vekrī mantra chanting purifies negative thoughts and energy and gives sāttvic energy to your body. If you speak good things, that speaking turns your inner self toward the divine. If you speak bad things, it turns in the other direction and pollutes your consciousness, intellect, mind, and thoughts—your vṛttis. Therefore, take care of your Maṇipūra Cakra, and then write and chant. You write your mantra. There are ten sounds in our body, belonging to our ten indriyas—the jñānendriyas and karmendriyas. The tenth or eleventh sound is called Brahmānāda. Brahmānāda means the sound of Brahman, the sound of the Ātmā. So’ham: "I am that, and that I am." But if you think you will merely repeat "So’ham, So’ham," it will not help. You must practice and awaken that sound in the entire body. At that time, you cannot say anymore, "I am unhappy, I am ill, I have fear." Ātmā has no fear, no illness, and is not unhappy. All this is mental projection. The body suffers, the mind suffers, the intellect suffers, but not the ātmā. The jīvātmā, the individual soul, suffers together with the body and by what happens to the body, but not the pure ātmā. You will conquer this energy by singing. Chant, chant, chant. Then you will become one with your practice. The great Tulsīdāsjī, who was writing the holy Rāmāyaṇa, the life of God Rāma, had Hanumānjī appear to him. Tulsīdāsjī asked Hanumānjī, "Can you show me God once? I want to see Rāma, Sītā, Lakṣmaṇa." Hanumānjī said, "I cannot show you directly, but indirectly. I can tell you. You have to wait to see that." Tulsīdās said, "It does not matter how many lives I have to wait; I will wait. I want to see my Lord, my beloved, just once." Will Thou come, will Thou come, just for once come to me? Open wide I keep for Thee. Will Thou come, will Thou come, just for once come to me? Night and day I look for Thee. Tulsīdāsjī said, "No problem. Hanumānjī, please tell me where I can find God." Hanumānjī said, "You need not go very far. He is coming here every day." Tulsīdās said, "Oh, beautiful! But when, and where, and how?" He said, "Here on the beach of Chitrakūṭa, where you are staying. Every morning, God Rāma comes to bathe in this river." "Really?" "Yes. Many people come bathing here, and God Rāma comes too. What he likes," he said, "is that after bathing, he makes a beautiful tilak from sandalwood paste." So Tulsīdās took a stone plate and a piece of the best, beautifully smelling sandalwood. He was grinding it, thinking, "My Lord Rāma will come, and I will make him tilak. Hanumānjī, please, you must warn me when he is coming." Hanumānjī said, "Well, I cannot tell you immediately, but I can tell you that he comes within this hour, these 15 minutes." Tulsīdās had a longing to see his God and was making the sandalwood paste like this. God Rāma stood beside Tulsīdās. Tulsīdās thought, "Yes, so many people are coming, staying, and going." God Rāma slightly bowed down, took some sandal paste himself, made his tilak, blessed Tulsīdās, and left. Tulsīdās was thinking, "What a person! He took my sandalwood paste. It was for God Rāma." And Rāma went. Hanumānjī said, and Tulsīdāsjī said, "Is it a problem?" He said, "Yes, there is a problem. What?" So Tulsīdās is writing what Hanumānjī said: "Chitrakūṭa ke ghāṭa para baiṭhe haiṃ santana kī bhīṛ." (On the beach of Chitrakūṭa sits a crowd of saints.) "Tulasī Dāsa chandana ghise, tilaka kare raghubīra." (Tulasī Dāsa grinds the sandalwood, and Raghubīra [Rāma] applies the tilak.) So when Rāma took the paste, Tulsīdāsjī did not notice. Indirectly, Hanumānjī said, "I hope that Tulsīdāsjī will become aware of that." During that half-minute when Rāma took the paste to make the tilak, Tulsīdāsjī was thinking, "Oh, some sādhu took it." But Hanumānjī said, Tulsīdāsjī said, "What happened? He is gone. I told you, I sang for you. I gave you the hint. You did not understand." That is it. Therefore, you must become aware of it. Become one with it. Have love and devotion to the Divine. It will come. There is one bhajan of Mahāprabhujī, but I do not know how it is. That bhajan’s first line, yes, link up.