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Part 1: The Path of Mantra and the Heart's Unfoldment In the Upaniṣads of the Vedas, many mantras are given for our everyday life. These are instructions, or ādeśa—the profound advice and suggestions of the great seers, the ṛṣis. They guide the spiritual seeker on how to think for the well-being of the entire creation, this Mṛti Loka, as well as for oneself. Those who practice spirituality and their mantras awaken their anāhata cakra, as we spoke of this morning regarding mānasika japa and upāṃśu japa. At that time, one attains a siddhi. This siddhi is called vāk siddhi. Siddhi means perfection, and vāk means the words you speak. Vāk siddhi is the perfection where what you say comes to be. This is what we seek from holy saints—their blessing. When they say, "Bless you," the vāk siddhi from their anāhata cakra radiates upon you, covering your entire being so that negative energy departs and your wish is fulfilled. If a person possesses vāk siddhi, then... Those who are not occupied in the prapañca of this saṃsāra—prapañca meaning all external activities—we are lost in them. We do not turn inward, and therefore all cakras become blocked. Negative energy enters, and our words, thoughts, and actions become negative. You cannot bless, but you can threaten. Who can threaten? The ignorant one. Who can bless? The holy one. Now, both blessing and threatening are in your hands. What do you want? Threatening is the nature of the Asuras, the Rākṣasas. Blessing is the nature of the Devas. I am not saying this myself; I am only repeating what the Śāstras and Granthas say. Grantha is a very beautiful and important word that must be understood. There are two related terms. One is granthi, meaning knots or glands—the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, pineal gland, and so many glands. We are glad our glands are functioning well. But grantha is a book, a holy or spiritual book written by scientists, philosophers, artists, poets, or a holy saint. That book is called a grantha. What does a grantha mean? It means collected knowledge—the pulse of wisdom. In that grantha, knowledge is woven together like cloth is knitted or webbed. That is called Grantha. These Granthas are ancient, authentic, and represent the mental, intellectual, and spiritual work of those great saints. What we are doing is enjoying the heritage we have inherited. We are living from the property of our ancestors, the ṛṣis. Therefore, the ṛṣis tell us: if you wish to be spiritual, to develop and achieve the destination of this human life, then purify your antaḥkaraṇa—manas, buddhi, citta, ahaṅkāra—and free thyself from the three tapas: adhibhautika, adhidaivika, and adhyātmika. What the ṛṣis received from the Vedas and Upaniṣads, they expressed beautifully. They said, "O human, you should live like this." Read the Upaniṣads, read the Vedas, read the Bhagavad Gītā, the Rāmāyaṇa. Someone asked me a question here about Kapila Muni. Who was Kapila Muni? A very great Siddha. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad Gītā: "Oh Arjuna, among the Siddha yogīs, I am Kapila Muni." Siddhānāṁ Kapilo Muni in the Bhagavad Gītā. That Kapila is our Iṣṭa Devatā, the Iṣṭa of the Mahā Nirvāṇī Akhāṛā. Kapila is the uncle of Dattātreya and brother of Anasūyā. This you may not know. Oh, what great people! Anasūyā was such a divine being. She was divine like Kapila Muni. Like parents, like children, like brothers, like sisters—it is a matter of quality. From diamond mines come diamonds; from coal mines comes coal. She was the one lady—I call her 'lady,' but I am humiliating her name; she was holy, divine—who was able to place Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva as small children on her lap. That story is very long. Therefore, Dattātreya, in one form, three—she placed them: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva as her children. That was a mother. That was a woman. Yes. And what about you, ladies? About that, we will speak tomorrow. Siddhānāṁ Kapilamuni. What about Kapilamuni? Day after tomorrow. Next time we will speak. What about you, boys? Spirituality is not a little game. Spirituality, it is said—I will translate this later, otherwise all is about that mantra. We are coming to the mānasika mantra, but it will not function as long as you are occupied with negative vṛttis, negative qualities, negative work. So the ṛṣi said, "What I want to tell you is the mantra." You know how all spiritual persons think before meditation or prayers, and after meditation and prayers. When one bows down to God, what one sees is a real spiritual... A person, a real yogī and developed one, will say... "I’ve forgotten what is second. Help me, please. Oh, you know, all, all should be happy." There is no translation in the English language, maybe in Hungarian I don’t know, or in Croatian I don’t know, but in German and in English, there is no translation of this one word: sukha or duḥkha. Duḥkha is thought about, but sukha in one word... we generally say "all be happy" in Hindi. Happy means "kush," but "sukha" means what? There is no word. Therefore, I can’t translate. But the ṛṣi guru vākya—that is a guru vākya, my dear—that we should follow. When we always speak about Guru Vakya, it’s those Vākyas of the great saints, great ones who lived thousands of years before or ages before. "All should be happy." How should that person be? There is one story, a real story. This happened about 10,000 years ago or more. That was the time of God Rāma. God Rāma was the prince from the Raghu dynasty. God Rāma’s guru, kula guru, family guru. Family gurus continue for generations; it’s not like you change every day. Sometimes you’re like, "My Swamiji, my Swamiji, I love you, my Swamiji." And Dupada said, "No, I don’t want Swamiji." He didn’t let me come to him. How you change? Oh, my dear. It is not a drama. It is about God Rāma. At the same time, there was a great saint called Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra lived for thousands of years. The tapasyā of his 62,000 years, 16,000 years... the tapasyā of his Viśvāmitra deed, he surrendered to Guru Vasiṣṭha Muni as a donation. When you donate, you cannot take it back. If you take it back, it is a sin. Who is a great person like us here? For 16,000 years, he was sitting in the mountains meditating, and he was just happy, and he donated his 16,000 years of spirituality. They were other people; we are only the shadow of them, nothing else. The world will promise what you gave; you can’t take back a donation. What you gave, you can’t take back. The bullet went from the gun; you can’t catch it back. The soul gone out of the body—you can’t catch it and say, "I want to have it back." If you do, you did a great, great mistake, and you have to suffer for 16,000 years. My God, what was the condition of his knees? Viśvāmitra was great. And at the same time, Viśvāmitra was the second guru during his time when he was protecting the yajña of Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra was performing a yajña. This yajña was for the "sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ," "sab sukhi rahe." He made a saṅkalpa that "I will do this yajña." And when the Rākṣasas came to know that this is... is it true? They are sitting, some Indians. I am not creating my story. So Viśvāmitra performed the yajña, and in the yajña there were two things. First, saṅkalpa for the well-being of the entire earth, our planet. In astrology, our Earth is not counted or acknowledged as a planet. I’m not an astrologer, so don’t ask me why. Ask someone who knows about astrology. Now, graha, nine graha. In nine graha, our earth is not included. Is there somebody who knows perfect astrology? Hands up. Is there someone who knows a little bit of astrology? Hands up. One never said, "I am very great." So first, he wanted to do good for the people. Second, his saṅkalpa would be successful only if he could complete his yajña without awakening anger within himself. "That I will not be angry." Ha. When Rāvaṇa heard about this—the Rākṣasa heard about this—Viśvāmitra is going to do some yajña for people to make them happy and healthy, and this... His name will be the greatest. And where will Rāvaṇa be? Rāvaṇa sits there. And Rāvaṇa called his Rākṣasas. I don’t know the name, even the Rākṣasas’ name. But there was a name. This was the name of something. What to do? He ordered the Rākṣasas, "Fly there and throw the blood and the bones of animals and humans in the Yajña Kuṇḍa." In the yajña kuṇḍa, no blood, no bones, they cannot come near. And when the ṛṣi Viśvāmitra will see this, he will become angry. And Viśvāmitra’s anger was so strong that the whole earth would come to an earthquake. Rishis? Tapa, that’s called tapa, tapasyā, volcano. The volcano, it comes, what is that? Tapa, tapasyā, fire. So it is said, if you can’t do good, don’t do bad, and try to stay on one side. Don’t disturb any sādhu; you never know what kind of curse he can give you. So they were performing yajña. It was about several days or weeks. Svāhā, you know, everybody. And Viśvāmitra was sitting there, and disciples, other sādhus. And Svāhā and Rākṣasas came in the space. Ha, ha... and they threw the bones in the yajña. Oh God. The ṛṣi looked up. Anger came in the ṛṣi a little bit. And the ṛṣi said to himself, "Viśvāmitra, no, no anger, no anger." Maybe tomorrow we will perform again. The next day, again, the Rākṣasas came. It took him a few days. If he wished, he could destroy the Rākṣasas only from his look. But that would be anger. A whole life of tapasyā is gone. Saṅkalpa is gone. All the people and creatures of this planet will suffer. Oh Ṛṣi, what happened to your saṅkalpa? They will come and say, "What about your saṅkalpa? Your saṅkalpa turned wrong side. You change your words. Who can protect us?" the Ṛṣi said. He went to Ayodhyā, to King Daśaratha, to ask King Daśaratha to send his two sons, Bhagavān Rāma and his brother Lakṣmaṇa, to protect the Yajña. He went to Daśaratha, and Daśaratha said, "Holy man, O Ṛṣi, you can have everything from me, but not these young children who are about 14, 15, or 18 years young. How will they fight against the Rākṣasas?" The Ṛṣi said, "King, you don’t know. You have more attachment toward these two children, like your son, but they are not normal children." But he said, "I can’t." Then the ṛṣi became angry. The Ṛṣi said, "Okay, I go empty-handed from your door." The king was very afraid. Someone, and the ṛṣi, a sanyāsī, goes empty-handed from my door? What a shame! How many ages will I spend in the naraka? He said, "Please, please... Ṛṣi, don’t go like this. Bless me, and let both children go with you." Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa went with Viśvāmitra. On the way, he touched his God. Rāma touched his feet to one stone. That stone was cursed by someone, the husband of one, this is wife. Became stone, and someone said, "When God Rāma will touch the stone with his feet, again she will become a human." That you can read in the Rāmāyaṇa. There were the ṛṣis, you know. If we touch the stone, we have to go to the orthopedic; we will break our toes, my dear. We are nothing. We are not even a corn of the dust of their feet. We are not even lucky ones to be under that earth where they will step. Holy, who would think about Jesus where he walked? Wouldn’t you put your palms if Jesus is walking? And he will put your palms under that time. No, we hanged him up. When he went away, then we—now we are crying because we did not know who is who. Anyhow, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa came and they protected. When the Rākṣasas came, they, with their arrows, shot them and they couldn’t come back anymore. That time Rāvaṇa said, "Aha, there is someone who is trying to destroy my kingdom, who tried to disturb my position." And the whole story began with the fighting. You know? Satyameva jayate—finally the truth, that is the winner of the dharma. That was the great saint Viśvāmitra. Now, though he had so many tapasyās for thousands of years, inside was still a longing. What longing? The wish, the ego to have a position. And Viśvāmitra would like very much that Guru Vasiṣṭha, because he was the guru of kings, declares and gives the acknowledgement that Ṛṣi Viśvāmitra should be called Brahma Ṛṣi. And Guru Vasiṣṭha didn’t say anything. And Viśvāmitra was so angry, he stole the Kāmadhenu cow of Guru Vasiṣṭha. Kāmadhenu, which was coming out of the ocean churning. He killed the children of the Vasiṣṭha Muni, Viśvāmitra himself. Spirituality can turn to the Rākṣasa vṛttis because of your greed, your ambition, your ego. God protect us from this. Even somebody will say, "Yes, go and fight." A wise person will say no. When the dog bites you, you cannot run behind and bite the dog. Sai bāt hai? Nahīṁ. Now, Viśvāmitra would like very much to be called a Brahma-ṛṣi. And this can only be when the guru, Vasiṣṭha Muni, Vasiṣṭha will tell, "Oh, Viśvāmitra is Brahma-ṛṣi." Now what happens? Viśvāmitra decided to kill Vasiṣṭha Muni. He was looking for the chance to kill him, but Viśvāmitra had... Vasiṣṭha Muni had great bodyguards. Like you have here, great bodyguards. They are yours, not mine. You are the body, and they are the guards. I am the ātmā. That is all. One day, it’s called Śarat Pūrṇimā. It comes, I think, in October, November, always. There were some ṛṣis who had a satsaṅg in a jungle in Kuṭiyā. They learn from the gypsies. Again, coming from India. Again, kuṭiyā and kuṭiyā. So, Vasiṣṭha Muni, a great saint, and his wife Arundhatī. Her name was Arundhatī. Read in the Granthas what was Arundhatī, what was Anasūyā, what was Gārgī. My God! Women, great. Thousands of Ṛṣis were standing in front of them with folded hands. There is no duality, no discrimination in gender, knowledge, or spirituality. There is no duality, my dear. Therefore, women have equal rights for pūjā. Women have equal rights for meditation, everything. And now in India there are quite a few good women. They are so good at giving satsaṅg and preaching. Great, great. There is one girl; she is a disciple. I would say, not my mother, Gurujī’s disciple. And she is about 14 years or 13 years old. And her brother is eight years old. And if he or she will sit here and begin to speak for hours and hours, you will be surprised from where that wisdom, that knowledge is coming. This young girl, twelve, thirteen years, talks about the Vedas without looking into them. Tapasyā, tapasyā, knowledge. Anyhow, Arundhatī and they were invited in satsaṅg after 11:30 midnight. Vasiṣṭha Muni and Arundhatī, they said, "Now we will go back to our kuṭiyā, to our āśram, to our gurukul." And they were walking through the forest; there was no concrete roads, there was nothing. And Viśvāmitra knew that Vasiṣṭha Muni would come back on this path, so he took his arrow and bow and sat in the moonlight. He sees clearly who is coming; he was hiding behind a bush. He was just stretching his bow, and Arundhatī, the wife of Vasiṣṭha, said, "My lord, how beautiful is today’s moonlight." And Vasiṣṭha Muni said, "Yes, goddess, beautiful, pleasant. Today, moonlight is like Brahma Ṛṣi Viśvāmitra’s tapas." And Viśvāmitra threw the arrows and his bow down. He, Vasiṣṭha Muni, has in his consciousness adoration for me as a Brahma Ṛṣi. He ran and fell into the holy feet of Vasiṣṭha Muni and said, "Ṛṣi, forgive me. I did so many bad things against you, but you were never angry. And you know, I only wanted to hear one word from your mouth towards me as a Brahma Ṛṣi. What can I give you, Dakṣiṇā? Now you bestow the title on me, Brahmaṛṣi." He said, "Till today, my seeker, so many thousands of years of tapasyā I surrender to thy feet." And Vasiṣṭha Muni said, "I bless you with all the fruits of my satsaṅg, even one minute of satsaṅg." Oh God! Again he became angry. "So many, 72,000 years of tapasyā I gave you, thousands of, in only one minute." He said, "Yes, only one minute, one Brahma Ṛṣi." Whatever. So the story goes on and on. The whole Rāmāyaṇa is a beautiful holy book. So when we practice our mantra, likhit vekharī upāṃśu... When we come to the mānasika mantra, that time the practitioner makes mistakes. They give no proper guidance of the Gurudev. They try to go up here to the eyebrow center, the Ājñā Cakra, to see the visions. You know, the facial expression I see when people are meditating, what happens? It creates big tension, pain on this part of your head. And therefore, while doing Mānasika Mantra, the mind, the intellect is here; the mind is somewhere between, and we have to come to the ānanda cakra. That time, no tongues are moving, no lips are moving, only the mālā beads, and you are dwelling thyself in thy heart. Suddenly, the heart begins to open its petals, like the unfoldment of the lotus petals. And each opening of the petals brings you joy, happiness, kindness, mercy, love, wisdom, and the beauty of thy heart. Look there through the Mānasika japa. Upāṃśu brings you between. Swaso swas apakahi sumaran. That time āra uraḍ. Āra uraḍ bīche. There is akhaṇḍ jyoti, avichal jyoti. Āra uraḍ bīche. Rāmata rāmayya. Āra, ascending breath. Uraḍ, descending breath. The meditation is concentration on ascending and descending breath through the Upāṃśu technique. But when the Mānasik Pūjā comes, then you go to the heart. My picture comes because it is a dhyāna-mūlam guru-mūrti, or pūjā-mūlam guru-pādam, mantra-mūlam guru-vākyam, mokṣa-mūlam guru-kṛpā. Visions will come, but still in the heart. All, though the signal is here, the computer is here, but the happening, the feeling, comes from here. And therefore, you have to come to your Anāhata Cakra, Mantra Japa. But as soon as you touch your inner heart, the relaxation comes, and what we call the stress goes away. But always we want to see the Gurudev’s lotus feet. So one day, something happened, and then I was sweating and nervous. Part 2: A Lesson from the Guru: Concentration and the Heart Gurujī told me one day, "I was sitting in his room and drinking rabrī." Rabrī is buttermilk and polenta, or what you might call the Brazilian dish. Gurujī said to me, "Mahesh, in the morning I always have a little headache here after meditation every day. You are a yogī," Gurujī said. "Mahesh, you are a yogī. Can you tell me why I always have a headache here?" My God, I dared to say. I said, "Gurujī, when you meditate, what are you doing?" That was a chance for me to know what he was doing. Gurujī said, "It is true what I am telling you. Mahesh, I see the divine holy feet of Mahāprabhujī, and first I gaze on the nails of his toes. Guru nak man ghan jyoti." In the Rāmāyaṇa, Tulsīdās writes in the holy Rāmāyaṇa, "guru nak man ghan jyoti. Sumirat hirade, sumiran karne se," that will appear in your heart. So, 'nak' is the toenail of the big toe or toes. 'Nak mana', that is a maṇi, like a mukta maṇi. She is not here. Is there somebody named Muktā Maṇi? Nobody is here. Maṇi means jewel. And when the jewel is there and the light is reflecting, how beautiful the jewel is reflecting—like my crystal mala. It has reflection. Only I can’t see myself, and it’s too near, you know. So many guru’s names I cannot name. So Gurudev’s nails of his toes are not the nails, not this physical body, but for me, Tulsīdās said, it is a jewel. Ghan jyoti. Ghan means endless, and jyoti means the light. So, Mahesh, I am always imagining my forehead is on Mahāprabhujī’s holy lotus feet. And what will you be imagining? The sun rising. Meditate. Don’t move your body. Relax the whole body. Now think, the morning dawn, the sun rising, don’t move, relax, relax... now the birds are flying, beautiful lake. This is mostly all yoga teachers are doing, the core of the meditation. It is different, my dear. Dusra toh only struggling. We are struggling. There is a goat in the case, and a tiger came. The tiger is only moving round and round. He can’t come to the goat because it is in the cage. There are big iron rods there. So we have that light inside of the goat, and we are moving, struggling, go here and go there, and go, we don’t find anything. Rām nām nāriyal hai, man guḍāyo le jāt, phoḍe to phūṭe nahī̃ giri, kahā̃ se khāī. This mind is a fox; it would like to eat the coconut. He tried to roll the coconut, but he couldn’t break it. Unless he can break the coconut, he cannot eat the nut from inside. So Rāmnām Nāryā, the name of God is that coconut. This mind is a fox. Try to roll and roll, but can’t open. And when you can’t open, you can’t eat the nut. Can you tell? Can you think what I did? My God! Then I begin to sweat. What will Gurujī tell me? But Gurujī was very kind. I said, "Gurujī, you should change your technique." He said, "Yes, good. Mahesh, how?" I said, "Am I in Mahāprabhujī’s lotus feet in the heart and not there?" He said, "Good idea." So he said, "Why?" I said, because you give too much concentration, it’s tense. And he said he’s not tense. I said, you think not tense, but you are tense. And Gurujī said, "Yes, Māheś. From tomorrow onwards, here." After three days or two days, Gurujī and I were sitting there. Guru Jī said, "You know, my meditation and everything is disturbed." I said, "Why? Because you transfer Mahāprabhujī from here to here, and my years-long practice is here." So, can you transfer him from here to there again? I said that is your job, Gurudev. So even if you are an expert in meditation, subconsciously we are giving tensions, and then it can cause certain pain, certain pressures, certain... therefore, you have to come to the Anāhata Cakra, Mānasika. And then I asked Gurujī, what about ajapa? He said, "Yes, Mahāprabhujī wrote in his book, Dīp Pūryānubhā Prakāś, ’Ajapa jisko kyā jape?’ Ajapa, you need not practice. Being japyā jap hoī," without practicing, is going on constantly. So these are the practices. But if you have anger, doubt, towards whom do you have doubt? You can cry the whole day; you are not forced to cry. You can be angry at your president of your society. Doesn’t matter you are angry at him, but what will happen? Nothing. You know that. So the spiritual person, a seeker, an honest one who is honest to oneself, will give up the purpose and practice, practice, practice. Then the happiness and light come. Mānasika Japa. Mind. Now the mind, it was like a wasp. And wasp is like... On one blood, on the other blood. And that mind finds that Amrita, the real Amrita. What is a real Amṛtā? Amar ho jisko khāne se mithai ho to aisī ho. Arey, wo mithai khāye, jo amar banā detī hai. Eat that kind of sweet food or sweets which makes you immortal; that is a real sweetness, and spoils your mind from the desires. That mind turns to immortality. So, Mānasika Japa means the mind. He concentrates and comes and sits in Anāhad Cakra. Anāhad Nāda. Anāhad Nāda and noise sound, universal sound, cosmic sound. That is the eleventh sound. That time Arahura made different Ajāta, their sound comes differently. So I am that, and that I am. There is no more searching. What happens then? That I will tell tomorrow morning about Ajapa-jāpa. So it is said, Mahāprabhujī, when Swāmījī is talking, don’t meditate. Girls with closed eyes, go down and go there. Because we, after we say after, one, two, three. Tomorrow, 9:30, we will have here program till 12:30 or 1 o’clock. Between, we will have half hour, 40 minutes interval. Those who will be in hurry to go in interval, they can go after his coming. His Excellency, the Ambassador of India, Gauri Shankar Gupta Jī from Budapest, and he has some duties and unfortunately... He couldn’t come today, and tomorrow morning he will start and will be, hopefully, here about 11:30. He is going to speak. He’s a Vedāntī. He has a lot of knowledge about Vedas, body, mind, and soul. So, let’s see. You are all welcome. How it will be? And after that, when His Excellency begins to talk, we can’t tell him, "Finish, please." So, that’s all. And now, we will have a 25-minute interval. Meanwhile, if you want to go somewhere outside and come in, or we will sing bhajans. But before that, Dr. Shanti will speak something. After that, there will be prayer, and then we will see what the whole night holds for us. So, Shanti, you should speak now about something, okay, because then the webcast is finished. So, Dr. Shanti, you can stand here or take your mic, thadi, mic, and you can come here closer, so I also come in the picture, you know, come here. So, people, little bodies. Siddhipnā Rambhagwanā Kī Chāh Sī Ālāpurījī, Siddhapit Paramparā Kī Chāh, Viśva Guru Namandalēśvara Paramhaṁsaṁ Aiśvarya Nānājī Gurudeva Kī Chāh, Praṇām Swāmījī. Dear yoga friends here in the hall and around the world, two things always come very surprisingly. Surprisingly, first the death and second the word of the master. So that’s why Guru Parampāra helps me now to tell you the right thing in the right moment, and I know it will be the right thing in the right moment. And I am now 35 years this year with Swamiji, and never in this time has he been speaking like in these two weeks about mantra. He spoke many times in all these years about the mantra, but never in this very special way, how he is doing this now since he came back from his tours, since he is in Europe. And everyone who knows Swāmījī a long time will agree. That never it was like this before, so I think it is a very precious time for all of us to listen more than at any time before to what Swāmījī is speaking in these hours, in these days. And every master has his special gift; he has his special remedy for how to bring the disciple to high development. Everyone, not everyone has the same tools which he gives to his disciple. And Swamiji’s very special help is the Guru Mantra. So, in all techniques, in all steps which we are going on in yoga and daily life, towards the realization, he gives us the mantra as a stick in our hand, which will help us in our development. And my biggest wish would be that these lectures which Swamījī gave in these last weeks should be in written form, that we should write them down and we should publish them. And I use this opportunity to request you, all of you, who are able to write down and to help in this matter. You agree? So please, maybe you can really take action for this. Because what is precious, we should always share. We should take care; it is our main motto, but we should also share how to take care. And the Guru is taking care of us. Every breath of his body, of his mind, of his whole life is dedicated to taking care of all of us. To bring the light, the realization in our mind, to bring us towards God, and to share this wisdom that Swāmījī is giving us in these last weeks, it’s really so great that we can then share this with everyone. Everyone who comes to the classes, to yoga teachers, you can give this really as a tool. And the greatness of the master is also that he is not hiding his secrets, you know. When the, uh, when the book appeared, the yoga book, uh, first time, I don’t know how many. Time is ago, it’s 12 years or something like that, "Yoga and Daily Life," the big book. We had always already some scriptures with us, but the scriptures were not as beautiful as a book. And also, the self-inquiry meditation which Swamiji gave us was not public, actually. It was more or less only for very advanced people, yes, that they could make this kind of meditation. And then when I saw this book, I was completely surprised by what was inside, that the whole self-inquiry meditation is inside. And I know, and I’m sure, that other groups and other masters—they may be wonderful—but they are not sharing. Like Swamiji is sharing to take care of all of us, and I said, "Really, this master is really great because he doesn’t hide anything." He just gives to us everything, and we should take this as a precious diamond. That really, what he is giving to us, dear friends, is that if we do what he is saying, if we do what he is teaching, if we do what he is recommending to us, we can and we will, for sure, find the way to God. And also in our seminars, which take place in the summertime this year and all the last years. Those who had participated in the intensive seminars, where also the mantra, again, is a very important tool and a very vital instrument in all this technique. I can tell you, it is wonderful in these seminars also, and when we follow this technique Swāmījī is giving us, you can have wonderful experiences. Myself, I had some years ago a very, very high experience in the middle of all people in the Anuṣṭhān. And you know, we always have to be ready when God wants to come to us. And these opportunities are given when the presence of Swāmījī is there. And even if he’s not present in the anusthāns or in the seminars, he is always with us because he is the one giving us the tools to get to the highest point. I don’t know why, but a very little... A story comes to my mind, and I think, the way on which we are, the spiritual way, we need good chairs. The spiritual path is maybe even the most important, the path itself. The way is a path, not the aim, and we are all on the way, and it’s a... A very, very precious and wonderful way on which we are. So, there was one man, and he was very much, uh, he wanted absolutely to reach his aim. He many times went to the masters, and he would, years maybe, not 16,000 years of tapasyā, about maybe. He performed 12,000 years of tapasyā, and he absolutely wanted to reach the aim. And he wanted, he was traveling many, many far away, many countries, to find the door and the house where God was living. And he searched everywhere. And you know, when you are searching for God, definitely He comes to you. Because when you go one step to him, he comes a hundred steps towards you. So one time, really, he found the house of God. And it was a house where he was very near, and there were some steps where he had to go up to open the door where God was sitting. Backside of this door in this house, and he knew he is now on the aim. He is now there where God is living, and he was very excited. And he came there, and in front of the first step he was thinking, "Oh my God, what if I see God now? If I come there, what will it be? My whole life will be senseless afterwards." Because the way I am searching, I’m making so many beautiful sādhanās and practicing, and then when I will see him, everything, my whole life, I don’t know what is my aim afterwards. And so he went back, and he didn’t go, he didn’t go. The He steps up to God, but he continued his life. And anytime he knew where to find God, and I think that Swāmījī showed us so many times and told us so many times, "Where is this door? Where is this house?" And he encouraged us also to enter there, and that’s what I love so much. Swamiji says, "Just search for God in the middle of your heart with mānasik pūjā or mānasik mantra, or without a mānasik mantra. Just sit, just relax, and think on your iṣṭadevā, and enter the door of your heart and find God there." So, Swamiji, I thank you in the name of all your disciples present and physically formed everywhere and all the years. There’s this big gift of mantra which you gave to us, and me, myself, in my life, I use the mantra in many, many very, very difficult situations. And it’s such a big help. This is incredible. It makes us also independent. That’s maybe what was not said till now. Independent of everything that is happening around. It gives us such a strength that you are really like Abhijala. We are without movement. I mean, yes, a little movement. But more immobile than another time, and maybe last. I want also Swamiji will speak tomorrow about Ajapa. And I am a simple servant of Gurū Dev and of the Lord. I am not a super-realized soul, but I am walking on the way, like we all are walking. And one time I was walking in the Himalayas, and this is a big blessing of the paramparā, that I can be there. And I was also making one week of meditation, which Swāmījī allowed me to make anuṣṭhān, meditation anuṣṭhān, and I made it. In one cave in the Himalayas one week, and actually I was completely unsatisfied with myself because I was not so successful. I didn’t make all the mantras, and in the afternoon the long program took me not three hours but six hours, and things like this, I was not tired at all, but it took me a very long time, and also I didn’t, I didn’t have visions from Devpurījī or some other ṛṣis from the Himalayas, which actually I didn’t expect, but you never know, and so I was actually, I finished, but it was. Long, long... And I didn’t have highlights and not samādhi states, and so on, so I said, "Okay, I made my duty, and we’ll see." And then, what was interesting, you know what happened afterwards? So I left the place, and then ajapa started. That was so interesting. And then I noticed when I came back just from alone. The mantra was working inside of me; it was all the time, and that was so beautiful. It was just inside of me, going on and going on and... Going on, I lost it, maybe in the moment because of many prapañcha. Hospitals, prapañcha also, mainly in jāḍaṅ, many, many prapañcha. But I know that inside, from this time on, something changed and something... Is going on, maybe on another level of my consciousness, but it was such a beautiful experience to know that our efforts, every effort is counted, every effort which we are doing, and that’s why it’s good to listen to the Master, and to follow his words, Siddhip Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān. So, Keśava Nāmasapāna, Sādhvī Śānti. So, I would like to welcome you and introduce our Sādhvī, Yamunāpurī, who is looking after our yoga and daily life in Spain and the ashram in Bras, Barcelona. She was practicing too much Haṭha Yoga, therefore she can’t sit on the floor today. So she needs a chair. Yes, go, go... So when you are in Spain or in Barcelona, you know where to go. The Sādhvī Yamunā is a very good host, and it’s your ashram. You are anytime welcome, Yamunā. You will not speak something? Hariyam, Hariyam, Swāmijī. I am so happy to stay here that my voice... Come not outside. I think the best in life is to stay at the feet of your master, at the divine lotus feet of your master. If you understand the meaning of that, then your life will totally change. I think I met Swamiji many, many, many years ago. I think 35 years ago, yes? Satvishanti and I were one of the first disciples of Swamiji, and I understand it’s not easy to understand who is a master. For many, many years, Swamiji was very, very strong with me, and I was telling Katerina she was the first, strong or strict. Thank you, and I told Katerina, "Swami, she doesn’t love me." Every time he told me that, it’s not good, and she told me, "No, he loves you, especially because if he sees one stone, then the master knows how he has to do." To take one diamond, no diamond, and then I was thinking, "Okay, okay, I will see." But I am a very hard stone. I don’t think, poor Swāmījī, and really Swāmījī was supporting me very much because I was a crazy. He was telling to me I was a crazy fat cause, but I am so happy the Swāmījī knows. To guide me, strong and strict but with so much love, and he showed me how you have to do it to take your Master into your heart. Now, at this moment, when I became Swamiji, really in my heart, because before you think so much, yes, I have Swamiji in my heart, okay. But really in your heart, then your life will change, really change. Then, only then, you will understand all the things. You will understand really who is a master. And I don’t have anything to say, only that I am so happy, I am so fortunate to meet Swāmījī in my life, that I can hope for you all that you will really understand and go the way to the Master. That’s the best, the nicest, and the most beautiful way you can find in this life, and I wish you all the best. Swamiji, many, many thank you very much. And like Swamiji told you, if you come to Barcelona, you are all welcome. Yes, we have a little ashram, but we have a big heart. We learned it from Swāmījī, and you are all welcome. Thank you very much. You have a problem with the knee? You can sit here, yes.