TV Channel

Oṁ karoti kalyāṇam, ārogyaṁ dhana-saṃpadā, śatru-buddhi-vināśāya, dīpa-jyotir namastute. Dīpa-jyoti parabrahma, dīpaṁ sarvaṁ mohanam, dīpānāṁ sajate sarvaṁ, sandhyā-dīpaṁ sarvaṁ śaktyam. Oṁ śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ... Salutations to the cosmic light, and adoration to our divine masters in the divine presence of the Almighty. Dear sisters and brothers, welcome to our beautiful ashram in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. This centre truly has a beautiful, divine atmosphere. The place and environment greatly influence our body, mind, emotions, intellect, awareness, and consciousness. They inspire our physical, emotional, mental, and intellectual actions. Whatever we do, and the way we begin to act, leaves an impression on the layers of our consciousness. The subject for this whole weekend and the coming days is the purification of karmas—both theory and practice. Some philosophers say tons of theory are nothing compared to a grain of practice. It is a beautiful subject that touches the life of every one of us. I do not think anyone here is without karmic influence in their life. Whether you accept it or not, it is there. There is much talk and many questions, but few solutions. So, practically, what is to be done? There are many causes and many reactions to our actions. Herein lies our life journey from many, many lives. Once, I received a Skype call from Virendra, an immigration lawyer in Australia. On his laptop was written: "Life is a journey, not a destination." That is correct. Our journey began—we do not know when—with this individual soul. In Vedānta philosophy, there are very clear definitions: the body, the elements, the senses, the energy, the emotion, the mind, the intellect, the viveka (discrimination), different levels of consciousness, the soul, and the Ātmā. At the highest point is Ātmā. We are all one. There is no difference between you and me, or anyone, or any creature. That Ātmā is the light of the cosmic Self. You are that light, the ātmā of the cosmic Self. I repeat: tons of theory are nothing compared to a grain of practice. Ādi Guru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya said, as do the Bhagavad Gītā and many other scriptures, that Ātmā cannot be destroyed by any weapons. Even the atom will explode, but the ātmā cannot be destroyed. Ātmā cannot be burned by fire or dried by air. No element can influence the ātmā. Death cannot take away the ātmā. I am talking about your Ātmā and my Ātmā; we are only one Ātmā. As our beloved Satguru Dev Swami Madhavānandjī said: the one in all, and all in that one. Now, we know theoretically that we are the Ātmā. Ātmā has no fear. Ātmā has no karma. No karma can touch the Ātmā. We know this. How beautiful. So, let us enjoy, for no karma will touch us. For example, we are all sitting in this hall, talking about how we are ātmā, we are immortal. Now imagine a wild, hungry tiger jumps into this room. We are all ātmā sitting peacefully. Do you think we will remain seated peacefully? Everyone will try to take a chair for protection, climb up, or run to the emergency door. This is evidence that we know theoretically we are ātmā, but practically we do not know. If we truly knew practically, we would not move at all, and the hungry tiger would not look at or touch you. This is the difference. We talk, but we lack practice and practical techniques for the purification of ignorance. Therefore, the Ātmā is there, but we come back to this point: the body. Between ātmā and the body, there are many, many things. We began our journey many ages, many yugas ago, with that one cosmic resonance declared as Oṁ. Everything comes from that sound, that resonance, AUM. These are the three guṇas. If you know Āyurveda, an Āyurvedic doctor will tell you about the three guṇas: Sattva guṇa, Rajas guṇa, and Tamas guṇa. Or they will say your body's nature is either vāta, pitta, or kapha. I do not know much about Āyurveda, but I know some words. According to Āyurveda, if this vikāra—these three guṇas—is purified and balanced, you become healthy. Āyurveda says even if you have cancer and you immediately work according to your vāta, pitta, and kapha, it can affect you to destroy that illness more than chemotherapy. But we do not know how. And when a Vaidya (physician) tells us to change our diet—don't eat this, eat that—we say, "Yes, very interesting, thank you," but we go home and say, "This is complicated." Someone says, "Anyhow, one day we will die. Let it be." We search for excuses, self-excuse. From that light, that resonance... The Vedas say if you want to see God, the highest supreme, what form does He have? Resonance. That resonance is in the entire universe, even in a grain of sand. It is that resonance which is balancing, uniting, and harmonizing our earth, all planets, the Ananta Brahmāṇḍa (endless universes), Śāstra, Sūrya, thousands of solar systems. All the suns are kept together by that resonance. When this resonance is drawn back, our earth will be like a wet cloth hung on a line to dry; the water just goes away. This earth will disappear; water will disappear. When the five elements try to disappear from your body, your body will be like cotton and just fly away—finished, nothing is there. So, what is keeping everything together is that cosmic sound. That sound is in our body too. Nāda Rūpa Parabrahman: through sound, everything is manifested and created. That light, which is a ray or a taraṅga (wave), one layer of the sound, slowly came to the environment—the place, atmosphere, and situations I mentioned at the beginning. That changes our emotion, which means our actions: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social, and so on. From there onward, this Ātmā light came to that space, and a round began with all kinds of qualities. The collection of layers over this is our individual soul—soul and ātmā. Let me give you an example. I give you an onion. You peel the onion and say, "What is this? It is a piece of onion." This layer is your individual soul, but you are searching for the onion. You peel one layer after another, and there is nothing, no onion. Similarly, when you come to self-realization, then there is nothing. Because there is only one, the cosmic Self, and you are that one. This is how the Buddha—Bhagavān Buddha, Prince Siddhārtha, the son of a king, a warrior, a Rājput, a Hindu—achieved enlightenment through practice. Yesterday, I was walking near the beach on the Sunshine Coast. While driving, Mangalpuri from Adelaide told me he read a book by a holy saint from Tibet. It was such an interesting book. That man was a criminal before; he killed people, but he turned to spirituality and became a great, holy saint. How? Theory and practice. Similarly, Buddha was a normal person, a Hindu prince, but he began to practice, practice, practice. Bodha means intellect and knowledge. So, when you say Buddha, it is that intellect which is enlightened. That is called Ātamprakāś. He came above everything. All past lives and karmas went away. Those who practice and follow the teachings of Bhagavān Buddha call themselves Buddhist, but in reality, Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism. When Bhagavān Buddha came to Ātma Jñāna, he writes somewhere that he went through all life forms down to the stone, his consciousness promised on coal, metals, plants, sea life on earth, and so on. He went down and came back. But when he came to ātmā-jñāna, there was nothing. That is why Buddha said there is nothing. Vedānta also says there is nothing. I am sitting here. If I say I am not here, I was not here, you will say, "Swami, it is you." Our video shows we are sitting and talking here. This is a different reality; that is another difference. Similarly, my dear ones, my and your past life histories are printed on this individual consciousness, which belongs to the soul. It is said the evidence will not die, cannot be deleted. This evidence is the karma from past life. This is number one. Number two is very practical: astrology. In astrology, there are two things. One is called Samundar Śāstra. Samundar means ocean. Any Australian knows the ocean: the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. A diver knows very well. When a diver goes deep, 50 or 100 meters down, at the bottom of the ocean it is peaceful, and you see patterns—like in a desert with only sand, no plants, where the sand looks like waves of water. Samundar Śāstra means at the bottom of the ocean. What kind of patterns are there? Similarly, deep at the bottom of your existence, there are patterns of your karma. These can be identified or read by those who know palmistry. The lines on your foot soles, palms, forehead, and cheeks—these lines no one can delete, except by an operation or cutting the hand, but still, it is inside. In India, we say: "Rekh pe make Gurudev laga sakte hai." If there is someone who understands Hindi, please tell what it means. "Rekh pe make Gurudev laga sakte hai." Rekhā means "the line." Any line you put. You go to Google, find the Brisbane Ashram, and put a pin on it for your information. Under the line of our faith, our future, or anything, Gurudev can put a pin there. It means he or she—a guru can be she or he; guru is not a body, and there is no duality of age or gender. Guru is the tattva (principle), and the highest tattva in the universe is the guru tattva. There is no higher tattva than Gurudev, and no higher knowledge than Gurudev’s knowledge, which is called ātmā knowledge. We will come to that afterwards. These are the signs of our past lives. Many people look at my hand and say, "Swāmījī, you have nothing—only two or three lines." I say, yes, all are gone. But they say, "You have one line called the guru line that is very strong." I say, yes, that is my guru, and he is very strong. On the palm, the index finger—the end here—this is the guru. When it is higher than the others, your Guru is very strong. Many constellations and planets can be compared here. The attack of certain astrological effects can be removed or put away if your Guru (Jupiter) is strong. On the forehead, on the foot—there is a foot line. There are people who, when they enter a place or house, bring disturbances, what we call kleśa. Kalash is a disturbance. A very happy family with much happiness, harmony, and one son: this son married a girl and brought her home. Since she came, there are many problems because on her foot line there is a distraction. Wherever she steps, it will be opposite. There was one girl who married a man, and this man brought such restlessness into the house—lazy, crazy, everything. This is a pattern in the individual phenomenon of the person. Therefore, when you get married, do not attract through physical love alone. You have to go through the right astrological constellations. There is a house where a family has many problems: husband and wife, children, and grandparents are quarreling. They had one son who married, and when he brought that girl home, within no time everything changed into a beautiful atmosphere because of her presence. A person can be, in our intellect, a negative British. Therefore, it is not only one thing; there are many things to check before you get married. Otherwise, be sure you will divorce, and if you do not divorce, you will have a life living like neighbours because of social life, with no marriage life anymore. I am not going further on that point because someone might get angry, or happy, or begin to cry, "Why didn't I consult before?" The second point: when you are born, an astrologer will tell. Moon astrology, or lunar astrology, is very perfect. It is not only about being a Virgo or a Leo or another zodiac sign; many things come together. That is what we should come to: purification of our karmas. I am sure it will help you. If someone has certain difficulties, I will try to help with many things. Sometimes, placing one stone in a particular corner can change the entire atmosphere. There is another science called Vāstu Śāstra or Feng Shui. This is energy changing. So, what kind of energy is the person bringing in? Now, your real birthday is not when you were physically born, the minutes and seconds your mother gave you birth. Our real birthday begins from the point that this soul—your soul, which I have said many times in my lectures—the individual soul is fluttering on the waves of time through the endless universe. From time to time, when it begins to stop, it creates this māyā, this attachment. When this soul, which is not physical but invisible—the astral body—begins to descend towards our earth, our earth known as mṛtyu loka (the mortal world, not immortal). All mortals come to this earth, and this earth is also known as karma bhūmi, the field of our karmas. When you come to Bangkok, you see the airport. Do you know the name of the airport in Bangkok? Suvarṇabhūmi. Śwaran Bhūmi. This is the Sanskrit name: Śwaran means gold, and Bhūmī means the land. That was God Rāma’s kingdom there. When this soul begins to descend towards our earth, it must come into the atmosphere of the earth. That time is a decision. It is not that you say, "I go to the earth." No passport, no ticket, nothing—only your karma. The time is counted there, and the decision is in the hands of Dharmarāja, the God of Justice. His permission is required to go. So, when we descend towards this karma-bhūmi, dharma-bhūmi, and mṛti-loka, the mortal world is filled with karma and filled with dharma. Dharma is righteousness, good things; dharma is like a pious soul. Therefore, in the Bhagavad Gītā, the first mantra of the first chapter says: "Kurukṣetre Dharmakṣetre." Kurukṣetra—Kuru is the king, the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas. "Kurukṣetre Dharmakṣetre." That is the field of Dharma, the field of justice and righteousness. The Bhagavad Gītā, what you read—in reality, it is said there was no battle fought. It is the creation of Ved Vyāsa afterwards. The entire Bhagavad Gītā is the end of the Upaniṣads, and the Upaniṣads are the essence of the Vedas. In the Upaniṣads, Gāthā—Gāthā means what has been written, Gāyā means sung. So, the clear and beautiful essence of the Upaniṣads became the Gītā. Gāthā means Gītā. What kind of song? Bhāgavat. What is Bhāgavat? Bhagavat is Bhagavān, God. So, the glory of God is put into the story of these 18 chapters. All 18 chapters are described in such a way you can understand them worldly or as your own. Our body is the dharma kṣetra, kuru kṣetra. Our body is that field, and in this field we can make good karma or bad karma. This human life is a battlefield within ourselves. We are struggling. Our ego is Duryodhana, our mind is Arjuna, and our krodha (anger)... All these warriors described there are different qualities. Pitāmaha Bhīṣma is our ambition. Ambition and ego are two together. And there is Śakuni, that is your inner trick. All these warriors, Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas, are in our body. Our body is that field; either we can win or lose. We can win Ātmā Jñāna, self-realization, or we can lose everything. So, this soul, your and my soul, according to our many, many past lives—tapasyā (austerities), practice, prayers, whether we were good or bad—is descending, coming into the atmosphere of the earth, and comes into contact with humidity, water. With this, there is a withering as we descend and come to earth. It goes to vegetation and seeds, enters other creatures, and then enters the mother's body. From the first second, the subconsciousness begins. How was the mother's situation? Was she angry or happy? How were the nine months, the birth, the childhood? This all depends on our past karma. Clear astrology will tell you. They do not go far beyond but come to some constellations. Why are you born with a good constellation and others like this? Because of karma. Why is one born on a Sunday and another on a Monday? In modern civilization, when a child comes on Monday, the father is angry because he cannot take off work. He says, "My God, you could have waited for a Friday birth, so I could be with her for two days." Anyhow, it is not our decision. Sometimes doctors say, "You are more than nine months," and they perform surgery for the birth. This is also written in your karma—that you will be born through surgery. After this, what we did... Therefore, it is Guru Sevā, Guru Vākya. When you follow this, we put the light on here. When the light is on, darkness has no power to come closer. But when the light is off, darkness returns. Similarly, when you receive the light of Guru Bhakti, Guru Mantra, Guru Seva, then your day begins as a path to self-realization. Your life is a journey; now you are going through the light. But if you stop these techniques and turn away from that Guru Bhakti, you fall again into darkness. The counting now begins again, going back. The karma goes back and back. Then who knows when it will begin? You may find some other spiritual path—very good—but Dharmarāja will say, "No, you made that mistake." You have to go back and begin from there again. My God, Dharmarāja, why are you sitting there? Or Yama Rāja will say, "No problem, come to me. I welcome you all." Yama Rāja is the king of the days. He will send us all back into this cycle of birth and days, birth and days, and birth. We do not know which troubles we have according to which karma and which causes. I have worked out a little, according to Mahāprabhujī’s teachings, Devpurījī’s teachings, Gurujī’s, and many other saints, some mantras for people for different kinds of constellations. In these three days, we will speak more about this. So, think it over. You are not only this body. There are many things, and we are searching for the way out. Definitely, we will find it. Definitely, there is help. As I told you, sometimes putting one stone somewhere can change things because that stone has energy. I give you one example. There are semi-precious stones like different crystals: white, pink, yellow, green, and so on. Put half a kilo of stones in a nice flower vase, fill it with water, and put flowers inside—like the ones brought here today. Observe how many months these flowers remain fresh. This is not a miracle; it is the energy, the effect. One day you may say, "Now it is boring, the same flower all the time, dust over it. I will change it." Then you can change it. These flowers will remain fresh for a long, long time because of the radiance of energy from those stones. If you put one stone near your night table or pillow, the dreams you always have—fearful dreams, night lairs—will not occur. Should you believe in the stone? Yes, you should believe. Whether you believe or not, it will help you because energy is changing. Similarly, in satsaṅg—this is a satsaṅg—energy is changing. A lot of our karmas are purified. We will chant certain mantras. Individually, I will advise you on certain mantras and practices, and you will see in one week how much things change. So, karma purification technique and theory—we will work on this. If you know something about this, please tell me and help me so we can work well. That is all for this evening. It was a glimpse of karma cleansing and theory.