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As announced, Swāmījī may join us via Skype at one o’clock. He is currently in New Zealand, just having given a satsaṅg at ten. He said he would return to his residence and try to call from there, so we will keep this program shorter so everyone can finish lunch and be back by one. The program will continue in two halves, with lunch in between. The Kriyā Anasthān participants should also be here at one, and once Swāmījī’s satsaṅg concludes, we will announce the afternoon schedule. The program will not start at 1:30 with the Kriyā Anasthān in the hall as originally planned; it will follow Swāmījī’s satsaṅg. On the last day of the previous group, we were reflecting on a śloka from the Kaṭha Upaniṣad. That verse reminded me of the bhajan we just sang, because it speaks of the Supreme being within us. That light, that Paramātmā, is within us, and we should try to extract it very gently. It is like peeling the soft inner part from a certain thick grass that grows on riverbanks. You must pull it out with care: if you pull too hard, it breaks; if you pull too gently, it will not come out. The force must be steady, constant, and never sharp. It is like removing something lodged under the skin—if you pull too quickly, part remains stuck. So let the mind move slowly. Take it slow. This whole process is not accomplished overnight; it does not happen through force. It unfolds through the consistency of our practice, by slowly and gradually increasing its intensity. Yet I think everyone has, at some time, tried to progress too fast and then dropped the practice. What matters more than the amount we do is how regularly we do it. Those presently doing the Anuṣṭhāna are experiencing how the effect builds day by day. Whatever sādhanā you follow, as you sustain it week after week, strength comes from within it. Here we come together, refresh ourselves, and practice more intensely because we have a dedicated place. But if you come here and practice, then go home and do nothing, it will not work. When you work on yourself intensively and then stop entirely, it is like pulling on that grass stalk hard, then stopping, then jerking again. As far as I understand the Upaniṣad, it makes no sense to pull it out only halfway; you have to draw out the whole thing as one. Consistency in effort, with a certain maintenance of our effort, is essential. There is one sūtra in the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras that shows how to carry practice throughout the day. Many of you know this sūtra: Maitrī Karuṇā Mudito Upekṣāṇāṁ Sukha Duḥkha Puṇya Apuṇya Viṣayāṇāṁ Bhāvanāthas citta prasādanam. It speaks of the attitude we should cultivate towards everything in life. First, friendliness towards those who are happy. Friendliness towards those who are happy—this means recognizing that we are all just this one Brahman, this one energy, so where is the basis for jealousy? If Gajānandjī is drinking water, I am drinking water; we are all drinking water. If someone is happy, we are part of that happiness, because we are part of that same one. If someone has something, in one way we also have it, because we are all part of that same one. Of course it is not easy to put this into practice, and the Upaniṣad goes on to offer alternatives when you simply cannot get your head around that. When you just cannot comprehend this, it then speaks of doing sevā and being selfless, among other things. But when we see someone happy, if we can be friendly towards it, if we can be happy for them, that attitude makes things much easier. If you are happy and sad, then maybe the feeling will not awaken. But we should cultivate this feeling towards all who are sad and not happy. The next is to have joy towards anything good that has been done. And the fourth is to be indifferent, to keep a certain distance from things that are not auspicious, not good, not pure. Patañjali says that by cultivating these attitudes, the mind is brought to a more sāttvic state. If we nurture these approaches, the sattvic principle becomes more awakened. You can also look at this within yourself. It is not only an external practice with people you meet or work with; it is an internal practice with your own thoughts. Keep your friendliness towards those thoughts inside you that are positive, happy, and pure. And towards those things within you that are negative or sad—do not reject them, but have compassion towards them, even within yourself. If you reject or push them away, you have no basis to work out why they arise or what they are. If you can look at your own issues with compassion, then when something surfaces during practice, look not at the thought or action as being negative, but see that there must be a reason for it. With compassion towards yourself, you can search for that reason. For me, this also relates to the attempt to pull out the grass. If we try to cut our negative thoughts rather than observe them, if we try to repress them or stop them from happening, that too is a way the grass breaks. We lose contact with ourselves. And the last quality is to have indifference—not to get involved. There is a very big difference between being compassionate towards our negative thoughts, observing them, and getting involved in them, having some sort of party with them. Observation comes with a little distance. In our culture in India, in our schools, when the relationship between teachers and students becomes too close, it stops functioning, because those children, if they need to be controlled or disciplined in any way... And to see all those things that come—those four different types—as a prasāda. You know what prasāda is. They are somehow what comes to us, the things we have to work with. If you can see them like that, it makes a very big difference in your attitude towards those issues. Because the things that come to you as problems, as troubles, are in one way a gift. At the same time, they can be very difficult, extremely hard, and they can try to pull you down at every moment. But in the sūtra, Patañjali says to cultivate that attitude. When we started doing organic gardens in Jhādan, nothing was coming out. On every other nearby farm, they put chemical fertilizers inside and huge plants sprang from the ground. But the soil itself had very little śakti, very little energy, because for years it had been taken from and not replenished. Now, over time, after so many years of adding natural fertilizers, cow dung, and other things, that same soil is full of energy. It took years to cultivate it, years to transform it. This is our life’s work. Cultivation occurs season after season after season. So I think we must also be patient at all times, yet continuously remind ourselves of the practices we have to do. And then, as the Upaniṣad says, very, very slowly, gently pull that inner center out of the grass. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrī Śrī Devpurījī Mahādeva Kī Jai, Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda Purī Jī Mahārāj Kī Jai, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī Satguru Dev Kī Jai. One more bhajan. Bhagavān, Kī Jai, Śrī Deveśvara Mahādeva, Kī Jai, Śrī Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jai, Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Jī, Satguru Deva, Kī Jai. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān, Kī Jaya, Śrī Deva Svar Mahādeva, Kī Jaya, Śrī Mādhava, Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, Kī Jaya, Paramahaṁsa, Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, Jī Satguru Deva, Kī Jaya. Okay, somehow the kitchen managed; lunch is ready. I think they had to chant a mantra to tell the vegetables to cook quicker. So if we can go now for eating, please be back here at one o’clock. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Satguru Dev Kī Jai.