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Part 1: The Woodcutter’s Journey: From Copper to the Treasure Within I don’t know where to start. We just spent the most beautiful couple of days. Okay. I just spent the most beautiful couple of days in Prague, then in Levodsa, and then in Martin. Again, it was like last year, where there always seems to be another surprise from Swāmījī’s world of yoga in daily life, and more and more places to visit, and more and more incredible stories and incredible people and bhaktas. It was really beautiful. Yesterday, as most of you will know the place, there is this mountain in the High Tatras where Swāmījī made, some years ago, the pyramid with the stones. And we were visiting there and having āratī there. And it’s so beautiful, really beautiful. It was reminding me of one story of one man who was cutting the wood. Some will know this story, but there was one sādhu sitting in the woods, and there was one man who was going to cut firewood for selling. And every day he was going there, and he was going past that sādhu, and he was always doing praṇām and paying his respects, and then going to the forest to cut wood. But his life was really tough. He was just managing to cut enough wood to survive, to feed his family. And eventually, one day the sādhu said to him, “What can I do for you? What blessing do you want?” And he said, “I just need help so that I can help my family survive. Give me some blessing so that I can get some money to feed the family.” And the sādhu said, “Okay, done. Tomorrow, don’t go cutting wood, but go a little bit further into the forest. You’ll find one clearing. And there, dig, and you’ll find that there’s copper there in the ground.” So he thought it was worth a try. And the next day, he brought with him the things for digging. He started digging, and sure enough, he found there the copper. Somehow it became like a small copper mine, and he was digging there, taking the copper, taking it back down, and selling it in the village. It made it very easy for him to survive, and it actually came that he didn’t have to come every day to the forest. Every second or third day he would come, but his family was living very comfortably. And always, as he passed that sādhu, he’d do praṇām, his respects, and then go to dig in the forest. After some time, after some months, the sādhu said, “Why don’t you go a bit further and dig there, because there in the ground you’ll find silver.” He thought, “Well, okay, I’m quite satisfied with the copper, but if he says, ‘Last time was quite a good advice.’” So the next day, he went a bit further to another clearing, which the sādhu had described to him, and started to dig. And sure enough, he found silver there. So he was digging the silver, taking it down to the village, and selling it. But, of course, it meant that he was now better off. He didn’t have to come to the forest as much. So every week or so, he would come and he would dig again, take it down, and then sell the silver. After some years, the sādhu who was still sitting there under the same tree, doing his meditation, doing his sādhanā, said, “Why don’t you try going a little bit further? Because in the next clearing after that one, you’ll find gold.” Okay, why not? So he did as instructed, started to dig there, and found gold. And he was digging, of course. It meant that now he only had to come once a month to the forest for the digging, because he would get so much in one time that it took a month to take care of it, sell it, and use it. But still, he was coming, and always as he passed that sādhu, he’d do praṇāms and pay his respects, and then go to dig. Siddha Prabhu Dīp Karatā Mahāprabhujī Dīp Karatā Mahāprabhujī Dīp Karatā. He came to take the diamonds, go back to the village, but it meant that now he was coming to the forest instead of every month, he was coming every six months. Even one year he would go without coming because he had so much wealth. And eventually, as he was coming every six months, he was passing, but now he was so fixed on the diamonds that he was forgetting to say praṇāms to the sādhu as he went past. But he was digging the diamonds and going back down. After ten years or so, the sādhu called him and said, “Hey, hey, you don’t come to me anymore. Come here for a moment.” And he said, “Look, this is my last advice to you, because now I’m going. If you go into the next clearing after that one now and dig there, you’ll find something much more valuable than diamonds.” Of course, he was thinking about it, but he thought, “How can it be more valuable than the diamonds? They’re so valuable. And they are so big, which are coming. Nothing can be more valuable.” He somehow ignored the sādhu’s advice and kept going to the diamond mine. And then, after some years, if this was going on, the sādhu had disappeared. Then the next time that he came, he wasn’t there anymore. And after some years, he thought, “Oh, maybe I can just try and see what’s there. The diamonds are great, but let’s see what... His advice was always so good. Let’s see what’s there.” And he went to the next clearing, and there he found one tree. And when he got in and he saw that tree, he felt such a peace that he just felt compelled to sit down. And when he sat down, he started to go into meditation, although he had never really practiced. And as he went into the meditation, he discovered what that sādhu was saying, that there was something much more valuable than the diamonds which were in that next clearing. And that was his peace, his peace of mind, and then he just sat there. And he went once more to the diamond mine, took some diamonds down for his family, Siddha Purījī, Siddha Purījī,... As this sādhu keeps saying to this fellow who is coming, there’s always a next step that we have to take. If you think of the different elements within that story, each time there’s something that is, one, more valuable, but also in a way more pure. The diamonds in themselves are a description that’s used in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras to describe the state of consciousness that you get to when everything is reflected so clearly in your mind. That you see things as they are, rather than with your own vṛttis and your own images and your own preconceptions over the top of those objects. And this journey which this sādhu has this man take is similar to the one which Swāmījī tries to get us to take. We start off on a more gross level, and slowly, slowly, he tries to get us to go more inside, go more into our sādhanā, go more towards our mantra, and go more towards the meditation. We all started with āsanas and then with prāṇāyāma, but slowly Swāmījī more and more pushes us to go to practice the kriyā, to practice the mantra, to practice the meditation. And it’s very important for us to keep going and to keep taking those steps, even though the stages that we’re at now can seem so beautiful, or can seem like, you know, you have a gold mine. Why would you want to move and look for something else? The story Gajānanjī was telling in Strīlky about Marpa, the guru of Milarepa, was a really beautiful, beautiful example of that. That he spent so long doing tapasyā and so long doing sevā, and coming on very difficult journeys to get to his Gurujī, then going back and then coming again. But in the end, the practices which he was given were so simple that he couldn’t believe that was it. That is reality. That’s how it is. All of what we’re doing is to purify, to actually be able to understand and experience the simplicity of it all. It may seem very complicated on the way, but half of that is because it must be, that we purify. The other half is that we make it much more complicated than what it is. At one point, I think it’s in Hidden Vows with Humans, Swamijī is writing that all of these practices are very important to purify. But the main practice is ātmā cintan, to go inwards, to look at yourself, and to do mantra with that. And that all the other practices are only preparations for that practice. But it can be so easy to get lost in practices that are more complicated or seem more interesting or advanced. But the essence of our practice is mantra, meditation, and looking inward. There is an image in a lot of the bhajans: when the kuṇḍalinī starts to rise, the lotus turns in the other direction; the downward-facing lotus turns upwards. But I also feel that a similar image is that it’s so important that there’s somehow this lotus of ours which is facing outwards and just looking at everything in the world and looking at the outer practices for our solution. Mahāprabhujīp Karatā Mahāprabhujīp. I don’t know that I can appreciate how special it is, what we have in our mantra, in that gift which we have from Swāmījī. It’s really hard to describe what a prasāda it is, what a mahā-prasāda it is, what a divine blessing it is to have it. To have Swāmījī somehow give all of his teaching and then distill it and make it into one concentrate that he gives to us, which we can meditate on. The essence of his knowledge, the essence of what he has experienced, is there for us to unfold, to make it somehow manifest within us, to make it blossom within us. It seems such a small thing, it’s only one line, but the more that you look at it and meditate on it and think about its meaning and look at it from different directions, there are so many things inside that one mantra. There are so many different ways that you can look at that mantra and look at its meaning. It can be outwardly, it can be inwardly, it can be towards your spiritual self, it can be towards your physical self, and it can be about the whole world that is around. And in all those different ways, it has a very, very special meaning. It’s universal, and it may take us lives, if not just one life, but lives and lives to really get the full meaning of that mantra, to get the full meaning of what Swāmījī has put inside. But surely, it doesn’t matter if it takes one week or one life or whatever, but surely the important thing is that every day we really try and unlock its secrets and let it fill us. We are looking for a solution to our problems or to the things which are difficult for us. I don’t find it as good a solution to look at the problems as it is to look at our mantra and to let it fill us. When something is challenging you or something is making your sādhanā difficult, you can try and cut that thing, or you can make yourself stronger inside so that it cannot have any effect upon you. I mean, when we’re meditating, the mantra is that it’s the knowledge, but it’s also a protection. It is the thing which can form a boundary, which keeps a protection on the peace which you have inside. Part 2: The Diamond of All Diamonds: Taming the Monkey Mind through Satsaṅg The mantra is like a fence you can put around yourself if you’re in a turbulent situation, so that your inner peace can remain intact, and your mantra protects you from the turbulence. And at other times, when it is not turbulent outside, it is something you can send outward. It is beyond silver, beyond gold, beyond diamonds—truly the diamond of all diamonds, something we should hold in our hands and keep in our heart every day, looking at it and thinking, “Wow, that is a wonder.” Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Śrī Śrī Devpurījī Mahādeva Kī Jaya, Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁt Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda Purī Jī Mahārāja Kī Jaya, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁt Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī, Satguru Deva Kī Jaya. I wanted to sing one bhajan that Swamijī… we were talking about it in the last few weeks. Last time I was in Jadan, he was also talking about this bhajan. It is a bhajan from Gurujī. I think it is in some of the bhajan books, but perhaps not in all. It is called Sādobāī Yemanābādā Anādi, and I find its imagery beautiful. The meaning is that this mind is somehow very naughty. My dear brother, this mind is very, very naughty. As much as I try to explain to it and make it understand, it is really quite stupid, always babbling and talking nonsense. This next line Swamijī often mentions in satsaṅg: yogīs or those doing sādhanā can make lots and lots of effort and create a beautiful garden with that sādhanā. But then, in just one moment, this monkey—which is somehow wicked—can come jumping into the garden and destroy everything in just a few moments. That is the mind when it gets into action. I do not know if you have been in India and experienced the monkeys, but they can be quite terrifying. I remember one in Delhi once. Nowadays in Delhi they have made a fence, a grill, around the whole ashram so that the monkeys cannot come in, around the whole building. But before, they used to come and jump down onto the veranda. I remember once they were chasing somebody, and the person just managed to get inside the door—this mosquito net door—and the monkey came grabbing onto the door and just hanging there, going… That is the monkey of the imagery. And when it jumps into the garden of your peace and your sādhanā, it can really make a mess very, very quickly. This mind is like a very strong ox, a bull, somehow pulling us through life. Purījī, Siddhārth Purījī, Siddhārth… Puri Jī, the twenty-five children are all of our karma-indriyas and jñāna-indriyas, all these manifestations of the physical world and our senses—our outwardly going senses and our inward senses. The father of it is jñāna, and the mother is vidyā. So this lack of knowledge, our lack of understanding, and our lack of intellect are the things that are the father and the mother of this beast, let’s say. It is without form—without any real form you can name—yet it moves faster than anything else. In one moment, in one second, it can cross to the other side of the world and come back again. It can do things even without time seeming to pass; it can change things. It has no mouth, but it is constantly eating. Day and night, even so, it is still hungry. What to do? What to say? says Gurujī. What to say? This mind is so notorious, so naughty, notorious. I do not know whether to call it a buffalo or a useless old buffalo. But this mind of ours is constantly hungry—there is no doubt of that. Unless we choose to control it or practice to control it, it always wants to eat something, whether it is something we see, something we hear, something we should read, or something new we should know. That hunger is endless. Then Gurujī asks, “What is the treatment for this mind?” Those saints who have the knowledge grab the mind like you grab a bull or a cow by the nose. When we want to control the cows and give them medicine or something, the best place to get them is in between the nose, in the middle of the nose. It is the sensitive part, and when you are holding there, they do not move. So the saint grabs that bull by the nose—that mind by the nose. And then he gives it a drink of the medicine, which is jñāna and vairāgya—detachment and knowledge. Those two things, he holds the nose. We do this in the gosala all the time when we have to give the cows immunization; it is the only place to catch them. Then, if you are holding the nose, you can put medicine inside or give injections, or whatever. So the saint gives those two medicines, jñāna and vedāgya. And from that, the illness—that illness which the mind has of running everywhere—can be removed. Śrī Pūjā Bhagavānadīpa Nārāyaṇa Manaka Mūla Ukāḍī—that Mahāprabhujī took this illness of the mind out by the roots. And Gurujī says with Ānand, he says that Guru Kṛpā is so deep, so expansive, so huge. He is trying to get us to appreciate that. Sarvabhū, Yamalārjuna Anādi. When we are going around and around, visiting different āśramas and different yoga seminars, I am so used to waiting for the translator. I guess, like last year, I am lucky in a way to come from outside and get to look inside at what is happening here in Europe, and perhaps see it from a little bit different perspective than everybody else. And I feel it gives me a chance to remind everybody once again what a beautiful thing it is that you have when you have satsaṅg, and you have so many people who are practicing. We saw it again in the last days in Levotcha—people practicing for so many years, and such a group that comes together regularly. And in Martin, in Prague, of course here in Vienna, everywhere. It is something so special, such a treasure to have, and so important to put the effort into coming and taking advantage of that satsaṅg. Of course, I know everybody has to live their daily life and go about managing their personal affairs and so on. But this is the place to come to refresh. Like we have the seminars, you have the chance when Swāmījī comes; and when the seminars and Swāmījī are not here, then satsaṅg is the essence of how we can refresh our practice and refresh ourselves with other people who can be supportive. It is such a gem. Satsaṅg also—Gurujī talks so much about satsaṅg. You all remember Gurujī saying “Peace and bliss result from satsaṅg.” And he would always say it. Every satsaṅg that he talked in English would come. But what else to say if that is the truth? Why should Gurujī say something different, actually? I was often surprised by how many things he knew how to say in English. But he would always say those same things again and again. Peace and bliss result from satsaṅg. Satsaṅg is here. Satsaṅg is when you come together. Satsaṅg is with yourself—when you spend time, keep your company with your thoughts which are true, which are spiritual, which are part of your spiritual path. That is also satsaṅg. Satsaṅg here is a reminder, a refresher, a different type of atmosphere, and we get something from everybody else’s experience. But satsaṅg must also go out the door with us. Satsaṅg must go with us in our hearts and be there throughout the day. Swamiji’s practice is “Yoga in Daily Life.” Yoga means practicing yoga and yogic awareness throughout the day, whatever we are doing. It is not restricted to this practice hall. And it is also satsaṅg in daily life, within ourselves. Always, our thoughts are there. They can be satsaṅg or asatsaṅg. Which ones do we spend our time with? Which ones are we choosing to spend our time with? We try at least to choose to spend our time with. Sometimes the mind is a monkey, and it goes in the opposite direction. But as much as possible, we should try to come to satsaṅg—satsaṅg in the āśram, satsaṅg within ourselves. That is how we purify. That is how we somehow become that satsaṅg. And then people feel it, and people also react to that vibration which is within us when we are practicing that. I guess others have had the experience. And sometimes then it seems like people come who just want to ask questions about that, or just want, out of nowhere, to ask about yoga or talk about their own spiritual journey. It seems to just breed and breed on itself. It is an energy that is infectious somehow. But our effort goes into making that energy come to such a level that it generates within itself, within us. When a certain level of satsaṅg is there within, then you do not think of being in anything else but that satsaṅg. And then, if sometimes the mind makes a mess out of the garden and again you come to kusaṅg, again it requires effort to come back. But we must put in that effort to come back to that inner satsaṅg. Because that is where we aim to live, in that satsaṅg, with Swāmījī sitting there in that satsaṅg, with our awareness on that, with an awareness on our mantra, and an awareness on that spiritual path which we are taking—that journey which is really the whole beauty of our lives. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrī Śrī Devpurījī Mahādeva Kī Jai, Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsī, Svāmī Madhavānanda Purī Jī Mahārāj Kī Jai, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsī, Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī, Satguru Deva Kī Jai. One more bhajan, and then we will have prayer. I have to sing this bhajan a lot because in Jadan you are only allowed to sing it after midnight. It is after midnight already, or nearly. That suhavana, you know, that beauty—how it makes you, I do not know what is more beautiful or more of that suhavana. Swamiji’s words, or Swamiji’s blessing, or Swamiji’s līlā, or all of this, Swamiji’s bhaktas, or Swamiji’s ashrams—everything is suhavana somehow. How to say how lucky we are to have this chance? Swamiji, Gurujī, Mahāprabhujī, Devpurījī, all that paramparā, and then the teaching, the practice, and our brothers and sisters—it is really such an amazing saṅgham somehow, all of those things coming together. What a chance, we are just so lucky. And I guess last I just want to say thank you to Swāmījī for everything—what he does, and what he has done, and he is doing, and will do for all of us. It is just something so special. We are lucky to be part of it, lucky to have such a master. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Śrī Śrī Devpurījī Mahādeva Kī Jaya, Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda Purī Jī Mahārāja Kī Jaya, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī, Satguru Deva Kī Jaya, Hari Oṁ Webcast World.