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Be Humble Like A Fruit Tree

A spiritual discourse on the path of purification through prayer, mantra, and meditation.

"First is prayer, which develops confidence, faith, and nearness to God. Prayer means personal consultation with God."

"Therefore, meditation, prayers, and mantras delete the kliṣṭa vṛttis and then also calm down the akliṣṭa vṛttis, like waves slowly, slowly calm down."

Swami Ji delivers a satsang, explaining how prayer, mantra, and meditation are the traditional systems for purifying afflicted and non-afflicted mental modifications (vṛttis). He discusses the importance of caring for the body as the temple of the soul through practices like Yoga in Daily Life, while emphasizing that true purification leads from duality to self-realization. Key themes include humility, self-inquiry, and cultivating divine qualities over demonic tendencies.

Filming location: Vép, Hungary

There are personal and impersonal aspects of existence. Both these personal and impersonal aspects create the vṛttis—the mental modifications—which Patañjali described as kliṣṭa (afflicted) and akliṣṭa (non-afflicted) vṛttis. There is no ordinary way to purify these. Therefore, as it was in the past, the great and holy persons—from every religion—discovered a system. That system is called prayers, meditations, and mantras. First is prayer, which develops confidence, faith, and nearness to God. Prayer means personal consultation with God. In prayer, we express all our feelings and wishes. We believe that God is listening. Even if He is not listening, we still believe that He is, and through that belief we attain a certain contentment, allowing us to breathe peacefully. Then we take the essence of the prayers, akin to sabīja samādhi and nirbīja samādhi. Bīja is the seed, and the seed of a tree is its essence. In that essence, the entire tree lies dormant. Similarly, within our mantras, all prayers are present and included. It is said we should progress from Sabīja Samādhi to Nirbīja Samādhi. Sabīja Samādhi means the Jīvātmā (individual soul) still exists; there is still separation and duality. Through meditation, we come to Nirbīja Samādhi, which is nirbīja samādhi or nirvikalpa samādhi. So, after prayer, we take up our mantra. Then we hold the key in our hands to open the door to release tensions, to release pollution, and then purification begins. Layer after layer of the kliṣṭa and akliṣṭa vṛttis begins to dissolve and release. This is the reason why the great saints in every belief, culture, and religion accepted or created prayers, the name of God, and meditation. Merely practicing āsanas and prāṇāyāmas will not help that much. They have an influence and are definitely good for the body—we should not avoid them. Recently, I was in Ukraine. We had an evening lecture in a yoga studio, and inside, on the toilet door, was written: "Without yama and niyama, yoga is only āsanas." If you do not follow the yamas and niyamas, then it is just a sport, simply a movement. Of course, that is also meaningful. The body is not everything, but without the body, the soul is not here, the mind is not here, the intellect is not here, consciousness is not here. Therefore, it is very important to take care of the body. If you remember, in our āśram in Strelky, I mentioned that first you should create devotion to thyself, to your body. We are proud of our body, and we should take care of it. Without the body, there is nothing, and we should be thankful to God, or the creator, or whatever you believe. Mother Nature gave us such a beautiful human body. But this body is just like a water bubble; it doesn't take long for a water bubble to burst. Similarly, though this body may be very good and strong like a bodybuilder's, it doesn't take long to destroy it. How long will you keep the body? None of us would like to die. We would like to live healthy, happy, and long. But whether we want to or not does not depend on us. It is like when you or someone has a particular disease and the doctor gives medicine. We ask the doctor, "Will it cure my disease?" The doctor will say, "Well, I hope. But it will slow down the progress." So it is a kind of prevention, not a treatment. And prevention, if we do it from the beginning, is better than treatment. That prevention means we should love our body. If you love your body, then take care of your eating. If you eat and have a weakness for food, it means you don't love your body. One saint said there are ten senses in this body, but you can't trust two: the genital sense and the sense of taste. These two senses forget your body. Then it means you are a slave, and when you become a slave, you can't take care of the body. In the German language, they say, "Eating keeps the body and soul together." And at the same time, they say, "Self-murdered with a knife and fork." So she committed suicide with a knife and fork. At the same time, eating keeps body and soul together. So learn to love your body. The body is the temple of our ātmā, the temple of our soul, and the body is divine. Therefore, the right way of eating and the right way of exercising are very important. Again, I can tell you that Yoga in Daily Life has again been proven as a scientific system. Recently, there was a big conference with different yoga schools—it was beautiful, very good, all were very, very good. But finally, it was declared that the best was Yoga in Daily Life. It is gentle, very easy, very comfortable. Everyone can perform it, do it, and get benefit. If we had to do certain stretching and certain hard postures, I am sure 99% of you would not be able to do them. So from this, only 1% can do it; it is not a benefit to all. So practicing Yoga in Daily Life means you love your body. You care about your body, you protect your body, and you value your body because your body means a lot to you. But still, it's a body. The body is just matter, made of five elements. This is not forever. Vedānta will say this body is mortal, because the immortal is: nityam nirākār nirābhāsa nirañjanam nitya bodhāya chidānandāya satgurutam namāmiyam. Immortal means everlasting, unbreakable, nirañjan (spotless). That is the ātmā. But still, we can't exit. We can't exit to the ātmā without this body. So there is a duality, but within this duality, the reality is reflecting. That is a reflection, the light of the ātmā. Therefore, meditation, prayers, and mantras delete the kliṣṭa vṛttis and then also calm down the akliṣṭa vṛttis, like waves slowly, slowly calm down. And we can see through and through to the bottom of the sea. So we calm down the waves of anger, hate, and jealousy. When anger is there, hate is there, jealousy is there, revenge is there, greed is there, then it is called asura vṛtti (demonic tendency), and we shall keep away from such asura vṛtti. Where there is understanding, love, harmony, peace, kindness, welcoming—that is devī vṛtti (divine tendency). Therefore, satsaṅg (good company) and kusaṅga (bad company). Also, there are some people who call it satsaṅg, but they are giving kuṣaṅga. So it is very important to know thyself physically, mentally, emotionally—all pañca kośas (five sheaths): annamayakośa, prāṇamayakośa, manomayakośa, vijñānamayakośa, ānandamayakośa. These are all five, and within that is the Ātmā, the divine. So what should we do? We should purify all these five layers. And don't be proud of it. Don't celebrate the day too early. It will be in the last minutes. We will say, "Pity, it should be happening before. I could enjoy my self-realization, and so I am self-realized." So if someone says, "I am self-realized," then you should say, "Yes, I believe. How far are you with self-realization?" Therefore, don't say, "I am practicing yoga for so long, I am a yogī, I am this." As much as you heat metal, it becomes softer. And when you let it lie, it becomes hard again. The melting softness means humbleness, and the hardness means ignorance, darkness, and stupidity. So it is said: "Be like an apple tree, be like a cherry tree, be like a plum tree, and be like a mango tree." What does it mean? When the fruits come, the tree is bending down and respectfully covered with leaves. So these leaves are your respect, your discipline, your humbleness, and your offering of going down. And there are some trees where, when the fruit comes, all leaves fall down and completely naked branches go up. You can't reach. There is one beautiful poem: "Baṛā huā to kyā huā, jaise per khajūr, panthī ko chhāyā nahīṁ, phala lage ati dūr." If it is a great tree, and this one is not helpful and humble to others, then what is the use of it? It's just like a palm tree, very big and high. If you want to sit on the path in the shadow of the tree, the shadow is about 20 meters far in the thorny bushes. If you want its fruit, then you have to climb very high, and if you accidentally slip and fall, then you are harmed. So, as much humbleness and spirituality is there, you become more communicative. Otherwise, you are missing what, in English they say, missing the social communication. Where there is arrogance, ego is there. That is the sign of ignorance. It is said that the ego of a foolish person and the anger of a foolish person and the wise person look the same, but there is a difference. The anger of the wise person is like you beat with a stick on the water. The water will go apart, but very soon it will come together again. And so it is that anger is temporary. Again, love covers everything. The anger of the foolish, stupid one is like a line on the stone. It will remain in the caves for millions of years. So humbleness is required. But first you have to become humble with thyself. Therefore, the self-inquiry meditation says: "Research thyself." Not "who are you," but "how are you." What kind of vṛttis and waves are in the heart? Destructive or uniting? There are some who destroy people. That's called destructive energy. And there are some who bring people together. That's called unity. There was one sādhu living in the Himalayas. Anyone who came to him and asked, "Please, can you give a satsaṅg or some instructions to us?" He said only two words: "Toro" or "Joro." Only these two words: "Toro" or "Joro." Toro means "break it," and Joro means "join it." So people said, "What is this satsaṅg? What is yours? Break it, and again join it?" So someone asked, "Please kindly, Swamiji, can you explain what you mean, Joro or Joro?" He said, "Break the attachment towards materialism, including this body and all desires, and connect thy inner love thyself to the Divine. The material will disappoint us. But the Divine, that love of wisdom, will not disappoint us." And so when we love our body, I mean not in that kind of, "Oh, I have big muscles," or as some sādhu said, "I have a big stomach." Others said, "I have bigger than you." There is a competition. Some people said, "If you have no big stomach, you are not a guru. Then you are a kangaroo, because they don't have a big stomach." Well, not this kind of ego. But loving your body means practicing yoga, prāṇāyāmas, exercises, meditations, healthy food, and healthy exercise. You know Āyurveda. Āyurveda is nothing but a supplementary food, nourishment. Either you eat an Āyurvedic diet, or you eat a chemical diet. Āyurvedic tablets have fewer side effects, and allopathic medicine has more side effects. So, when sometimes you go to India to some chemistry shop, they said, "Do you want more or less with five rupees? You need more or less?" What do you mean? Āyurveda is little and allopathic is more. Then Prem Purī said, "Please, allopathic is more." Allopathic, a chemical, adding more. And come and read: more side effects; Āyurveda, little side effects. That's it. So it is the nourishment for life, a quality for life. So, who understands and loves their body? They say, "We are eating for living," and others say, "I'm living for eating." So, that depends on us. The best time for meditation is in the morning. When you come to your breakfast table, forget it. If you think today you will meditate, forget it. Then, better do meditation called active meditation, creative meditation. And that meditation means seva, karma yoga, working. Work honestly so that your boss will be happy and that company will be in a good financial position. If you are employed in some company or some shop, don't work as an employee. Work as if it is yours. Then it is a joy. Otherwise, it is always on your mind: "Now I must work again till six o'clock." But you close everything 20 minutes before and begin to close. So it is a self-discipline. It is a success. The owner of the company will not look at the watch and work, but the employee will look more times. That's why this financial crisis is in the world. Come to any city of your country, or cities—maybe Belgrade, or Budapest, or Vienna, all these beautiful European cities. Barcelona, so beautiful. Why so beautiful? Why? And there are also these other new buildings. And people are always taking photos of old buildings. No one is making pictures of these big buildings. Because in the last centuries, people were building and working with love. They were creating outside beauty from what they had inside. And now it is only the carton boxes. Nothing to photograph. So what is inside comes outside. So, for divine development, we have to hold on to something. And not symbolically. Try for 24 hours; your heart is connected to that. Not only symbolically, but try to connect from the heart for twenty-four hours. Then there is a feedback. When the generator is turning, the energy is there. When the generator stops, the energy is not there. Our heart is that generator. Our vṛttis are that generator which keeps on that beautiful level without fluctuation between you and your divine, where your love goes. So welcome, and we will have still two days. Tomorrow again, 10 o'clock, you should be here, and then we will have nice satsaṅgs and nice bhajans. And there are many great people sitting; maybe they will speak something much better. We will invite them to speak. That's it. So, welcome to you. And much love to all dear ones here and in other parts of the world. Hari Om. Dīp Nand Bhagavān. Nekī. Devīs Parmahadeva. Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān. Nekī. Satya Sanātana.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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