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Every Light Is The Light Of Brahman

A Diwali satsang on the spiritual significance of light, health, and righteous conduct.

"Good health is the first wealth. You cannot buy health with money."

"It is better to light a candle than to stand in the darkness. The tiny candle, the tiny flame, is that inner light of the ātmā."

A spiritual teacher delivers an evening discourse from Nepal Ashram on the auspicious day of Pavālī/Diwali. He explains the meaning of traditional blessings, emphasizing that true wealth is health gained through discipline, sattvic living, and satsang. He contrasts the liberating power of good company (Satsang) with the suffering caused by bad company (Kuśaṅg), explores the nature of sin and virtue based on one's thoughts, and connects the festival's lamps to the inner light of the soul and the celebration of Lord Rama's return and the incarnation of Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa.

Filming location: Rajasthan, India

Oṁ Śrī Dev Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Śrī Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva kī, Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī, Sāyavara Rāmacandra Bhagavān kī, Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī. Good evening, blessed self, dear bhaktas, devotees, and spiritual seekers around the world. Blessings are coming from Holy Bhārat, Nepal Ashram. Today is a most divine and auspicious day, the Pavālī. Śubhaṁ Karoti Kalyāṇaṁ Ārogyaṁ Dhana Sampadaḥ. "Śubhaṁ" means good—pleasantness, happiness, joy, and peace. "Śubhaṁ karoti kalyāṇam": with this happiness, may it lead us to liberation. "Śubhaṁ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṁ dhana sampadā." "Ārogya" is good health. Good health is the first wealth. Ayurveda says the first wealth is good health. Happiness begins with good health. You cannot buy health with money. You may have billions of money, you may have tons of gold, but when the time comes and you will die, you may tell God or someone, "I give you twenty tons of gold, please give me a few days more." No. Health you cannot buy. You cannot buy or borrow the body's health. You have to gain health, and that is a blessing through āchār, vichār, āhār, and vihār: good behavior, good thoughts, a balanced sāttvic vegetarian diet, and knowing where to go and where not to go. Good society, satsaṅg, is upliftment (Uthān). Bad society is a distraction, a downfall (Pātan). Uthān and Pāṭan both have one root, one place, and that is called Saṅgha. If we put "Sat" in front of "Saṅgha," it becomes "Satsaṅg." If we put "Ku" in front, it becomes "Kuśaṅg." Kuśaṅg leads to distractions. Kuśaṅg leads to troubles, pain, and suffering: mental, physical, emotional, social. And finally, it goes back to the cycle of birth and death. One will die millions and billions of times before death. It does not matter how you die; the main thing is that you will die. May you suffer the pain for one minute, hour, day, months, or years—death does not care. That is the result of Kuśaṅga. Our beloved Satguru Dev, Swami Madhavānandjī Mahārāj said: "Enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice." If you wish to come to the Brahmaloka, the kingdom of Brahman, then it is through sacrifice—not of material things, but of inner qualities: ego, hate, jealousy, greed, conflicts, etc. So, kuśaṅga leads to suffering. "Janam janam dukha pāyegā." For lives and lives you will suffer because of Kuśaṅga. Satsang leads to liberation, to happiness, to peace—inner peace and eternal, everlasting peace—like a drop falls into the endless ocean and becomes one. So, "śubhaṁ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyam dhana sampadā." The true wealth (sampati) is ārogya. You cannot earn good health; you have to gain it through your own efforts and your own discipline, and by destroying the negative intellect. "Śatru" is enemy. The enemy means disturbing thoughts, crazy thoughts, thoughts full of ego, ignorance, jealousy, and greed—where there is no love, no compassion, no understanding. One's own thoughts will destroy one. We just now were watching the video of the Holy Rāmāyaṇa, where Guru Vasiṣṭha Muni gave the definition of sin and pious. Dharma, adharma, puṇya, and pāpa all depend on your own thinking. When one has wrong thinking, the ego comes, and you work against positive things. That means it will destroy you. That is called pāpa. And that pāpa, when you try to destroy something, finally it is your own destruction. Divine justice will remove you from this world soon. Puṇya, the pure thoughts, do not cause pain to anyone. Causing pain to others—physical, emotional, social, political, etc.—is the sin. The fruits of sin are painful, and the fruits of puṇya are pleasant. Therefore, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad Gītā: "Arjuna, before doing any karma, you should know the form of the karma. When you will know the form of the karma, then you will know the fruits of that karma. And when you will know what fruits you will harvest from your good or bad karmas, you will decide if you should do it or not." Similarly, we heard this evening that you should be very aware, very conscious, very alert. You should be the witness of thyself, of what you are doing. That is called in Rāja Yoga the Ṣaṭ Sampatti: śama, dama, śraddhā, titikṣā, karuṇā, samādhāna, vicāra. These are the six treasures within humans, but you have to utilize them. If you do not utilize them, it is like a rich man with a lot of money who is starving because he will not spend money to buy food. Though you have these qualities, if you do not use them, you lose them. God gave you the human body and all good qualities; use them. Or lose them to śatru buddhi, the negative thoughts of the enemy. May the Lord remove these thoughts. Therefore, this deep light—today we have Dīvālī. You see the oil lamp. Around India, billions, trillions of oil lamps are lighted. "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya"—lead us from darkness to light. The great poet Ravindranath Tagore wrote a beautiful poem. The essence is that he was observing the sunset at the bank of the river Gaṅgā. While watching, he thought the sun seemed a little sad, thinking, "My time is gone, and again the world will be in darkness. Is there anyone who can keep the light for my creatures here?" At that time, in a Śiva temple, a bell rang. A priest, a paṇḍit, was performing pūjā and he lighted one dīpak. Tagore put his thoughts again: this small, tiny flame is answering the setting sun. "My dear, I cannot be like you, but I will try to give the light." So we cannot be like Brahman or the creator, but still we have the ability to give that light. Like Confucius said: when the day is dark and dreary, it is hard to find the way. Do not be worried. Do not let your heart be worried. Just keep one thought in mind: it is better to light a candle than to stand in the darkness. The tiny candle, the tiny flame, is that inner light of the ātmā, that inner light of the jyoti. "Deep Jyoti Parabrahma." That is why that light is the light of the universe. It is that light which is illuminating and sparkling in all the stars, moons, planets, and suns everywhere. It is that light of Brahman. "Deep Jyotiparabrahma Dīpam Sarve Mohanam." "Moha" means the attached darkness; "moharaṇam" means it removes the darkness of ignorance. "Deep Jyotiparabrahma Dīpam Sarve Mohanam Dīpana Sajjate Sarvam." So everywhere, like the Sandhyā—joining, uniting darkness and light, day and night and night and day—similarly, this is the festival of light. More than ten thousand years ago, the tradition of Deepavali began with Śrī Rāma returning home after 14 years in the forest. The entire city of Ayodhyā was illuminated with lights and oil lamps, and the trees and all were decorated. Now you will see in India people celebrating happiness and joy. At the same time, where Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva are, where Viṣṇu goes, Lakṣmī goes with him, and where Lakṣmī is, Viṣṇu is there. So tonight is also the day of the celebration of Lakṣmī. If you are nice to Lakṣmī, if you pray to Lakṣmī, if you request her to bless your house with a pure heart and pure thinking, definitely she will do it. And in the morning, Lakṣmī and Rāma or Nārāyaṇa will be greeted. For us, all devotees around the world, it is a great day because tonight, early morning at Brahmamuhūrta, Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī was incarnated. So for us it is also the incarnation day of Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī. And that is why his name was Deep—this light. So I bless you. I wish you all the best. I pray to Bhagavān Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, as well as to Bhagavān Śrī Rām and Lakṣmī, to bless you with good health, positive thoughts, a positive way of living, and to keep in your heart mercy. May day by day your spiritual energy and spirituality improve, and may you realize self-realization in this life. Wish you all the best and Happy Diwali. God bless you. Oṁ Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Devīśvar Mahādev Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Satya Sanātana Dharma. Happy Diwali, and Rām Rām. Sā Rām Rām. Māṛī Oṁ. So everyone should greet everyone tomorrow. We say, "Rām, Rām, Sā." Everybody said what? "Rām, Rām, Sā." "Rām" means God, the name of God, Rāma. "Sā" means "Sir." "Rām, Rām, Sir." It is a Rajasthani or Hindi salutation, like saying "God be with you" on Christmas or Weihnachten. "Rām Rām Sā." So tomorrow, anyone you see coming, you should say, "Rām Rām Sā." What will you say, everybody? Say once more: Rām Rām Sā. Rām Rām Sā. Hari Oṁ Rām Rām Sā. Okay, tomorrow everyone will say Rām Rām Sā. Rām Rām Sā. Rām Rām Sā. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhudeva Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Devādhi Deva, Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandī Bhagavān Kī, Sāyavara Rāma Candra Bhagavān Kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī. Oṁ Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ, Sarve Santu Nirāmayāḥ, Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu, Mā Kachya Duḥkha Bhāgavet. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ.

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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