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Purify The Karmic Layers

An opening discourse for a spiritual retreat seminar on destiny, karma, and the human journey.

"Destiny is the production of the actions, the karma." "God gave us freedom to do the karma. But he didn't give us the freedom to harvest the fruits of the karma."

Swami begins the retreat with a prayer and addresses the assembly. He explains the law of karma as the source of destiny, using analogies like a SIM card's credit to describe the exhaustion of good karma leading to rebirth. He discusses the journey of the soul, the nature of heavenly realms, and the unique responsibility of human life, emphasizing purification through spiritual practice and the guidance of a Master. Stories, including one about a farmer and a devotee at heaven's gate, illustrate these principles. The talk concludes with practical advice for the retreat, focusing on connecting with nature and simple living.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Sarveṣāṁ śāntir bhavatu, sarveṣāṁ maṅgalam bhavatu, sarveṣāṁ pūrṇam bhavatu, kaḥ samasta sukhino bhavan? Na'haṁ kartā, prabhur dīpaḥ kartā. Naḥaṁ kartā, prabhuḥ karta, hī kevalam. Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ... Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, Devapurījī and Gurujī, all dear ones here and around the world, those who are with us through this webcast, and our dear juniors, the light of the future, the culture of tomorrow, and the spirituality of yoga in daily life. Finally, we are again here for our beautiful retreat, the seminar. Whenever the question comes about spirituality and ethical teachings, then the students or the elderly people, they go to the Ṛṣi Kul, Ṛṣi Kul or Guru Kul. Kulu means family, kulu means the dynasty, and guru-kulu means the school, but literally kula means the dynasty. Each and every soul, individual souls, especially we count those whose soul entered into the human body, which was not easy. Every creature will have a chance to enter this level of life as a human. In the universe where the decision is taken, the decision is coming from destiny. Destiny is the production of the actions, the karma. Karma, two kinds of karma: positive and negative. Positive karma is purifying all the negative layers of prāṇas, which are surrounded by these prāṇas to the soul. The soul is surrounded by those prāṇas. This system or this principle is called the sustainable system. It means that it goes from itself. You know, God doesn't have so much time to look after everyone's destiny. What we call God has other work too. And he needs rest too. One person came, two persons came to the Svarga Loka, which you call heaven. The life of heaven and the life of Svarga Loka are not as permanent as one thinks. In the Svarga come all, they are known as devas, devas and devīs. Simply, you can say goddess. The word that we are using nowadays for the goddess is like a semi-god. That's not correct. This word, this sentence, "semi-god" is not very young or not very old in English. This word was used by the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, and they began to say "semi-god." But we say that in the egg of the peacock, you don't need to put color inside. The baby which will come out of the peacock egg will be colorful automatically. Similarly, those consciousnesses rise up and come to the category of the goddess. You know, even the water, earth, air, fire, etc. Is also known as a fire god, air god, water god. Víte, že tak, jako existuje oheň, země, voda, vzduch, tak jsou i božstva, Bůh, bohyně, bohové země. A tak dobrou karmou, dobrou prací v tomto smrtelném světě se můžete dostat do nebe, but in Svargaloka there is also limitation of their living according to their good qualities, good karmas, when the credit is used. You have to come back in our telephone. I have one SIM card, and there's a hundred Czech crowns. When these hundred Czech crowns are used, they are finished. SIM is there, but credit is not there. It's a good example, no? So, when all your good credits are used, then you come back to this earth. Therefore, devas say, in the heaven, or in the Vaikuṇṭha, or Svargaloka, Lord, whenever I have to go back to this Mṛtyu Loka, please bless me with a human body, that through this sādhanā, through Guru Kṛpā, I realize the Ātmā Jñāna to become one with the Brahman. Then you have not to come anymore. You have limitless credit. Use as much as you can. Therefore, there are different lokas. We call fourteen worlds below seven and above seven. And two thousand one hundred different universes. On this subject, we will come during this week. So the two persons came to heaven, and they knocked on the heaven door. Some devas opened the door and said, "Yes, please, introduce yourself." So one was a farmer; hardly he remembered God, but he was working in his field. Occasionally, he was making ceremonies and remembering God. Another, who had one mālā in his hand, in one bag, in a little bag, in a little bag they call it a pouch, they call it, the Australians call it a pouch. On the stomach of the kangaroo where the baby jumps in. Yeah, poach, this is coming, this is from that. The word "poach" is coming from "kangaroo." So, ultimately, you should know from where the words are coming, yes? Different kinds of words. So he said, "Well, I am a great, great admirer and devotee of Bhagavān." Day and night I call him, remember him. He said, "Thank you, please wait." He went to God, so, Lord, there are two people here. One is a farmer, there he is, remembering you, and one is all the day and night repeating your name and calling you. God said, "Oh, finally he's also here." Bring the farmer to heaven and send him to hell. God, there's no justice. God said it is. What should I answer him? Tell him, he never let me rest. All the times he disturbs me, send him away. So there are different conditions, different situations. So karmic law is one of the best, the true law. And from the karma becomes the bhāgya or destiny. And it is that destiny which is deciding automatically. Twenty people are sitting in one room. Everyone has a mobile phone and a SIM card, so according to their uses, automatically it stops. The SIM is used similarly. Each and every creature's destiny is there, which is leading them throughout the entire universe. Osud každé bytosti vede danou duši. Celým vesmírem. A my máme to štěstí a sme Bohu zavázáni, sme mu vděční. God of our karma and the God of our destiny gave us the human life. Now, the question is, what about animals' karmas? They don't know good and bad. They only know limited things. Every creature loves the children. They protect their babies, and they love their own friends. That's all. Maybe they are thinking they are doing good. Or not? Sometimes they know there is one fox, and every day he is coming to the farmer's and he takes one chicken, and he's hiding himself. Now the farmer decided to sleep there where the chickens are, and the fox doesn't come near because he knows the farmer is sitting there. So it means now in his subconscious or in his feeling, he knows that he is not doing right, and he is scared, scared from the farmer, not from the chickens. So in animal consciousness, there is also a feeling of guilt in the form of fear, but their karmas... are not that much counted as a human's karmas. God gave us freedom to do the karma. But he didn't give us the freedom to harvest the fruits of the karma. The essence of the Bhagavad Gītā is said: "Do your karmas, your duty. The fruits are in the hands of God." This is the teaching, the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gītā. So, this individual self, which has been traveling for ages and ages, finally, when our destiny sees that certain karmic layers are purified, because our destiny or karmic effect is influencing our prāṇa. And it is a play of the prāṇa in the consciousness. Consciousness and prāṇa. These are very important. But consciousness cannot develop. You cannot enter from one level to another level. You have to purify those karmic layers from prāṇas. You have to polish, you have to purify, till it becomes transparent. Je třeba je pročistit tak, až budou úplně průzračné. Když máte brýle a nemáte je čisté, tak si vezmete nějaký hadřík a vyčistíte si skla. Někdy na ně. Fouknete a pak znovu čistíte. Je třeba, aby tam nezůstala žádná skla. Our spiritual development: we have to concentrate on how many things happened in our past lives and this life. We will forget it, but that will remain. So, how many layers are over our consciousness that we can purify through our spirituality and through the blessings? We are just like a raw material, and it comes in the hands of the Master. Now he can model a beautiful monument. What he does, unnecessary things he removes, and which should be there he protects. He uses two things: love, very much love, and at the same time, very rude. That is the work of a Master. So these spiritual words, which were given by all the great saints from the past, they have researched a lot, and they gave us this opportunity. So, the gurukul or ṛṣikul is there where there is pure air, beauty of nature, many different creatures. You see, it is said when you give a satsaṅg and sing bhajans, even birds are happy. Because they feel the vibration. It is said, when Kṛṣṇa was playing his flute, the cows, the cattle, they stopped grazing. And looking from where this so nice melody is coming. The cows stopped drinking milk. And they were looking, "What is it?" And birds stopped eating the fruits and flew to other branches of the tree, looking from where this comes, because that was a divine melody, a divine resonance. The flute—it must not be Kṛṣṇa here today—but everyone who can nicely play... The flute, it represents Krishna. Now, this is one example. Second example: the animals are grazing in the field—sheep, goats, cows, buffalo, deer, little babies drinking milk, standing near the mother, the birds, a lot of birds enjoying. Can you imagine this picture? There are many creatures. They are all children of God. And now someone makes the noise of the gun shooting. What will happen? The goats, the sheep, the cows, they will run away. All our birds will fly away, frightened. So you see the beautiful melody, the sound, the resonance of the flute, harmonizing the atmosphere, and the guns of the wars scare and frighten the whole world. So, to all the soldiers of the militaries around the world, give them flutes, or where they have this pipe where goes the bulletin, they should make it as a flute. That is a way to peace. We disturb the other creatures; we are not alone. Creature on this earth, so we know what result and what consequences we are facing. So similarly, the work of the master, he or she works with the disciples, with the students, in a beautiful atmosphere like our ashram in Strelka. Now, everyone, just bring your—give a look around now. Look, I know you know, but look around the trees and this, and how beautiful. And who's not looking? They have to go to the eye doctor. In such a pure atmosphere, environment, Brahmavidyā was given to disciples from masters, from the ṛṣis, either in the forest or in the mountains. Must not be thousands, maybe one or two disciples. We say we need a patra, a good pot. Also, patra means son or disciple. There are two: Supatra or Kupatra, Supatra and Kupatra. There are two: Supatra and Kupatra. So, you know what is Supatra and Kupatra? Can you tell us? Because they think Swamiji is only making us a little bit... What is Kupatra? Can you explain to us what is Supatra and Kupatra? Okay. So this is evidence from our Indian embassy. So, su-patra. Su means good. Good quality. Who follows and respects the parents? Obedience. But obedience means not with force, no, with love. Where there is love, there is no force, and where there is no love, there is force. So Supatra, whatever you tell, will accept, and Kupatra will do everything opposite. Putra sa putra to kya dhan sāñce? That is one nice saying in India. Putra sa putra. If your child is a good child, kdeš je tvoje dítě dobré? Kja dhan sanče, then why are you collecting the wealth and money for the child? Tak proč hromadíš majetek, aby to dítě to zdědilo? Because he or she will study abilities, everything will make on path to dítě vystuduje a bude šikovné a půjde svou cestou putra kuputra, to kya dhana sañcaya? And if the child is not following at all and destroying everything, everything. Therefore, what are you collecting the wealth for, that child? With the hard work you will collect, he or she will destroy everything. Give the children good education. Education which makes the human human, that talents awake, the qualities awake. Only the university's titles will not help. The education is different. So Supatra is a good one, a good pot. This glass is clean and nice, and there is clean water inside. If the glass is dirty and you give clean water inside, we will throw the water out. Unless the disciple's consciousness, the energy, is not pure like this glass, whatever you put, it will be polluted. Clean carefully. Make sure that while cleaning, you don't cause the hole down. Then we say, "Upar se bhare, nīce se dhare, Gurū Mahārāj kyā kare?" Above you feel, down is dripping out, what should Gurudev do? Therefore, first we have to become uttam jijñāsu. Jigyasu means aspirant, who is looking for spirituality. Somehow, motivation and inspiration are there, and you go to some program, but he said, "No, it was very nice, but I don't want the second one." Oh yes, very good, but I forget everything. The master is talking and talking, and nothing goes in. Yeah, okay. Sometime I will try. Then go. Uttama jijñāsu, one word, each and every sentence, like an arrow goes through and through. It awakens you. This is a beautiful bhajan of Mahāprabhujī in the Padavireṇī. Udadi Mahārī Nindādi Heli. Our Gurudev has let fly away my sleep, like you make noise and a bird flies away. Many, many lives, this soul is sleeping. The sleep of the ignorance, Tamas Guṇa, so it's called Guruvākyā, the words of the Gurudev, remove that inner ignorance. "Uddhādhi Māri Nindarli Satguru Sāma Murāra. Satguru Dev Krishna O my Surtā." He is telling to her, whenever in bhajan comes masculine or feminine word, then it means not outer world. It is Śrutaḥ. Śrutaḥ is like our attention. Aha, śrutá může být i mužská, i ženská, a je to naše pozornost, naše bdělost. So, what we say, be careful. In other words, it says there, be careful, be attentive. Take care. What is that? To whom are you saying, "Be careful and take care"? A komu to říkáme, davej se pozor, buď opatrný? Your concentration or your awareness. Říkáme to vlastní bdělosti, vlastní pozornosti. So that is what is in the sleep of ignorance. Udadi mari nindar lihe li satguru śyāmā murārā. Kitāy, kit jāt, he tuje mālum he kī nae. From where did you come? And where are you going? Do you know this? Are you aware of this? So, next talk we will translate this bhajan. So, the jīvātmā which comes from the atmosphere, from space, antarikṣa, there is a lot of preparation and many, many layers of the karmas, destinies, the prāṇas. When we look in the sky... We see the many clouds, and we say, "Oh, these clouds are very good." But when you fly with an aeroplane, how many layers of the clouds are there? You see below clouds, where the aeroplane is, there are no clouds. Above is also clouds. So similarly, there are the layers on this jīvātmā. Uttam jijñāsu, therefore it is said in bhajan. That is why the bhajan is called Guru Caraṇam: "Yad Sat Tirat Hevo Ved Purāṇ." Guru charanam yad sat tirat hevo voh Ved Puran mein gaate, bolo Ved Puran mein gaate, voh Ved Puran mein, bolo Ved Puran mein, guru charan mein yad sat tirat hai voh wow, and who comes there? Gdo Prikhazi? Vaha utham jigyasum aate hai, vo gyana ganga mein aate, vaha utham jigyasum aate, vo gyana ganga mein aate. Vaha anubhava bani aate he, voh satya viveka sangat guru charanom me yad sattirata guru charanom me bolo veda pura. So, there, that time was little human population, and wherever they were, they were happy, they had everything enough, what do you want? Time to time, your food, water, and some clothes, that's all. But now there is a lot of population, and they don't think about food and clothes, but are thinking a lot of things: how to multiply my company's income, what will go with. So they should slow down. We should slow down. So why is there this economic crisis in the world, and a lot of disasters, like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc.? It's good. Slow down. The future is there in happiness. The happy future is in the hands of those who have multi-talents. This earth was designed for two. For ṛṣis and kṛṣis. For the ṛṣis and farmers. So everyone should know the hard work, how to grow the vegetables, and everyone should learn how to cook. If you don't know how to cook, then you are not a perfect one. There are sixteen vidyās, the sixteen kinds of knowledge which humans must have. If it is more, then it is okay, but at least it is sixteen. And one of them is called Pakṣāstra. Pakṣastra means cooking. In Ayurveda, it is the best cook. You give him or her iron beans, real iron, and he or she will cook them, and you will enjoy eating them. They will be so soft, like soybeans. It is called cooking talents, so you have to learn, my dear. Every day you will have one hour of training here. Go with a piece of paper. See which vegetable looks like what. What is the name of this vegetable, and draw a picture of how the seeds of this vegetable look. So, all different kinds of plants which we have—you are lucky—we have over here, called the Ṛṣi Garden. Then we have a lot of herbs here. Learn the name of the trees, the names of the birds, and you have... Příležitost být tady v tomto rysikulu a dozvědět se něco o kráse přírody. So we will make a group of certain people who know about this and who don't know about that, they should join. Maybe there are some people who know everything, like I know. That's very good. So it means you go and work now to look how to protect them. So it means not that I know everything. And I don't need to go. Never say, "I know." There are certain things we don't know, unless you are a Brahmajñānī. Then you may be known. So there are certain stories about knowing and not knowing. So we will have different prāṇa, different nerves, different kośas, body, different lokas, and different Brahmans. So, to complete this Brahmavidyā, we will try to have, in these five days, some lessons. I wish you all the best and a very pleasant stay here. Follow discipline. Enjoy more of Mother Nature's beauty. We are all sitting in the lap of Mother Nature. Can you imagine that one day these trees will not be here, and grass will not be here? Everything is dead because of the pesticides. All birds died, all our dear honeybees died, and our beautiful butterflies, etc. All creatures, O human, where do you want to take them? So when someone said to the modern scientists, "You are going to search for some life on other planets. Before you search there, first protect the life here on this planet." That's true. So we can protect the lives here. Wish you all the best. The evening, again, our webcast will be at 7:30. And the rest of the programs are coming, so for today, this is enough. All the best, and bless you all. Deep Nayan Bhagavān kī, Deveśvar Mahādev kī, Dharm Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandjī Bhagavān kī. Om 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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