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Part 1: The Inner Light: Reflections on Christmas and Diwali Om Dīp Cūṭī Parabrahmā, Dīpaṁ Sarve Mohanāṁ, Dīpaṁ Sajate Savāṁ Sandhyāṁ, Dīpaṁ Saraha Satyam. Oṁ Guru Brahma, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Deva Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt, Parabrahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ, Dhyāna Mūlaṁ, Guru Mūrtiḥ, Pūjā Mūlaṁ, Guru Padam, Mantra Mūlaṁ, Guru Vākyaṁ, Mokṣa Mūlaṁ, Guru Kṛpā. Dear yoga friends, I come to bring you the good news that a light was born, and this light is called Jesus. He came to the world in a manger, and his mother, Maria, under great hardships brought this child into the world. We have already experienced several Christmases, and in recent years, and he will do so today, Swāmījī has talked about the role of the mother who brings a child to the world. But first of all, I would like to thank you, Swāmījī, that you give us the opportunity to be here with you on this day and in this wonderful community, that we are all here together. This year, he is speaking very much about the role of the mother at the birth, and how difficult it was for Mother Maria to give birth to the child. So, what is most important in this time? It is to try to reflect on our spiritual life. Diwali is the celebration of the Rāma avatāra coming back, and it is the biggest festival in India, the light festival, like Christmas here. In another satsaṅg, Swāmījī gave a very beautiful comparison, and this I want to share with you. Dīvālī is this festival where Lord Rāma returns, and this is the light festival, so similar to the Christmas festival. Swāmījī gave a wonderful comparison in another lecture: a dīpa, that is a light which is mostly made of simple ghee, and where a lamp is lit from clay. Because when God came, in this case God Rāma, he came at night, just like today. Jesus was also born at night, maybe a sign that a guru, a divine master, has come to this world and brings us from darkness to light. Back then, in all of India, these dīpakas were ignited. Millions of such lights are burning in India at this time. Millions of lights are burning in this time in the whole world, and the light always symbolizes the light of spirituality. It means the opposite of darkness; it means sugar, happiness, and it is the opposite of sugar. And Swamiji made this comparison: if you want your light to burn—"tamaso mā jyotir gamaya," lead me from darkness into the light—then you have to be careful about the light. You have to make sure that it doesn’t go out. Because if you hold a dīpa, that is, a light in your hand, and blow on it, then it will go out or it will flicker. And this breath, with which you blow on this light—this spiritual, divine light that burns in you and that you can hold on to—goes out when you blow too hard on it. And this breath means your negative qualities: if you are jealous, angry... In another satsaṅg, Swāmījī was giving a beautiful comparison about the light. In India, during Diwali, you have many, many millions of lights burning. And also in our Christmas, we have millions of lights burning on the Christmas trees, the houses, and everywhere. So what is the importance of this time? The importance is to become aware of our inner light. When you have a light in your hand, if I had a light in my hand and I blow on it, it will disappear, it will die, this light. And in the same way, as spiritual seekers, we have to try not to blow out the light. To blow out means that with our negative qualities—anger, hate, I think you know many negative qualities, no? I have not to mention it, no? So, hate, non-loving, etc., etc.—we blow out this light, and we have to be always aware not to blow out this light. This is a time of Christmas where we should be aware not to have negative thoughts, feelings, decisions, but try to recognize our inner light and to follow and to develop this light. So, thank you, Swāmījī, for your being here. You are our guiding light, and we thank you very much for all that you are doing for us. And thank you that we can share this evening with you, Mr. President. Thank you, thank you. Yes, I also would like to welcome all of you, to be together, to be able to celebrate satsaṅg, and especially, of course, when Swāmījī has time to be with us together, and especially on this very special day today, Christmas celebration at our Gurujī Ashram. A little thing I would like to share with you, a thought that always comes to me about Christmas is: yes, what is actually Christmas? When my children were even younger, okay, we read Christmas stories; there was a beautiful magic, yes. Then the children get a little older, and it’s much more about, "Yes, what do I get for Christmas?" Then you might have completely different thoughts; maybe it’s more about what you get and how great it is, and so on. A little bit, this kind of magic is perhaps a little lost. And if you then look, when the children get older again, then it might go back a little bit, and you can think about it again, or also talk about it, that actually there was something there for 2000 years, something special happened, namely a great soul is incarnated. And that is something that I would like to share with you a little bit, this thought. There is someone incarnated who has changed our whole culture through his love, through his light, through his knowledge. And I can imagine that it wasn’t that easy for him back then. I don’t think for most people it’s easy to change something when he comes and tries to give something through his presence and the light that he gives. And it was certainly not that easy for Jesus Christ. I wasn’t there, but you say it. It was certainly not that easy to spread his light, his love. As we know, Swāmījī gives, gives, gives... if not back then 2000 years ago this Mahātma... Thank you. So, hopefully everyone can a little bit understand. I would only like to explain one thought, share with you, that the deeper meaning or reason why we celebrate Christmas is the birth of Jesus. And the reason why he came, we should think a little bit about this. So that’s all. So I wish you all a wonderful Christmas here. And what I would like to do very much, would like to thank you very much, not only, but especially for Swāmījī, namely for not only the guidance that he gives us through his words, through his lectures, but Swāmījī leads us on so many levels: in the heart, in meditation, in thoughts. And each of you may know, if you are not doing well or if you have doubts or the like, only the thought in a certain direction—and that is certainly not bad in the direction of Swamiji—is that it changes our courage. Yes, that changes something: the mantra, and also this thought about our master, Swamiji. And I would also like to thank you very much for the many, many karma yogīs who have been working so diligently all year round, especially thanks to the yoga teachers who are working so much outside of yoga in their lives, especially thanks to all the ashram attendants, who make the seminars so beautifully possible, not only here in Vienna, but also outside of Vienna. I would like to give it very gladly to Swāmījī. No? Swamiji, your students have come to listen to you. And I wish you a very nice Christmas, and if you go home later, then please drive carefully. Shanti has just said, on the top of the mountains, there is no snow. Hari Om. Hari Om. Thank you, Śrī. Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ, sarve santu nirāmayāḥ, sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu, mā kaścid duḥkha-bhāg bhavet. Om Shanti. Shanti, shanti... Shānti, shānti... shānti, shānti... Shānti, shānti... shānti, shānti... Sit down. Be all happy, be all healthy. Nowhere should be any troubles, and may I also be happy. This was the mantra. Something was missing from Mr. President, to acknowledge the Karma Yogīs in the ashram. We will come after. Well, my dear brothers and sisters, here in this, our ashram, Gurujī’s ashram, and our brothers and sisters around the world who are with us through the webcast, the divine blessing is coming from our holy place, Gurujī’s ashram, in the beautiful city of Vienna, of course, Austria. Welcome, all of you, and this evening is dedicated to the glory of Lord Jesus. And I’m asking myself, what are we celebrating? The question is unanswered. On one hand, it is happiness, and on the other hand, it is very sad, full of mysteries, full of misery. So, this is life: what we can do, how to understand. One great saint, Kabīr Dās said, "When I was born, all people were laughing, happy, and I was crying. But do something good in your life, so that when you die, you are laughing and happy, and the world is crying. When I was born, all was laughing and happy, and I was crying. When I left, I was happy, but all were crying." This is the conclusion, the result of one’s life. Life is a struggle; life is a journey, not a destination, and the fruits of your being in this world will not be acknowledged during your life, but at the end of your life. We have seen, for the last 10 days, hearing through all the media, the life biography, life history of Mr. Nelson Mandela. When he was alive, all media was not announcing and giving all that they are doing now. But at the end, because of the last minutes, you can see, they still spoil the things. The last minutes of your breath, something terrible can happen. It is like in the milk: a drop of lemon juice falls in, and all the milk is spoiled. The milk which comes from the grass, the mother cow has to eat to digest. It goes through her body, and it develops into the milk. We milk it, and we bring it. It’s a long process. Can you imagine? One glass of milk, from the field till your cup, how long a way it is. And someone, instead of putting sugar, puts some acid inside, like powder of the lemons. Everything spoils. Therefore, the result is given at the end of life. To carry on in life, your purpose for your coming is not easy. There are many, many obstacles. Many people are jealous of your work or of you: angry, envying, ego, and would like to destroy your work. Those people are like what we call in India: we say, a dog doesn’t eat grass and doesn’t let the cow eat. Understand? A dog doesn’t eat the grass, and he doesn’t let the cow eat. The dog is sitting near the grass. If a cow is coming to eat, he is battling and attacking. Similarly, the negative āsurī śaktis in this world are working. And we know those great saints, the great personalities who were working for peace, love, etc., were victims of death by our own people, etc. So, there are two chapters in the Christmas story. One is the chapter where Jesus was born, and the second is when he was crucified. That is what we should think and accept something in life and learn something. The Upanishad said, "Lord, lead us from the darkness to the light." This light, this flame is the flame of the Parabrahma, the Supreme, the Highest, Ultimate Truth, Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā. That light is within each and every entity. That light is in every vegetation, and that light is in each and every grain of sand, omniscient and omnipresent. But that we cannot see with physical eyes. For that, we have to open the inner eyes of spirituality. Bhagwan Śrī Kṛṣṇa said, before nearly six to seven thousand years, "Arjuna, from time to time I manifest myself; I come into this world through my yogamāyā, through my yogaśakti." My dear, here yoga means not āsanas and prāṇāyāmas, okay? This is yoga vyāyam, the yoga exercises. Yoga is something which is a great divine. Yoga is harmonizing, balancing, and uniting the cosmic functions and cosmic energy. That is the divine mother, divine śakti. That Śiva śakti, that light of the yoga and consciousness, is Śiva. That’s called Śiva Jyoti Rāmāyaṇa. All become Śiva Jyoti Rāmāyaṇa, Dīpa Jyoti Parabrahma, because that is the Parabrahma, the supreme beyond all. Dīpaṁ Sarve Mohanāṁ, that light removes the darkness everywhere. Wherever you will put on light, darkness will disappear, and there is no evening that takes place without the lightening of the light around the world. We are all the light on this mortal world, the darkness of Kali Yuga or any Yuga. We are sparkling in this field of the earth from above the universe when we see. But not only humans, we mean all creatures, my dear. Who are we to say that we are the best? That’s a great mistake. The great one never said, "I am the great one." Great ones never speak great things about themselves. Like a diamond never speaks, "I am a diamond," but we say, "Oh, it is a diamond." So, who are we that we think we are the lord of this earth? No, O man, on the stage of the world, your theater cannot be played forever. Come and play your game correctly and go. "So, time to time, I come, O Arjuna, to support, to help the dharma, the spiritual principle, spirituality and ethic in this mortal world, to protect the devotees, bhaktas who believe in God, those who are positive and good-hearted. And to remove or destroy the negative energy, either through my acting or not acting." So, both examples we have. The incarnation acts in both ways. They destroy the negative energy and protect the positive energy. The incarnation has both in their hands: blessings or weapons. Jesus was that one. Without acting, he removed the negative and brought the light. Without the weapon, like Mahatma Gandhi, without any weapon, he said, we will achieve freedom. And he did, and Jesus did. But who follows today? Who follows the words of Jesus? If we believe and follow the words and teachings of Jesus, we should not take any weapons in our hands, we should not have weapon factories, we should not have any bombs, and we should not have this and that. Part 2: The Light of Sacrifice: Reflections on Christmas We are taught to be ready to show our second cheek if someone strikes the first. But who is here today? Is there a great Christian believer who can practice this? No one. No one. Thus, the teachings and his words often remain merely a rubber stamp. Consider Mahatma Gandhiji. Ask how many Indians truly follow his words. Everyone gives grand lectures for political success, yet they hardly remember or quote Gandhiji. My dear, we forget. How many Hindus are there who truly follow Ahiṃsā (non-violence), or who follow the Bhagavad Gītā, Guru Granth Sāhib, Rāmāyaṇa, Vedas, or Upaniṣads? Humanity has become very selfish, full of greed and ego. This is our distraction. The light of God is within everyone. Yet, we are still happy and blessed that we have received the light of love through some divine souls. But do you know how difficult it is to obtain that light of love? For me, this reflection is Christmas, and something came to my mind. I went back to consider how things were approximately two thousand years ago. When we look at the entire picture of Jesus's family—though I do not know its size, how many uncles, aunts, grandmothers, or mothers there were—we come to the main point: the person called Lady Maria. I can see that two thousand years ago, people lived with a different discipline and culture than today. Even a few decades ago in Austria, an "unehlich" (illegitimate) child was one born to unmarried parents. Today, we are modern free thinkers; it does not matter from whom the child comes or whether the parents are married. The main thing is the baby is coming, and we are happy. But can you imagine what that situation meant for her and her husband? For those nine months, how did she spend them? She likely did not even understand what was happening. I am sure society neglected her. Nowhere does it show people coming daily to sing songs and glories to her. Laghi laghi sab koi kahe, laghi nahi ligar. Laghi uske aisi laghi, gayi ho gayi aaram par. (Everyone says, "I was hurt, I was hurt," but you were not. That one was hurt and had pain. The arrow went through and through the body.) So, for nine months, Maria's experience, in my thinking, was not pleasure; it was not easy. She had to endure immense humiliation. Another picture makes me very sad. If you think very deeply, I ask myself a question for which I cannot find an answer, and there is no one who can give me the answer: What was the situation? What led to the condition that she had to give birth to her child in an animal stable? We know what goat, sheep, and donkey stables are like. They are not clean; there are bacteria. But what brought her to give birth there? Perhaps it was hidden. Did she want to show something, or did she not have any house, comfort, or anything? She was alone afterward. Of course, everything came to pass, and we are happy. But I ask, what was the pain and situation of that lady? Yes, we call her a virgin. She may not have felt guilty, but how could she give evidence? They did not believe her. They would not believe her. In our Indian mythology, philosophy, and religion, you will also see a few ladies who were virgins and gave birth, like in the Mahābhārata, Karṇa's mother. Karṇa was great. But we adore the mother more than her son. That is the mother who suffered. She suffered for us. She suffered to give this light to the world. Jesus never said, and it was never said, that he was an incarnation. He said, "I am just the son of God." Incarnations are 24, according to the yugas, as Indian mythology or literature says. But the light—what we call the bright star, the luminary—that was it. The light symbolizes the removal of darkness, which means the removal of fear and confusion, showing the path, leading to direction, to the destination, to clarity, to safety, and to knowledge. So, the light we have within us is called the light of wisdom. There are two kinds of light: physical light, like electric light, wax candles, or oil lamps, and the light of the ātmā. That light is knowledge, given through right education and practice. Many of us brought this from past lives, repeating it again and again; for many, it is the first time—but who am I to say who was not first? And so we are happy. The biggest presents we receive are under the Christmas tree. That tree is a shelter of God. What we get under the shelter of God is happiness, joy, freedom, light, love, understanding, and blessings. So we develop a kind of culture: where there is a human, there is a culture, and where there is a culture, there is a human. Wherever a human goes, they bring their culture with them. You cannot stop that. When Indians come to Vienna, they like Vienna, but they still bring their culture—some chillies, some namkīns, some papadum. This is culture and habit. They bring their cassette music, bhajans, Rajasthani, Punjabi, South Indian. This is how culture moves. India is a cradle of culture. In this way, Christmas is beautiful, but it is not only that Jesus is born. How was his life? Sometimes lost and alone, sitting in the hills and desert somewhere, desperate, crying, "Lord, why me? I can't do it." But God said, "My son, I trust in you." What is trust? If you misuse that trust and one day become like an enemy, it is a bigger sin. When you give your word, you should keep it. If you cannot keep your word, it was compared in ancient spiritual languages to a death. Raghu kul reet sada chali aai, prāṇa jai, par bachana na jai. (In the Rāmāyaṇa, it is said of the Raghu dynasty: "Even if life goes, our word will not go.") That is trust. Therefore, the Father, God, said, "I trust in you, and I send you there." "But why am I suffering? I can't." He said, "Still, I am in you. I will work through you. You are just an instrument." An instrument is for life, but the life of the instrument is not easy. An instrument must give its entire life for that engineer, that mechanic who works through it—and that is God. God works through the instrument of love and hardness. Sometimes hardness, anger, is love. When parents are angry with children, it is not as an enemy or distraction; it is said out of love to do something for the children. The entire life of his parents, Joseph and Mary, how they spent that time, no one knows, for I was not present. But I can tell you what I have heard from literature and festivals. This mother experienced great suffering for her son. Because of him, she had to suffer, yet she had the courage and strength. I can tell you, especially to the mothers and fathers here, it was not easy for Maria to see her son going to be crucified, carrying his own cross uphill, where his hands were nailed. If what the Bible or stories say is true, none came forward to say, "Don't do it." No one had the power. The poor mother could do nothing. She could only put her head on the log of the cross where the drops of blood dripped down. No one was there. She sat and cried, tried to get him down from the cross and took him in her lap. What karma did that mother have? What did she have to pay to bring such a cosmic light from the universe to give to us for our protection, guidance, and blessing? All great things go to Mother Maria. After all that, she had only one thing in her heart: prayer, prayer, and prayer. Through this, her heart became a heart of mercy. Therefore, we have the Deja Mantra, which you can repeat: "I pray to thee, O Holy Mother Maria, I pray for thy mercy, O Holy Maria." This is the awakening of consciousness in everyone. What does it mean to celebrate and acknowledge Christmas? Now our life has begun in the light. But, my dear, still heartless, do not celebrate the sun rising, the day dawning. Celebrate at the time of the sun. Celebrate the day when the sun goes down. So it does not begin at birth, but it will begin after death. This is a lesson for us all: we know all holy saints and great people had to struggle. Sometimes they had stones thrown at their heads; sometimes they were victims of bullets. Yet, their principle, honesty, truth, and love for God remained, for they came to spread and give light and love to all. When I was born, I was crying, but all were happy. Now I will go. I am happily going, having done my work, and others will cry, "Why did he go so quickly?" This is the meaning of any holy festival, of all incarnations—be it Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, or any other. Their lives were not easy. They came at a time when darkness comes and takes over, and then again the sun rises. This is how I see life from birth till death. We shall take the cream, the essence. In this sense, my dear brothers and sisters, if we can open our hearts and let the mercy of Mother Maria enter, then we can forgive and understand, and we will carry on through all troubles. We will have mercy, forgiveness, understanding, love, and unity, so that our coming generation will learn something from us. I wish you the divine blessings of the Divine Holy Mother, Maria, who gives us, under the Christmas tree, the beautiful presence of the holy shelter. Let us hold here, be nice, and at the year's end, we will see how the year was. I wish you a very happy, healthy, successful, and prosperous New Year. May God be with you, and do good. What you do physically, mentally, emotionally, verbally, and in writing intellectually will first reflect on us and then go to others. This is my little message for Christmas. How I understand it, can you understand? Have you heard how the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa was? Seven times more horrible for his mother, Devakī. She witnessed how her own brother, Kaṁsa, put her in prison and killed all her children after birth, throwing them against the wall. You know that. We celebrate Kṛṣṇa beautifully with all decorations, but where is Devakī Nandan? Where are his mother and father? We humans forget that dark time. We just try to take the cream. But you do not know how much the cow had to eat, digest, and develop in her body to give us milk. Who is milking? Who is bringing the cream? So it is. Do not forget from beginning to end. Everything will be counted, like in your pension system: when you begin your work, everything is counted till retirement, and then you get the pension. After five years of working, if you say, "I will still continue to work, please give me the pension," they will not give it. So the result, the conclusion of our karma and destinies will come, my dear, in the time of the day. Do not judge anyone before, and do not celebrate the day before sunset. So much love to you. I pray for peace and harmony in your family and with your friends. God bless you. We pray to the Almighty, to Mahāprabhujī, and to Jesus, that we may all sit together again, admire the beautiful Christmas tree, and celebrate together. Now we will go like birds flying in different directions, and in the evening they all come to the tree, singing beautiful evening prayers and going to their nests. The babies are sitting, and then all the mommies and fathers come. Suddenly one day, finished—all birds peaceful. Then in the morning, one bird gets up as an alarm, and the others make par par... and then all wake up. So it is. I hope we will have many Christmas celebrations in your life. Age does not matter, my dear. Whether you are young or old, we do not know who will be first. We are like beautiful swans on the beautiful Mansarovar lake. We do not know who will take off first for the Brahma Śivaloka. So let us hope. Today, root out from your mind and heart negative thoughts. From wherever you came, I wish you a good journey. Take care, and God bless you. Now we will have continuous prayer, so that afterward more activities will come. For the children, there is something under the Christmas trees—to my left, to my right, in front of me. That will come a little later. Now we are doing prayer, so please sit for 15 minutes. Everyone, sit quietly. Those who can sing, sing with us. Those who cannot, hear and feel the sound. Put the light on, and the view should be through the Christmas tree to Daltara. So, most of the Bhishkandani camera links from the vital legion: Śrī Deepnāna Bhagavānakī Dev Puruṣa Mahādevakī Satguru Swāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavānakī Sanātana Dharma Kī.