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Part 1: The Light That Shines in Darkness: The Meaning of Christ’s Birth and the Master-Disciple Tradition For that, which stands in the possibility of every human being. About 2,000 years ago, in a place we today call Israel, a soul incarnated that became very famous by the name of Jesus. During his lifetime, at that time, a soul incarnated who bore both names. They had been born, or they had been living, in a very simple area, a simple life, and at the time when Jesus was born, they didn’t even have a house. They were on the road, more or less. But as circumstances and destiny show, it had all the meaning. Although they were in a very remote area, they couldn’t hide. They couldn’t hide that very event, that very important moment, because those who had to come found them. We hear about the story of the three saints coming from a far country. Whatever it means, these three saints—whatever esoteric meaning or spiritual meaning it has—they followed only a star, and this star showed them the way towards the very place that they had to go. Mahāprabhujīp Karatā, Mahāprabhujīp Karatā... In the Western world, birth is celebrated more than death. Why? Kabir once said, “When I was born, everybody was happy, but I myself was crying. And when I die, I will be very happy, and all people will cry.” He knew that coming into the world means pain, means suffering. But people, of course, welcome a newborn, because a newborn is a symbol of purity, of clarity, of innocence. And slowly, when you enter into this life—as it happens with every one of us—we get educated in one way or another, in one direction or another, overloaded with concepts, with ideas, with “you have to do,” “you should not do,” “you must do,” “you are allowed to do,” or “you have to do,” “don’t do,” and so on. So lucky are those who have parents who have a spiritual background, who educate the child with certain ethical norms and who don’t give them too many do’s and don’ts. So when Kabīr Dās said, “Oh, when I will die, I will be very happy, I will be full of joy,” he said it because he knew that something he would complete; he would not die as an ordinary man or as an ordinary soul, but he would die as a realized one. In the Indian tradition, when we look to saints, to holy men, to mahātmas and so on, they are normally not concerned about their birth date or its celebration. But they celebrate more the day when they accept a mantra or get a mantra, or when they get initiation into sannyāsa, or, with many of them, when they, as we say, take samādhi. Samādhi means the specific moment of death that is celebrated—not because they are dead or because they are dying, but because it seems that they completed something, they realized something. And that is the main point. In our tradition of Śrī Alakhpurījī, Siddha Pīṭh Paramparā, we take the samādhi days as the most important celebration within the year. And just a few days ago, we had our beloved Holī Gurujī’s samādhi, Mahāsamādhi Day. But we equally celebrate their birthdays, because without their birthday, most probably none of us would be here together today. We know the miracles happened during Mahāprabhujī’s birthday. But what interests us more is the spiritual aspect: that when Jesus was born, he was already Christ—Christ in the sense of pūraṇa, of completeness, of that consciousness which shines throughout the whole universe. If you look at his history, he was too often mistaken as a normal person, as a body, as a form, as a human with human qualities. And only many, many years afterwards, people realized the real essence behind that. The essence was that, as we say, Saccidānanda—the truth, eternity, the realization of who I am. Jesus was born to show the world that there is something more than only what we see, what we hear, and what we smell, that there is much more than that which we think or feel. In his birth itself, there is a message. And that message is that as a human, it is possible for every human to reach that state—the state of completeness. His history was very individual. His mission was very individual, as everybody’s own is. His mission to this world was not something that everybody can do. But everybody can reach the state of Christ in himself. Everybody is already that. In many traditions, in many cultures, we find such personalities as Christ, but they express themselves in different ways. If you look at Holī Gurujī, he was also a Christ, but in a different way. He was literally also on the cross, but in a different way. He took up the burdens of so many of his disciples, the same as with Mahāprabhujī. The same is with Swāmījī. The way is that we have just to see it and realize it. When we are at the source, we often forget what it is about. We often can’t see anymore because it’s so near. And then when we look at this world, we don’t understand the paradox that it is already there in front of us. Everything is in front of us. It is so near, but actually it is so far. It is there, but it is not there. God is here, but he is not here. He is inside, but outside. He is, and he is not. To understand that, it’s beyond our mind, because we can’t actually understand it. We can’t understand it in the literal sense. We can only try to experience it through our sādhanā, through our devotion. When Jesus was born, there were no disciples around yet. They may be waiting somewhere in heaven to be kicked out and join his mission. But these twelve disciples, what we know from the Bible, they may be only exemplary. They may have a kind of historical relation. Jesus had many, many, many more disciples. And when Jesus was born, most probably he already realized beforehand that his life would not be easy. His life as a saint, and generally the life of a saint, is never easy. When we look at Mahāprabhujī, who can say something about Mahāprabhujī? Not only those who really met him. We knew only from tellings, from Dalīlā Amṛt, from stories, from people who have their own experiences. But if you look closely, you will see that there is some aspect which is shining there like a star. And that is simplicity. The simplicity is like a red thread through his whole life, and that reflects in Gurujī. Because when you disciple and you try to identify yourself with your master, to become one with your master, to unite, you will automatically take over certain kinds of qualities, a certain kind of lifestyle. It was just the seed at that moment. And that huge tree, what started to blossom after some time, is actually that which is the real thing. That seed carries even nowadays the hope, the love, the destiny, the vision of billions of people in this world. It even sprouts today, and it is, as we have it, a very simple thing. It is a relation between master and disciple. Jesus, who became Christ, became the master, and all who believe in him are his disciples, nothing else. He tells, he gives, he demands, he orders, he guides, and if you follow, you are a disciple, you are his. The same we can see with Mahāprabhujī, with Devpurījī, with Holī Gurujī, Swāmijī. Although they have their own greatness, every one of them follows the tradition, the tradition of master-disciple relationship. And this is the essence that keeps the whole thing going on. Otherwise, it’s like water. You have a big flood in the desert, and the water disappears. It doesn’t come back. But if you learn to store that water, if you make precautions, if you plan, if you put effort inside, this water can be stored, utilized, and multiplied in many ways and used for very good things. So, on this very day of Christmas, we should think and understand that it was not a human only who incarnated, but it was a formless being, formless ease, that came into this world, that gave the world so much, and that showed them how is the way out of this great dilemma of saṃskāra, of illusion, of indifference. And this is the identification of this, basically, body-mind problem. And Christ was an incarnation of love, because his main teachings were based on love. And it doesn’t matter if you believe in Mahāprabhujī or Holy Gurujī or Christ or Muhammad; they all have the same message, they all came for the same purpose: to help us understand that this life is just a transition, that this life is not so important as we always think, but we should utilize it and realize why we came here and where we want to go, or where we should proceed. To remember this, they came, they incarnated; we celebrate their birthday, and we should also keep that very Christmas day in our hearts. Not because it’s a birthday, but because it is our birthday, also our birthday. In that sense, I wish you a happy Christmas, and many more Christmases to come. And let it be everyday Christmas in certain ways: to remember all the great saints, all the holy men on this earth, and to remember also our birth, our spiritual birth, and our successful adventure tour on this planet. In that sense, happy Christmas. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jai, Deveśvarānanda Mahādeva, Kī Jai, Śrī Mādhav Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, Kī Jai, Viśvaguru, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvarānanda, Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Purī, Mahārāja, Kī Jai. So, I would like to ask Svāmī Gajananjī to share his wisdom with us on this very occasion. So, please, Swami Gajānandjī. Oṁ Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Deva Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt Paraṁ Brahma, Tasmai Śrī Guruve Namaḥ. Nāhaṁ Karatā, Prabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā He Kevalaṁ. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ... Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jāī, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, Gurujī, Kī Jāī. Good evening. It is a nice challenge now to speak after Svāmī Pramāṇajī, after he said nearly everything that has to be said. But I think it would be maybe a good idea not to speak immediately, but to sing something, no? And, of course, something about the incarnation of God, because this is the topic when we speak about Jesus’ birth. Satta Guru Jagame Āyā Merā. This is a beautiful bhajan about the incarnation of God. Satta Guru Jagame Āyā, Mera Here Gurudev incarnated in this world. The Gurudev came, and it expresses the joy about that in a very peaceful way. Christmas is usually celebrated in a peaceful way, so I think it fits. And this, even though his birth actually was more than 2,000 years ago. To understand what his birth means, Christmas, is very simple. Let us just think: it would not have happened. How would life, how would the world look today if Jesus had never been born? Millions of people in the world have no orientation. Millions of people had no guidance for their life. Various people had no example through the life of a saint. Though, if we think again, it’s also not true, because Jesus was not the only incarnation. God is so gracious; he doesn’t come just once. At different times in history, he incarnated in different places, in different cultures, and different language backgrounds, so that we have again and again a chance to connect here and there. So we have to go one step further to understand really what it means. If God had never incarnated, then we come to the point. Then we would be really in darkness. We would be lost. What does it mean that God incarnates? What is his, let’s say, motivation? Does he have any need? So first we have to think, why are we actually here? We are also, Swamijī says, kind of incarnation. So we came, and now we are in a physical body. But why did we come? Because we have karmas, and we have to work out something to purify something. Our life has a kind of karmic plan, what karmas we want to experience, to purify, to make a step in the direction of the light. But for this, we need a guide. We need the light as an orientation. When God comes into this world, basically it means the light comes into this world. And it is known that the original date of Jesus’ birth is actually not known. It was fixed by a council in early times. They decided on which day they would place Jesus’ birth. And when did they do it? Very close to the darkest day of the year, which is the beginning of winter, I think the 21st of December. So you can say from the whole year cycle, this is like the darkest date, which in the month cycle would be actually what we call Amāvasyā, the dark moon. The day when there is absolutely no moon, there is absolutely no light, and therefore no energy. It’s like blocked energy. And that’s why here in India, it’s actually the only traditional free day when the workers always have a holiday. Because it is said to be inauspicious to do any work on that day. So now, in the cycle of the year, this is actually the beginning of the winter. And just after that was placed, symbolically I would say, the day of Jesus’ incarnation, Christmas Day. And it fits. So when we now think on Mahāprabhujī, it is exactly the same symbolism. Mahāprabhujī incarnated on the day of the dark moon, which is when the light actually appears in the darkness. And as we know, the miracle happened that the lights which had burned out started burning again. So in the same way, Jesus’ incarnation is a symbol that divine light comes here on the earth to give us guidance. So it’s a symbolism of darkness and light. And in Sanskrit, this is called Guru and Guru. Part 2: The Incarnation of God as Guru and the Need for a Living Guide We are living in the Guru, and now the Guru comes to guide us. So, when we speak about Jesus’ incarnation, we naturally speak about the incarnation of the light, the guidance through the light, about the Guru, about the Guru principle. God, again and again, takes a physical form to guide us. The first step in the guidance is to awaken us. Oṁ Guru Brahmā. Brahmā is seen as the creator, but the aspect of the Guru is that he actually awakens us, awakens us in our spiritual longing. What Swāmījī often does by simply putting questions: from where did you come, where do you go, what is the purpose of your life, and what are you doing here? He does not give answers straight away; he just tries to awaken us so that we think about our life and not just live blindly as everyone is doing, but that we search for an orientation, to be a seeker. That is the first thing: to search in a certain direction. That is the first aspect of the Guru. Now, what comes next? Because we are lost in the darkness, we are searching but are unclear. Now the Guru comes, God incarnates, to give us more guidance. Search in that direction. Then, when we are on the spiritual path, we often lose it. So, the Guru is the aspect of always bringing us back and forward on the spiritual path, and in the end, to liberate us. This is the Śiva aspect, the liberator—liberating us from all the bondage, from all the karmas, from all the attachments, and freeing our mind so it can unite with the divine. And the real secret of the incarnation is said in the second line: Guru Sākṣāt Parabrahma. Parabrahma is God, the formless, the highest divine self. You cannot say anything about it because it is nirguṇa—formless, and therefore indescribable. That is a problem. We somehow know God is everywhere, but where? What? How? What should we do now with this God which is everywhere? And we cannot, so to speak, access God. To give us help, to give us guidance, God now comes in a physical form. Sākṣāt, that word is very interesting. There is a Hindi word, Sākṣī. Sākṣī is the witness in the court—someone who is not involved in a crime, let us say. Now he is called, “What did you see?” So this is a Sākṣī, someone who says, “I am an eyewitness; I saw that with my own eyes.” Sākṣāt means that which you can see with your eyes, with your physical eyes. God comes into this world so that we, living in our identification on the physical level, can connect to God. Because this Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva aspect is somehow abstract, and with the Parabrahma it is completely formless. Now God comes in a physical form so that we can connect to Him and we can interact. And also, God, through His own life, gives us an example of how to live life. So it is not just the teaching of Jesus—which is important—but also how he lived his life, what he actually did, how he acted, and how he reacted. As Premanājī already said, he was an example of love. His teaching, if we were to put it in yogic categories, I would say it was bhakti yoga. Open your heart, love, love everyone. Connect with everyone, seeing in him or her your brother and sister. We are all creatures of the one God. That was his teaching. Love your neighbor as yourself. And a neighbor is everyone who is close to you, who just happens to be around you. In many stories, he was teaching this. Jesus was the incarnation of the light in this world in a physical form. So it is said, God out of compassion comes. He comes; He has no need. We have to come because of our karmas to work something out. But God has no need to come, actually, but God comes to help us. So He comes because of the call of our souls. We are lost in darkness. We are hopeless and irritated. We do not know where to go, what to do, what to practice, or what to believe. God comes into this world to give us an orientation. And the reaction of the bhaktas, of those who are real seekers, is joy. This is what is also said here in this bhajan: Satyaguru Jāgayā Merā. Satyaguru Āyā Merā Mana Bhāyā. God came into this world. The Satguru came into this world. He has come. My mind, my heart is full of joy. And now, every devotee comes running to the Guru. Comes running; there is light. It is like you are in a cave, lost, you have no orientation, and suddenly you see some light somewhere. So what will you do? Go in that direction, straight away. And when you find your Guru, surrender to him. So, in a certain historical situation, at a certain geographical point, God came again to give us guidance for our life. So when we speak about Jesus’ incarnation, Jesus’ birth, we basically speak about the importance of the incarnation of God. And we cannot say this incarnation is more important, that is less important. This is a problem of the different religions, or when the religions become like political parties: I have more followers, or my path is better, my God is better—whatever. Basically, we should be so happy that God came so often, that so many divine incarnations are there, coming again and again. But, of course, God knows that also, every time He comes on the physical level, He creates some problems, some new paths. This is, for example, when we think on this, in Līlā Amṛt, how often Holī Gurujī requested Mahāprabhujī, “Please allow me to write about your life.” So, definitely, there was nothing wrong with his desire, and we are very happy that in the end it happened, that we have the Līlā Amṛt. But Mahāprabhujī originally did not want to. We have to ask why. Because he knew it is not only good; there is also a problem now, like creating a new religion. And this can happen very easily. It can happen when it is now taken as a dogma. Now we suddenly say, only Mahāprabhujī. That is all. So already we are in the dogma. So now, what is important is also that this teaching is continued. Jesus’ incarnation was two thousand years ago. The question is, what happens now afterwards? It is important that the teaching of the master of God—who incarnated as a master in the world to give guidance, who lived a perfect life and gave a perfect teaching—still there is a problem. What happens after? So the tradition needs to be continued. That is why every guru tries to find successors who can continue teaching and bring to life, again and again through the centuries, the real teaching. So that is a problem when we say Jesus’s teaching was actually love, devotion, bhakti. So we can say bhakti yoga if we want to put it in yoga categories. But the problem of bhakti yoga is fanaticism. Swāmījī puts it in very nice words: you should respect each and every mother as a mother, but you should know who is your mother. So now, we know who is our mother. This is, let us say, I am a Christian; for me, Jesus—I connect to Jesus, that is my mother. Or it is Mahāprabhujī, or it is Buddha, or whoever. But you should respect each and every mother as a mother. That is the other side of the coin, and that is often forgotten. So unfortunately, when we look now at history, not only of Christianity but of many religions, even what happens nowadays in different places of the world, there is this fanaticism. Nowadays, actually, in some countries, Christians are again in the situation Jesus was in, where they are persecuted and have no way to live their religion freely. And other religions, of course, also. So we must see the two aspects. On one hand, it is so great that God comes to give us guidance. It is so great that Jesus came and had all these teachings, living examples, and also all these miracles demonstrating the divine power. But on the other hand, there is always the problem that in the end it might get lost; it might become schematic and dogmatic. So, it is important that it is continued. Whatever religion we follow, the original teaching is definitely right. I just think about the situation, let us say, Jesus and Buddha, Mahāprabhujī, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Muḥammad—they would meet just now. Imagine, they all come here through the door and they meet. What do you think would happen? Do you think they would argue? They would fight? They would say, “Who are you? I am the greater.” I think they would hug each other and be so happy. Okay? That is a real understanding. Swāmījī expressed it once very nicely. Someone asked Swāmījī, “Swāmījī, you know, what is your relation to Jesus? You know, I actually love Jesus, but now I am your disciple, and I have a problem with that. Is it not unfair towards Jesus when I am now your disciple?” And Swāmījī was very relaxed and said, “Oh, Jesus is just my colleague.” I think that is the right understanding. When Jesus and Buddha and Mahāprabhujī and all would meet, they would be so happy, because they know that they are one. Their teaching is slightly different according to the concrete situation—when and where, under which circumstances they had to teach. Even in the same country, in different centuries, there is a different situation. So certain things have developed, certain things have already gone wrong, and now God comes to correct it. As it is said, when adharma takes over and dharma is in trouble—which always has a concrete form of trouble—then God incarnates to purify, to give the light again, the guidance again, to help the bhaktas find their way, to live their spiritual path. Therefore, it is always a concrete way how God comes, in what concrete way He acts, what concrete things He teaches. So there will be some differences; there must be some differences because of that. But the essence is one and the same. And that is sometimes difficult to find out when someone is too narrow-minded. My God is this—let us say, only Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. And others, no. Our path is the only one. It can be the same with Buddha, Jesus, whatever. So there is a problem. So I would say the incarnation of God, the incarnation of Jesus, is the one great thing. But the other great thing, which is really important for us—and this also should be a thought for every follower of Jesus—is: Do I have the right guidance just now? So therefore, when we think of Jesus now, that means, remotely, after two thousand years, we would call Jesus, in our terminology, an Iṣṭadev. Iṣṭa means personal, chosen. I choose Jesus as my aspect of God to whom I can connect. That is perfect. And it does not really matter which aspect of God you choose. That is Iṣṭa. It is your choice. You are chosen by God. But it matters very much that now you find a Gurudev who is able, in living form, just practically here, standing with two legs and telling you, “Do this or do not do this,” now, to bring this historical teaching of Jesus practically into form. And that is why we need not only the Iṣṭadev, but also the Gurudev. And that is why now this tradition has to be continued; the teaching has to be renewed again and again and again. All the holy scriptures which we have are okay. The Bible is okay; there is nothing wrong. But when we say, “Look, the Bible is good and the Quran is bad,” “The Quran is good, but the Granth Sahib from the Sikhs is wrong”—or whatever—when we make such differences, already something goes wrong. Not to fall into this trap, we need a living Guru. So that is the second point of the teaching: not only to connect to an Iṣṭadev, but to connect to a living Gurudev who can renew and restore the original teaching now in the concrete situation. Therefore, God incarnates again and again. Often, one first takes the role of a disciple in order, in the end, to continue the teaching of a certain tradition. That is what we call paramparā, the guru paramparā. So it is not only to connect to a guru in remote times, the Iṣṭadev, but we need from there a guru paramparā. For example, let us take the example of Islam. In Islam, you have the Sufis. They are very keen to prove that their guru paramparā goes back to Muḥammad. Take the Buddhists. You open any good Buddhist book, and you will always find a description: this is my Guru, and this was his Guru, this was his Guru, his Guru. So the guru paramparā, which continues his teaching, brings it to life again and again and again in different times and in different situations—that is important. I am so happy that in Swāmījī we have a master who is able, actually, to renew this teaching. It does not matter now from which source—even it can be from Jesus, even it can be from Buddha—because in essence, it is all one. But the living Guru is what we really need. So, who feels that Jesus is the dearest in my heart? Wonderful. Who feels that Rāma is the dearest of the heart, or Muḥammad, or whatever? Wonderful. Nothing wrong with that. But the second step is important: to have a living Guru who can renew this teaching, put it into practice here and now in this situation, and give me the living guidance just now. In this way, Jesus can be an Iṣṭadev, but Jesus cannot be directly our Gurudev because he is not physically here. So whoever chose Jesus as their Iṣṭadeva should also think, “I actually need someone who can guide me now on this path which I have chosen.” I need a living Gurudev. That is what I find important. Thank you. Maybe you would like to sing a bit. Sītā.