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The Essence of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad and the Joy of Sādhanā

The essence of spiritual life is found in non-possessiveness and joyful effort. A central teaching declares that everything is pervaded by the Divine; therefore, one should enjoy through renunciation and covet nothing. This understanding dissolves jealousy, for another's happiness is your own. Spiritual progress involves embracing all circumstances with a positive perspective. See challenges as opportunities and purification. If established in this knowledge is difficult, then live righteously through selfless action. The attitude transforms work into worship. Whether in formal practice or daily duty, engage wholeheartedly. A disciplined approach is valuable, yet flexibility is key; create a daily intention for practice. The morning's personal effort is the foundation; all that follows is grace. Any action performed with complete dedication becomes a profound service.

"Enjoy renouncing."

"Try and do it as best we can all the time."

Filming location: Jadan, Rajasthan, India

I do not know many ślokas, but about those I do, I can try to speak, and with His blessing, something will come out. There is one śloka that Mahātmā Gandhījī wrote was his favorite of all the Upaniṣads. He said that if he had one śloka that he thought was the essence of all the teachings of all the Upaniṣads, it would be that one. It goes: "Iśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam." Do not be jealous of anything, because it is all yours, for we are all one. Gandhījī commented that this is truly the essence of universal brotherhood, of world peace, of living together, and of the concept in Hinduism of Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam. Because if everybody is you, and everyone is part of that one God, then you have nothing to be jealous of if they are feeling happy. You are happy for them and happy with them, because it is part of you. You have nothing to be jealous of or to wish for if someone else has more than you—more money, a better position, a different job, or whatever. It is your job; you are also doing it with them because we are all one. It is such a beautiful concept, and if you can understand it, it just makes things so easy. The other part of the śloka which is so beautiful for me is where it says, "Enjoy renouncing." We are all here to progress spiritually. We are here with Swāmījī, and we pray to him that he will give us guidance and a blessing so we may progress on our spiritual path. And then when he actually gives us something, we say, "Oh, I’m suffering." But we can enjoy that. It is a matter of perspective. Of course, it is not always easy; it depends on the level of suffering or what you are going through. But try to appreciate it. If you have really got too much work to do, just appreciate that is how it is. Just go for it, try and do it, enjoy. Enjoy watching other people having an easy time. Enjoy watching other people enjoying good food, even if you may not be having it or you may be hungry, because ultimately it comes back to you. It is all one, and it is all from the one God. In the second śloka of that Upaniṣad, it says—I think that one is for us—that if you cannot manage the first one, then pray that you will live for a hundred years and that you will do lots of good karma that will not stick to you in the next life, and help other people, and help to purify yourself. I guess that is the essence of being with Swāmījī and trying to do his sevā: trying to do as much as you can, as positively as you can, so that at least we will not do anything wrong. We minimize those mistakes which we are bound to make, and hopefully, by listening to that second śloka, we can attain the first one. The rest of the Upaniṣad I used to know, but I have forgotten. It was something I had the pleasure to learn when I was with Gurujī in his sevā, and Swāmījī said I should learn it. It is very, very beautiful. But why should we not enjoy being here? Often, we get stuck in a cycle, I think, when we are doing karma yoga and doing sevā, thinking this is really, really hard, it is really tough, and you cannot stand it anymore. But how much of that is actually a reality, and how much of it is just our perception and somehow our own feeling that we deserve to suffer? We are here in a great place, we are blessed, we are with Swāmījī, we are at his feet. Somehow we managed to be here in Jadān. Why not enjoy whatever is happening, whatever we have to do? It makes it so much easier, and I think it also makes our development so much easier. Of course, it is not always happening. But the more you try and the more you think like that, the more it actually becomes a reality. I feel the more things come to you that are enjoyable, or that you find enjoyable, they just seem to come to you like a magnet. And you have more and more joy in doing that sevā and in being in the āśram. Summer is here in Jadān for those who are staying all year. Summer is tough, very, very hot, and for a very long time. But if you look at it from another perspective: in Europe you pay money to go in a sauna to purify yourself, to sweat a lot, to pass a lot of water through your body and get rid of those toxins. Here you get it for free, 24 hours a day. Really, it is a matter of perspective. So, I just think if people would think of that, they would enjoy being here. For those who are staying, I just want to say, enjoy it as much as you can. It is such a special time. Whether you are here for a short time or a long time, just take full advantage of it. As Gurujī always says in the bhajan, "Our time is passing, and what are we doing with it?" Wake up, as Gurujī says. Let us not waste a moment while we are here. If you are here for a short time, then try to spend as much time as you can doing something for your development. It is good to come and relax, but also try to do it with a positive note, rather than just hiding in the room. Karma Yoga is also relaxing; it really is. Depending on your mental state when you are doing it, if you allow yourself to enjoy it, then it gets much, much better. There is another thing I read a while back in one magazine, by one Yogācārya. She said that there is a problem with keeping discipline in yoga, with managing to always do your sādhanā every day. She commented that the actual essence of that problem is just that we have not consented ourselves to do yoga. We have not decided that we are the ones who are worthy to do it. We have not let go and thought, "Yes, I deserve every day to get up and do yoga." It is not a matter of it being hard to get up. It is completely logical to get up. It is completely logical to do sādhanā. It makes you feel better; it does not make you feel worse. But because of that, she was saying it again and again... I started to think she is saying it like a mantra. And if you think of it like that, it actually is. If people would come, then Gurujī seemed to be happy; he was having satsaṅg. And if they did not come, then it was time when he could do his mālā, and he was immediately doing sādhanā. So both were great. I had the feeling also with all the great saints, like Swāmījī and Gurujī, that financially, if money comes, then it is welcome; then they use it for something great. If it did not come, then they would be just as happy because they would not have to worry about it, and they could just do their sādhanā. The food—it is such a simple thing, and he was saying it again and again, but although the people were taking it in jest, it is actually very powerful. It is a very beautiful thought to think that whatever comes, in one way it is positive; it is good for you. You can use it in a way for your development. A few more things, seeing as I am not the perfect person to have here in front of the microphone, but just some thoughts which I have, I can share. One thing I learned while being here in Jadān was about having a program and the benefit of having a program, a morning ritual, of what you do, because on the days when it is hard, that program somehow pulls you through so that you will do the sādhanā and so on. It is so good to have a good program, to have something that you always do. But Swāmījī does not really allow it. And what I found over time here is, rather than developing a fixed program, it is better to develop a program of making programs. You look at tomorrow and you see what you have got served up to you, what your opportunities are in the day, and then you make a program according to that. But you will always make some program and fit in as much as you can. Let us say tomorrow morning we had to leave at 5 o’clock or 6 o’clock and go somewhere to Kartu or whatever. Can you fit half an hour in there? Make the program that you will get up at such a time and manage that half an hour. You cannot manage your normal program, which may be longer—two hours or three hours. But you can make a program, and that next morning will bring you forward. You will at least get something done, and you will have achieved your program. You will have achieved what you aim to do in the day. Basically, if you can manage in the morning to do your sādhanā, your program, then the day is already successful. For me, what goes on after that sādhanā in the morning, that is a prasād. That is what Gurujī gives us, whatever karma yoga we get, or whatever comes from outside. And if it happens that you get extra time during that day to do more sādhanā, then that is super prasād. But it may come, or it may not. The morning is done, and nobody can take it away afterward. It is there, it is yours, it is in your hands, in your pocket, somehow. Realistically, I think in all of everybody’s lives who are living overseas, probably it is somewhat easier to make a program here in an ashram than when you are living in a gṛhasthāśram, in a family life. But if you can be in the program of making some program, that is possible. It is always possible, and as much as you can do, we do. And nothing more can we ask. There are twenty-four hours in the day, and some of them we have to sleep, and hopefully some of them we can find time for sādhanā, and the rest is the sādhanā of karma yoga, or our work, or whatever. And depending on your attitude—when you are working in a market or somewhere outside—it is whether or not that is also a karma yoga. If your attitude is there of doing sevā, whatever may be the job, then it is a sevā, it is a karma yoga. I do not think that people here in India... My experience is here. So when people come from the towns and the villages here, and they say how great it is to do Sannyāsa in the sannyās āśram, but gṛhasthāśram is also great; family life is also great. When I see people with their children, and how much time they give, and how they are renouncing everything of theirs for their children, that is really, really beautiful and really special and a great sevā. I do not see so much difference between the sannyāsa of a sannyāsī and that. It depends on the purity of what you do it with. If your complete attitude is there, and your complete time is given to your children, what greater sannyāsa is there? If you give your whole life—when you go to work, if you give your whole time to that job and you really try and do it perfectly as best you can—that is also great sevā. Just as the bhajan goes, "Why waste the time at work?" The best is if we just do the best we can all the time. With the boys in the school, try and teach them. When they are doing sport or playing, that is not a waste of time. But it is a waste of time if they do not do it without heart. It is a waste of time if they are just there. Everything is a waste of time if we are not doing it with heart, without application inside. In satsaṅg, hopefully we are here inside, with our hearts and with our minds—as much as possible, of course. We can only do up to our capacity. But whether it be in satsaṅg, in work, in play, in everything—sleeping, whatever—try and do it as best as we can. And of course, we all come here on different levels, different stages in our path. Some are going through an easier stage, some are going through a harder stage. We finished. Do again the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya Mantra for Swāmījī, five times. I hope Avatārpuri will come and help. Sanskrit and Hindi terms include Hindu, Dharma, Samādhi, Paramahaṁsa, Svāmī Madhavānanda, Purījī, Mahārāj, Kī Jai, Viśvaguru, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Paramahaṁsa, Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, Purījī, Gurujī, Gurujī,... Kī Jai.

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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