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Brahmanandam parama sukhadam kevalam jñānamūrtim gandhatītam gyānāśādṛśam tasmāsyādi lakṣyam ekam nityam vimalācalam sarvādhiṣākṣibhūtam. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ,... Deviśvara Mahādeva kī. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān, Satya Sanātana Dharma. First, our humble adoration to our Siddha-Pītā, the Ālakpurījī Siddha-Pītā Paramparā. Many of you know, and many do not know, about Ālakpurījī. In recent years, our dear Dr. Śānti, Sadhvī Śānti from Vienna, has been traveling and researching the holy place where Ālakpurījī resides. In the Mahāśivapurāṇa, you will find some glimpses of Ālakpurījī. He still lives in the Kāraṇa Śarīra, the astral body. This summer she was there again and took a beautiful picture of the cave of Ālakpurījī and Devpurījī. She showed me the photos the day before yesterday. Some of the pictures she took were from when she slept in front of Ālakpurījī’s cave. This is Dr. Śānti saying this, not me. She heard footsteps walking, and in the morning when the light was good, she took a picture. For her, it was some form of a human, but I have not yet identified it. I told Śānti, and she is going to write about that path from below up to Ālakpurījī’s place. That valley in the Himalayas is called Alakāpurī. One side is called Svargārohiṇī. It is believed that there are the stairs to heaven, and there is the Nīlakaṇṭha mountain peak, Nārāyaṇa mountain, the hills, Śāstradhārā—a thousand waterfalls—and Satopaṭa Lake, where Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva bathe on that particular day, the 11th moon night. It is high altitude. The sea level is high, so we need good conditions to walk there. You will come to know more about it when you read and see the pictures. Our spiritual path began from that Satyuga time with Ālakpurījī, because Devpurījī brought the message of Ālakpurījī. Devpurījī was a disciple of Ālakpurījī. Ālakpurījī came in that sūkṣma śarīra, the kāraṇa śarīra, to Devpurījī and blessed him. This is Ālakpurījī’s blessing, that immediately Devpurījī attained divine consciousness and super power. Super power means those siddhis, those perfections. He could walk on water, walk in space, manifest, appear and disappear. And the Siddhi we spoke of this morning: that his words would always be the truth and would be realized. Whatever he said would happen. That river is named the Alakanandā River. The Alakanandā River is named after Alakāpurī. Many of you are still asking, "Why suddenly has Swāmījī brought this message: Oṁ Śrī Ālakpurījī Siddhapītā Paramparā Siddha?" Siddha means the perfect and miraculous. Siddha means realization. In Maharashtra, India, near Mumbai—this is only in Maharashtra—there have been many, many great saints. You know, one of the best translations of the Bhagavad Gītā, which you can read, is called the Jñāneśvarī Gītā. Saint Jñāneśvara translated it. It is a long story, a beautiful story, and also a little bit of a sad story, because no saint had an easy life. There is a little video on YouTube someone told me about, on the life of Saint Jñāneśvara. I will not tell the whole story, but once, at the same time, there was another sādhu, another saint, and he heard about Jñāneśvara. Jñāneśvara was about a 15-year-old boy, 15 or 16. He had one sister and one brother. The other sādhu, a siddha, heard about Jñāneśvara. He thought, "I will go and see. How can people say that he is a great siddha? I will test him. I will show him what a Siddha is." This is one of the most dangerous states of being for a spiritual person, a yogī, or a Siddha. When a little perfection comes, then you want to show your power: "I can do this, I can do that." For worldly people, māyā is different. Man is māyā for woman, and woman is māyā for man. Money is māyā. Wealth is māyā, a high position is māyā. They have a kind of intoxication. Once you come to politics, then you cannot give it up. Even if you have to sell all your properties, in the next election you would like to fight the election to become the mayor of the village, then head of the district, and then come to parliament, growing and growing. This is a māyā. Then for the spiritual person, who is above this prapañca of the material world, come perfections. He says, "Oh, I have siddhi. I will show that I am a great master," and uses some siddhi. If you use your siddhi, you use it and you will lose your power. So a great, wise person does not use or demonstrate siddhi. Our beloved Gurujī, Holy Gurujī, was visiting for the first time in Europe in 1975. Someone in Austria asked Gurujī, "Gurujī, how many siddhis do you have?" Gurujī said, "Well, you know, multi-billionaires do not count every evening how many coins they have in their pocket." "But which is your best siddhi?" Holy Gurujī said, "Good eating and good sleeping." So Gurujī said to me, "Mahesh, do not open your siddhis. On the day you demonstrate them, your life will become restless. I give them to you," Gurujī said, "but do not use them. They will be useful for you afterwards." So māyā works in a different way. That saint, that sādhu who had some siddhis too, was very—in Europe or in other English we would say—arrogant. Wherever he used to go, he was riding on a tiger. When he reached his destination, he said to the tiger, "Now go back. You are free. But send me another tiger. In five hours, I have to go. The tiger has to be here, the next one. And if a tiger comes to me without invitation, I do not want it." When he was sitting on the tiger, he had a big cobra in his hand to beat the tiger. His ego was very big, so he went to see Saint Jñāneśvara. "I will see that boy." Jñāneśvara was a young boy playing like a little child. He and his brother were sitting on the boundary wall of his house. Half the boundary was destroyed; only some piece of wall was there, and he was playing, like riding a horse, sitting on the boundary. The sādhu was asking, "Where is Jñāneśvara?" There was someone outside the house, and the boy playing there. That sādhu was preparing nicely. He said to the tiger, "Bark good, cobra." In one hand, a cobra; in one hand, a snake. And he was going towards him. Is it true? I am not making a joke. You can read this. So, my dear, jealousy is another siddhi. And jealousy—this siddhi does not need a lot of practice. And if you use this siddhi jealously, you are destroyed. So always say, "Mahāprabhujī, please do not give me the siddhi of jealousy." Arrogant, angry, simple. I even knew the name of that saint, but today I have forgotten. He was coming with the tiger, a big tiger. Jñāneśvara saw a sādhu coming, so he told his brother, "Let's go and welcome him." His brother said, "He is coming on a tiger." Jñāneśvara said, "That is not special. He is riding a living being. The tiger is alive. We ride a wall, not a living being." And he said to the wall, "Let's go to welcome Swāmījī." And the wall moved. It is true. It is not a joke. That saint lost all his pride. He did not dare to ask Jñāneśvara, "What siddhi do you have?" He went to greet him as a small child. So siddhi, perfection, goes to those saints. That siddhi is the ornament of the saints. These ornaments are not to show and sell. There is a beauty within, not outside. There are many, many stories. In old India, hardly will you find any village where there is not some sādhu, some saint. That is why India is a dharmabhūmi, the holy, holy land. And in that dust there is something, as many as all twenty-four incarnations. Again, there in Czechoslovakia—at that time it was Czechoslovakia—there is a place called Ostrava. One man asked Gurujī, "Why, Gurujī, are all incarnations incarnating in India? Does India give some commission?" Gurujī said, "No, no, no. But you know, in white marble mines, only white marble comes out. And in coal mines, coal is coming." He said, "In Ostrava we have many coal mines." Gurujī said, "I know that. But you know, the marble mines of India—even in Rajasthan, it is in Rajasthan mostly—so even the stone of Rajasthan is worshipped around the world. When you make a beautiful statue out of marble, you put it on the altar." Similarly, this divine science is there. But in this Kali Yuga, the material temptation is too big, too strong. There are nowadays more things to destroy or spoil us, and fewer things are there which can make us perfect. It is very hard in this māyā temptation of the Kali Yuga to get vairāgya. And without vairāgya, you cannot become a saint. And even if you get vairāgya and take initiation, be careful. It can happen as a parīkṣā, as a test, that one day you will say, "I am sorry that I became a sannyāsī." This thought is lost; you lost it all. You know that God Rāma’s wife Sītā was kidnapped by the King of Laṅkā, Rāvaṇa. She spent the time only in the park; she did not go with him. Any story you know... Then there was a battlefield, and everything—I am not repeating. That is a nimitta avatāra. God Rāma is a nimitta avatāra. Narasiṁha avatāra is a nimitta avatāra. Varāha avatāra is a nimitta avatāra. It comes for one thing and then goes back. But the saint, the sādhu, the saint is nitya avatāra. They are avatāra for every day, not only for one work. If the sky were a big fire and so many pieces of fire coal were falling on the earth, then the entire world would burn. If the saint would not be here, the whole saṃsāra, the whole world, would burn. That fire of desires, anger, jealousy, greed, revenge—so many siddhis fighting in this space, because they are not visible in this world—they will destroy; it will burn everything. But Guru Vākya, the teaching, the words of the great saints, they calm the whole fire. So sādhanā in this Kali Yuga is very hard. There are a thousand ways to destruction, very clearly visible. But maybe only one way, and that is also not visible. So vairāgya, jñāna, bhakti, tyāga, dayā, and kṣamā. These are the ornaments of the saints. You live in your family, have children, everything, but you can be a saint too. Sītā had to go through the fire. Otherwise, Rāma would not accept her. If she spent time with Rāvaṇa, she would burn in the fire. And if not, she would come untouched by fire. And she walked through the fire. Not one millimeter of a fire spot was on her body. Now it is said Sītā went only once through the fire, but practitioners of yoga or sādhus, the saints, they have to walk throughout their whole life in the fire. Then your sādhanā can be peaceful, free, and an achievement. So the best sādhanā, the best practice, is devotion. Kali Yuga Kevala Nāma Ādhāra, Sumira Sumira Nara Hoi Bhava Pāra. In the Rāmāyaṇa, it is said, "Kali Yuga Kevala Nāma Ādhāra." There is only one hope in this Kali Yuga to cross the ocean of ignorance, and that is called the name of God. Repeat, repeat, repeat the name of God. Repeat, repeat, repeat. The name of God—these are the words of the great Tulsīdāsa in the Holy Rāmāyaṇa. Nowadays, it is very hard to find a spiritual leader. Many churches are empty. In Europe too, there are not so many priests who can come and make morning and evening pūjā. Now, some people from India and Sri Lanka are inspired and go to become priests, but it does not function. And the same thing in India: many, many temples and ashrams and caves are empty. No one is there. So it can happen. A time will come that you have to go to search for a sādhu or a priest, a good saint. That time will be like a bushfire, and there will be no shelter. So if you try, it is still not too late. So the easiest way... The end of this year, I am telling you. The rest I will tell you next year. First, come to one point. Think positive. It is not easy to think positive, and do not change your positive thoughts. When you fall in love with someone, you think all positive and beautiful. And after some time, you separate, and all negative thoughts which are suppressed come out, and you destroy them. So keep your thoughts positive. If you cannot think positive, at least do not think negative. It will reflect on you. And you know, the human stomach is very sensitive. We cannot digest. If someone tells you in confidence, "Please do not tell anybody," and you tell, after five days the whole village knows. And you ask, "My dear friend, I told you, 'Do not tell anybody.'" He said, "I swear by the name of God, I did not tell anybody, but I told everybody." That is it. We cannot digest. It is very difficult to trust anyone. Even you cannot trust your own body, your thoughts. Therefore, hold on to the positive. Turn negative into the positive. I always used to say, always be light in darkness. As long as you have a light in your hand, darkness cannot come near you. And that light is the light of positive thinking. If someone does not like me, why should I think negatively about others? Why should one love me? Why should they think of me positively? Why should they like me? If they do not like me, why should I think negatively? So you went back with your spiritual development. Holy Gurujī always used to say, "Be like a tree." When the tree gets blossoms, it gives smells, fragrance. And when the tree gets the mangoes, or the apples, or the pears, or the cherries, it is surrendering. Humbly, it stretches its hands down and says, "My children, take, take." Not that the branches go high up: "Do not come and take my fruits." So our fruits are our good qualities, and we should give them with all humbleness. There is a beautiful bhajan Gurujī used to sing. Oh, my brother saints, sādhus, water collects there where there is a deep place. Rain falls on the peak of the mountain, and very quickly the water, in a hurry, flows to there where the deep places are, so that everyone can drink. So pick up the ego. No wisdom remains there. So first is positive thinking. Then, dayā. Mercy. If you make a mistake and someone will shout at you, it will destroy you more. So Gandhījī said, "We hate the sin, not the sinner." And it is said, if you think you are perfect and better than others, then that one should throw the first stone who has no sin. I do not know how many of you are. Many will just drop the stone. So everyone’s hands have some kind of spots. Maybe they are not visible. So when you go to the hospital, then you have to take this, what you call, the disinfectant liquid to remove disturbed bacteria which are on our hands. So before going to the operation theater or in a hospital place, they are doing like this. When you come to satsaṅg, also do like this. Gurudev, my friend, Hari Om. All karmic bacteria go away. This hand is you, and this hand is me. We are one. Where? In the heart. Namaste. I surrender to you. I bow down to you. So if you want to give the Christmas present to yourself, the best present, make a saṅkalpa in front of this beautiful tree: "I will think positive." And if someone has negative thinking, I will help to make a correction and turn it to the positive. Dayā, mercy, compassion. Dayā dharmakā mūla hai. Only mercy can save the situation, and that is the dharma. Pāpa mūla bhīmaṁ, but the root of sins is pride. Therefore, in spirituality, in yoga, in wisdom and knowledge, there is no competition and no challenges. As wise you are, that humble you are. And as stupid as you are, you are walking like this. You lost all the leaves, free, and now a branch goes up. Even the birds do not dare to sit on it, only black crows. So, dayā, mercy. Love, deva bhakti. Vairāgya, stay above detachment. Jñāna, the knowledge. This will make us saints. That will make us yogīs. Then we will be worthy enough to call ourselves yogīs and yoga practitioners. So many of you are practicing, how many years with me? Decades. One day this morning, one man came to me, "Gurudev, my bones do not allow me anymore to practice. My muscles do not allow me to bend. What should I do?" Yes, I said, jñāna, bhakti, vairāgya, tyāga, and uparati. So, how long will you practice āsanas? Āsana is good; as long as it goes, it is good. But now you are upgraded. You got a higher position. If you cannot manage āsana and prāṇāyāma, then do yama and niyama. Dayā, karuṇā, bhakti, premā, jñāna, forgiveness, understanding. Very good. Try to make all mistakes corrected again. And immediately, when you morning dress, your jacket or your coat, and you put one button from down, higher, and you think you will do it after. You are in a hurry to go. But everyone is looking at your button; you put it in the wrong place. And to correct this one button, you have to open 15 buttons. So if you realized at the beginning, you could make a correction. So any misunderstanding, any problem, immediately, with positive thinking, clean it. But now there are people, we know, called troublemakers. There are event makers. Someone makes the events. Picnic makers, some are the troublemakers. They cannot talk positive. They will talk negatively and create troubles; then they can sleep. So one troublemaker did not find anyone or anything to make trouble. And making trouble for him is a nourishment. He cannot sleep. It was 2:30 in the night. Still, he cannot sleep. He is thinking about all company directors, employees, and neighbors. He made trouble with all. He could not find anyone. So he said, "How to create trouble again?" He took the telephone and just dialed a number. He was phoning. One man was sleeping. "Hello." And he said, "Be careful. Now there will be an attack in your house. You made a big mistake today. Sorry to tell you, my friend. Run away. It is a secret call." Finished. Now, that man said, "Who was it?" At that time, there was no number coming. Now, number coming—it is a problem. And he is packing things and running out of the house, sitting under the tree and waiting. And that man was sleeping deeply. This is called, "They cannot digest." They are troublemakers. But, like you, there are many saints, positive people. And if you made a mistake and talked negatively or created troubles, then I have one story, a real one. The story comes from a city called Maribor, on the border of Austria and Slovenia. A farmer’s family was living there, and they had one son who was about seven or eight years old. He went to some neighbor’s garden. They had corn there, maize, and he broke off about 15 and slowly ran away and came home and said, "Grandmother, grandmother, look what I brought." She said, "Good, my child, good. Who gave it to you?" "Grandmother, I stole it." "From where did you steal?" "From their house garden." She said, "Good, proud my child. But go back to their house and give them all, and say, 'Sorry, I was stealing.' Go, give back." "They will beat me." "Say, anyhow, they will beat you, and I will beat you. So go and give back; nobody will beat you." He went and he said, "I am sorry. I was stealing this maize from your garden, but I do not want it; I want to give it back." There was another grandmother from that house. She said, "No problem, my child, no problem. Why did you make the trouble to jump over the fence? Sit down." And she gave him something to eat. And she gave him three or four more corn to the boy in a nice basket. At that time, there were no plastic bags. And she said, "My child, whenever you want to eat these things, come to me and tell me, 'I would like to give this to my grandmother.' I will give it to you. Go home, take it, bring it home." And he came and he said to his grandmother, "Grandmother, grandmother, I am so happy. She gave me one cake to eat, and she gave me two, three maize more, and she gave me some good cheese. She was so nice, and she told me, 'Whenever you want to have this, come to me.'" Grandmother said, "You see, do not steal. You need, you go, you ask. If they have, they will give you." So the wise one can forgive; the weak one cannot. The wise one can make light and harmony, but the stupid ones make darkness and distractions. So they are lost, and they pull you also into the darkness. So let us develop in our sādhanā, at the end of this year, and friend of the Christmas tree, saṅkalpa: positive thinking, devotion, be kind to others, stay above these material temptations—tyāga. Learn dhyāna, knowledge anywhere. You will see, by next Christmas time you will be completely different. So we have to purify ourselves. That is yoga. Otherwise, it is okay; postures are good for health for a while, but after that, they will not be good. That is why yogīs do not advise sports. They say sport is a torturing of the body. And almost all sport champions, in old age, have such body aching and so many joint problems. That is why yoga has no competition and no challenge. Yoga is when you walk out of this door and someone also comes, you step back and say, "Sir, first yourself, you come. Yes, please, come first." Well, that man does not want to, but still will say, "Thank you." And when you go to the football championship between Slovenia and Croatia, would the Croatian tell the Slovenian, "First, you kick the ball in the door"? The Slovenian trainer would say, "This man became crazy. Take him out of the field." So this is a different... So let us turn our life into beautiful, positive. Sama, forgive this. Great ones can forgive, and small ones will make noise. But it does not mean that you will not practice āsanas and prāṇāyāma today. Tomorrow morning, I will ask who practices every day. Master’s lecture time is always different. So this is only one lesson, and I have a thick book. So many lessons are there, but all these lessons bring relation to God. So very happy to see you, and wish you all the best. If someone is—many came and are going home back—wish you a good journey. Drive carefully. And hope to see you before Christmas. We are next weekend in Strelke, but you must not come because you have already come. So, I wish you a happy, merry Christmas. Healthy, happy, prosperous New Year. Mahāprabhujī bless you. So, thank you. Hari Om.