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Gurur Brahmā, Gurur Viṣṇu, Gurur Devo Maheśvara, Gurur Sākṣāt Parabrahma, Tasmai Śrī Guruve Namaḥ. Dhyāna Mūlaṁ Guru Mūrti, Pūjā Mūlaṁ Guru Pādaṁ, Mantra Mūlaṁ Guru Vākyaṁ, Mokṣa Mūlaṁ Gurur Kṛpā. Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Dīpa, Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī. Devādidev Deveśvar Mahādev Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān kī blessings to all dear ones, the bhaktas of Gurudev, and spiritual seekers here with me in this beautiful retreat seminar. Somewhere in the holidays, wonderful ideas they have. Especially our Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand World Peace Council and Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand International Yoga and Daily Life Foundation, Vienna. The Vienna Bhaktas have organized beautiful open-door activities, offering free classes as a demonstration and as a practice to experience. This tradition, which the Vienna Ashram began, has been adopted by all yoga and their life centers around the world, and people do appreciate that. In this way, it is better to introduce us, and we should know about it. Know what is yoga and in life, and how it is practiced. Thank you, our dear Vienna bhaktas. Bhaktas in London, they also have the same model, and Washington, too, of course. Australians are doing it every day. Well, all dear ones, in the new year, new classes. Many people begin with spiritual motivation, expectation, and a desire to practice and realize something. People who come to yoga must not come only for physical exercises. For physical fitness, you can go swimming, hiking, or somewhere. People who don’t have any idea what yoga is, but they torture the body with stretching and postures only. Holy souls, divine souls, lucky ones, fortunate ones who had their best karma from past life, they turn towards yoga. Many people say they are disappointed because what they read in the śāstras, in the books, was not there. Every teacher plays like a guru, so we don’t know what is a guru. Difficult. Gurus are rare. There are many kangaroos, but few gurus. A guru is a Brahmaniṣṭha, Śrotriya. Brahmaniṣṭa means one who has realized Brahman. Śrotriya who can give that knowledge, inspirations to the aspirants, and guide them on that way. Of course, if one jumps out of the boat, it’s not the mistake of the captain, but the mistake of the person who goes the wrong way. While sitting in the boat, your vṛttis are somewhere; you jump out—nice of you, because the sharks are waiting for breakfast. Which kind of sharks? Asuras. Āsurīśaktis. Therefore, Guru Nānak Sāhib said, this is written in the holy book called Guru Granth Sāhib. Also, Guru Nānak said about Guru Grantha, meaning any book which is written by a Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya Satguru, that is not a book. Guru Nanak said that it is not a book. If you take it as a book, you don’t understand. It is said, "Guru Grantha Ko Janiye." Grantha means that book. Granta means what was collected. Granta means artha, a spiritual wisdom, richness, like you saw yesterday in the video, but it is a spiritual wealth, the best wealth, neither kingdom nor money, but that ātmā jñāna. When you get that, everything is senseless. Amrit Vela, Amrit Vela means Brahmamūrta, Vākyas of the Satguru Brahmamūrta, if you can hear the sound, the voice, the darśana, that opens your Granthi. To open that, still, there is an immense amount of impurities, tons of them, layers upon layers. Like a seed would like to sprout, but above it is a rock. How to remove that rock? That is a sādhanā, abhyāsa, abhyāsa. Guru Granth Ko Janiye, therefore Guru Nānak Sāhib said, understand, take it, believe, Guru Granth Ko Janiye. Guru Granth Ko Janiye Pragyat Gura Ki De. It is the embodiment of Gurudev. It is not a book, it is Guru Nānak himself. He said, "Your Guru’s book is not a book, you are Gurudev himself." Jis Ke Hirde Saach Hai. In those hearts, there is pure love, the truth. They will realize they are Gurudev in that. They will see the darśan, the book. Each word that Gurudev wrote was dictated from his holy mouth. Such knowledge, such vidyā is given by those spiritual masters. Their satsaṅg, their exercises are real yoga. Because yoga means union, the union of jīvātmā to paramātmā. Drop water again falls in the ocean, becomes one. That’s called the eternal union with Brahman, and Yoga means meeting together. Yoga unites, Vyoga divides. So when a vyoga takes place, you are alone and divided. You feel lonely without any happiness, nothing. And inside, in your Anāhat Cakra side, burning the waves of sadness, waves of greed, waves of desire, anger, etc., etc. You are lost, but when you come to the Brahmajñāna, when you come to the Yoga, that is the union of the Jīvātmā to the Ātmā, so Paramātmā is the Brahman, and that is the Yoga. In Western countries, yoga is totally, totally misunderstood. 50% or 98% of people misunderstand, and they don’t know what yoga is, and they don’t want to know what yoga is. They want to know only how to get money. That’s it. Commercially perfectly designed, beautiful postures, beautiful pictures, beautiful websites, beautiful advertisements. This is the best yoga, that is the best yoga, come and practice, but that is only the commercial thing. I am very happy that our Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, has taken in his hands the meaning of yoga to modify this world. The first step that was declared by the United Nations was the 25th of June as the Day of Yoga. Because many people who are against the Sanātana Dharma, Hindus, and India, they blame yoga as a work of Satan, the devil. What a stupid thinking one can have. Ask them, how did they come? How were they born? How did they live? Without yoga, you cannot live. Second, UNESCO has now declared that yoga is the heritage, a spiritual and ethical heritage of the ṛṣis of India. That is the way to protect it. Now will come the quality of the yoga. The best part of yoga is the satsaṅg. Satsaṅg is that which will give you the inspiration and teachings. That knowledge of the ātmā jñāna, and then to practice. Therefore, the new year began. There are many other yoga centers. It must not be the yoga and the life. But those yogīs and yoga centers, they are struggling. Trying their best to give them spirituality, to realize the yoga, I congratulate them and I welcome them. But I know how many are listening, but for them, the first place is their business, money. If you are a real yogī and a real teacher, don’t charge anything. That’s it. If you believe in God, you will get bread and butter every morning for your breakfast. That’s it. Who will say the whole system of the Western yogic organization will collapse? Money is Kali Yuga. In Kali Yuga, money is God. And that was Jesus saying, "Do not believe in the wrong God." Oh my disciples, follow me, I will bring you to God. Means the master said, Jesus said, "Only me, and after, nobody will be." He didn’t say. Jesus never died. He is living. As a master, Kṛṣṇa never died, Rāma didn’t die, Patañjali didn’t die, nobody died. They are living with us in other forms. Yesterday, our Vasudev came in a beautiful Hawaiian shirt, and today he came in a beautiful white shirt. So we will not acknowledge him as a Vāsudev; he is not that one. So if you acknowledge a person and see only through the color of the dress, you are mistaken, my dear. The dress doesn’t change you. So God is God, it doesn’t matter. You believe in Allah, you believe, you respect Mohammed, you respect Harama, Krishna, Dattātreya, Kapila Bhagavān, similarly like Jesus. That is a unity. Love and oneness will bring peace in the world. Otherwise, peace and peace. There is no peace. Gandhijī said, there is no way to peace. Peace is the way. So now many new practices will come, and I ask especially all the yoga teachers who are teaching: please help your students, clarify their thoughts, and inspire them toward spirituality. Of course, they should find their master wherever they like, whom they like. This is the specialty of the Sanātana Dharma. Sanātana Dharma never said, "Believe only in Kṛṣṇa." Then what about Rāma? The other, don’t say, "I believe only in Rāma." What about Hanumān? In Ātmā Dharma, realize everything as oneness. On the place of this part of the body, the ear, it is there. Can you believe? If God would have hung your one hand here, the whole body would be different, the limbs, but all belong to oneness. Our practice will be successful this whole year when you practice mantra. Many have mantras, many people in their yoga centers, in classes, they are selling the malās and even they don’t know how to use the malās. Malas are holy; this is your spiritual passport. This divine mala, this holy mala, this blessed mala, in 1966, in a month exactly like now, this month, my Gurujī and I were in South India, at the Śṛṅgeri Maṭh of Ādiguru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya. And Śaṅkarācārya Jī gave this mālā to Holy Gurujī, and Holy Gurujī gave me this mālā. So, how many years is it now with me? So, this mālā is with me. Don’t change your mala. If my mala is broken, okay, I throw it here. Can I have a new one, please, Gurudev? No. Then throw your body, die. Next life come, I give you the new mālā. One beat is missing, okay? Go and get it from the ashram, but this is your mālā. So first, tell the meaning of the mālā. Second, when you see the mālā, it reminds you of your spirituality, reminds you of your mantra, and reminds you of everything. When you touch your mala, you feel divine energy, which you, which you, or you—I am also you—through repetition, repeating the mantra and prayer, I have charged that divine energy. Holy Gurujī had many years, his mālā more than 65 years. I am writing in my story something about the night when I was sleeping alone on the floor in Gurujī’s room. Several times I saw when Gurujī had a shawl or a blanket over his body, I could see, like when the dawn is coming, light—the whole blanket was like a light. One day I was frightened. I thought, "Oh God, fire is there." And I said, "Gurujī, Gurujī," and Gurujī said, "What happened?" I said, "Fire." Where? It was nothing. And Rudrākṣa Mālā, the same quality, but sparkling in the night. Only a bhakta could see. That was the divine mālā. Do not let anybody touch your Mālā. Yes. Don’t take your Mālā and just put it there, not like this. Touch your forehead, because the kismat, the destiny of everyone, is written here. This is a book of your destiny. You know where? Here, compact. Kumbha Mahāprabhujī Karata, Mahāprabhujī Karata... Siddha Purījī, Siddha Purījī,... The Gokul is there, some Mathura. Why don’t you go to Kṛṣṇa, to your friend? He can give you something. We are very poor and have nothing. He said, "I don’t want to go to my friend and beg from him." If he will not give me anything, what will I say? She said, "Go." I am sure Kṛṣṇa will give you something. He said, okay. He walked from Mathura to Dvārikā. It is nearly 2,000 kilometers, nearly. His friend, Krishna’s friend, before going, his wife said, "You should bring him something." But he said, "What can we bring?" Sudhāma said to his wife, "What should we bring? We have nothing." She said, "I give you something. Give it to Kṛṣṇa as our gift." She took one handful of rice, tied it in a cloth, and said, "Please, please give this from me to Kṛṣṇa as a present." He took it. He didn’t want to take it, but who dared to say anything against his wife? If anyone said anything against his wife, you are in good trouble. So he took it and went. He came near the palace of Kṛṣṇa. He didn’t dare to go in. I am so poor, and Krishna is a king with a palace. Where is Kṛṣṇa and where is Sudāmā? How could I compare to enter in this door? There were guards. Sudhāma said to the guards, "Please tell Kṛṣṇa that Sudhāma came, not your friend." The guard went and told Krishna, "Sudhāma has come." He said, "What, my friend Sudhāma?" Krishna became so happy, even he forgot to take his shawl and cloth. Only with a lungi, he was running. Sudhama, Sudhama, that is called a friend. That’s called love. He hugged him. "Come, my dear." He took Sudhāma to his room where all the other bhaktas, the devotees, were sitting, and Kṛṣṇa ordered a bowl of water. Kṛṣṇa seated Sudhāma on a beautiful chair and was washing Sudhāma’s feet. Now you can believe, compare, the same thing they wrote in the Bible, that Jesus was washing the feet of the devotees, that was not this, that was Sudhāma and Kṛṣṇa, believe me? Well, while washing the feet, Krishna said to Sudhāma, "Merī bābī ne kyā bejā?" You don’t have this word we call, let’s say, sister-in-law. Your wife Sudhāmā, what did your wife send for me? Now Sudhāma is looking everywhere: palace, palace, gold, diamonds. How should I give him a handful of rice? What a humiliation if I give the Krishna. Krishna had this little rice, and he hid it in his armpit. He said nothing. She sent good wishes. He dried his feet, and Kṛṣṇa said he was tickling him. My friend, what is here? What is that? It’s a little ice. Why did you hide? It’s not a little ice. It is a belt of all three worlds. Opened, everything is a diamond. Diamonds. That is the love of Bhagavān and bhakta. Then Kṛṣṇa said, "Sudāmā, it should always be written here, Śubha Lakṣmī." There is a name called Subha Lakṣmī. But it is written wrong for you. No Lakṣmī. So I said, "Make a connection." Got the tilaka, you know, making tilaka with the ring finger and with the thumb. I will change, turn the Lakṣmī and Śubha in this direction. I will change your destiny and give the tilak. So blessing can change your destiny. That is written here. Blessing is given here, not here. Here, only you can give a master or parents. That is a big blessing. So Tilaka is to change the Bhagya in a good way. Fortunate are those who can have this Tilak. There are some people who do not want to have a tilaka. They immediately wash it. It means they wash it with their spiritual fortune. Understand, these are symbols that are taken from a certain reality. In the smallest of the smallest form, two days, Sudhama said, "Now I have to go." Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "Okay, my friend, it was nice, very nice." And Krishna gave him, in the same cloth, the barley, jowar, gerste—what they call it—in his towel, a small shawl like this. Give it to my bābī, my sister-in-law. Wish you a good journey, Sudhā Mām. Bye-bye. Those who have little energy have great anger. Thousands of kilometers. Stayed here, washing my feet and this. At home, I can do it. He went out of the palace. He looked to the palace, and then he opened this. And he said, "For the birds," and went. Empty, he comes home. He can’t find his house, the palace! Kṛṣṇa turned into the palace. He touches his... there was a dot where the grains were, hanging all the diamonds. Krishna said, "Sudama, still Lakshmi is not in the right place." But this is Lakṣmī, your wife. And since that time, the wife is known as Gṛha Lakṣmī. If you go to someone’s house in India and ask, "Is Graha Lakṣmī at home?" Automatically means his wife. The wife is Lakṣmī, but Lakṣmī likes purity. Lakṣmī likes honesty, purity, qualities, and spiritualities, not stupidities. There is a coming Lakṣmī. That Lakṣmī has a special sign on her footstool. When that young girl marries and comes home, Bhagya Badal Dati changes the destiny of the whole family. And if someone becomes a kalesha, who has the lines of destruction, they destroy whole families, all atmospheres, all harmony. Therefore, find the Lakṣmī, Bhagya Lakṣmī. So there are some names, we have here Bhagya Lakshmi, one girl, her name is Bhagya Lakshmi, who is working here. And there is one Divya Darśan also. So choose the girl who is Bhagya Lakshmi. When Bhagya Lakṣmī comes there, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu is there. Otherwise, donkey to donkey, how long will it be taking each other? Yes, Mr. Yes. Therefore, choose the new year, the best path, mantra. Mantra Mūlam Guruvākyam. The first mantra is: follow the advice and instructions of the Gurudev. Then, what mantra is given to you to practice, that is your sādhanā. Mantras are practiced in five levels. First, Likhit writing, Devanāgarī writing, Likhit. Akshar Brahma. Akshar Brahma. Akshar means that alphabet, or Akshar means everlasting. Brahma. Because Brahmā is the everlasting writing. Second, Vekrī means chanting. Nādarūpa Parabrahma. That nāda, the vibration, goes into the body. Upamśu, then your lips and tongue are moving, but sound doesn’t come. Mental, then Ajapa spontaneously will continue in your body, automatically. Twelve years faithfully, when you will practice this mālā every day, then you will achieve what you call Ajapa. Even if you do not practice, your mantra is going on in a better way; mantra is a protection. After that, Darśan, Akṣa Brahma, opens your vision. Then you understand, you listen to the sound, to what is talking. Then you feel the vibration, Upāṃśu. Then your mind dwells there; give all the information. Then it becomes a japa. All yogic sādhanās, mantra, the practicing of the mantra. Mahalā is holding on these two fingers. The ring finger, middle finger, and small finger. Hold with the middle finger and thumb. With the middle finger, you pull the bead toward your inside, not out. When you do out, you are emptying everything from your luck. Jainit index finger, the ear becomes negative power. This, you are not seeing somebody like that. And it is reserved, case by case. But your hand is still pure. This is called the tamas guṇa, purified, and this finger means only Brahman. Eko brahmadityanasti, aham brahmāsmi, ātmā jīvātmā, is merged into one place. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, the guṇas, and the jīvātmā all come to become the one. If you put this in, you are again mixed in the same water. What you call, you go in a beautiful bathtub, washing yourself half an hour in your own dirt, practicing this mālā every day. Rest, my dear. Tomorrow, about practicing, what? How to succeed in the yoga? Eat, sleep, and work is not only the aim of the human life. Eat for living, work for service, and practice for liberation. Om Śānti Śānti... Respect your Mālā, Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānakī, Deveśvara Mahādevakī, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavānakī, Sanātandharmakī. And whenever you meet your master, or on Guru Pūrṇimā, give it to him to bless it. Practicing for a whole year, and only one touch of the master is more than practicing for a whole year. It is accepted, it is evidence, it is given a step. Okay, continue again next chapter. Same time and same space tomorrow.