TV Channel

Om sukhadam kevalam jñānam anantam ānandam advayam gaganasadṛśam tasmād eṣa ādi-lakṣaṇam ekam nityam vimalam acalam sarvadhi sākṣibhūtam bhavātītam triguṇarahitam sat gurutvaṁ namāmi yam gurur brahma gurur viṣṇu gurur devo maheśvara gurur sākṣāt parabrahma tasmai śrī guruve namaḥ. Dhyānamūlam gurormūrtiḥ pūjāmūlam guroḥ padam mantramūlam gurorvākyaṁ mokṣamūlam gurokṛpā. Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ... Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī, Devādidev Deveśvar Mahādev kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhvānandjī Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī Jai. Good evening, all dear sisters and brothers here in this hall, and all dear devotees around the world who are with us through our webcast. Welcome. It’s a beautiful day. We have just had the Mahāśivarātri ceremonies and pūjās, and we have established here a beautiful new Śiva temple. There was Amāvasyā. Amāvasyā means the dark night, the dark moon. It is opposite to the full moon. The Moon is very powerful. The Moon is a balancing principle for the Earth. It is like an antenna. So the moon is growing and decreasing, increasing from the full moon to the dark moon to the full moon. Only on one night the moonlight is not direct, because at that time the rising sun and moon are aligned, so we cannot see the moon. But the next day, the moon shows its strength. You will see that every time when the dark moon is on that day or after one or two days, there is immense movement in the ocean. What we experienced today—the kind of cyclone or hurricane, whatever you call it—people were very worried about. It was very strong. Since the day before yesterday, they were talking about this. This morning, I got telephone calls from many people. They said, "Swamijī, take care, because Brisbane will also be influenced. Go perhaps to some good hotel." I said, "Don’t worry. Whatever happens will happen, even if you go to the hotel or under the rocks." But I said, "I will pray to our spiritual lineage, to Devpurījī." And he will definitely be very gentle, very kind, so it will become smooth. It will come, but not so destructive. And I think it happened so. Also, the full moon brings changes in the weather. The new moon brings changes in the weather. The Moon is the principle of our mind; we call it Mānas Devatā Candra, the deity of the mind or the principle of the mind. The Moon is governing the mind. As the Moon is changing, similarly our thoughts, our feelings, our opinions are changing. Because the dharma, the nature of the mind, is saṅkalpa-vikalpa. Saṅkalpa means to make a decision or a vow. Vikalpa means to dissolve the decision or give it up. So saṅkalpa-vikalpa—this is the mind. Sometimes it is good, but mostly this saṅkalpa-vikalpa, deciding and again breaking, gives immense pressure on our body, on our mind, on our consciousness, on our intellect, and on our family life. Secondly, this saṅkalpa-vikalpa which we have inside can also influence our normal life, business life, and many things. So the moon is mighty, and the moon is the principle of Śiva. Always, Śiva has the moon, the half moon, the crescent moon. We worship it. When you see the new moon for the first time in the daytime, you shall look at the moon, wish something good, and then look in your palms. There should be some silver in your ring or a silver coin. Silver is the principle of the moon, and the principle of the mind is the moon. The moon represents silver, and it brings luck. Similarly, in Islam also, they first look for the moon and then they break their fasting, roja, for one month. So today was the new moon. It will bring rain always on different parts of the world, depending on the position of the moon. Now, the question is this: we were talking about the modern world, the modern way of living, and families and spirituality. Well, first of all, I would like to say, when you look at the Hindu religion, Sanātana Dharma, the Hindu religion is the mother or father of many other religions. Buddhism is a Hinduism. Thus, they gave the name Buddha. Buddha was not a name; he was Siddhārtha. Buddha. Bodha means knowledge or intellect. So, when your intellect, your consciousness is illuminated, then it is called enlightened. The enlightened intellect orders all. We are all lighted from this light, and we hope one day we will also be enlightened. So the buddhi, when buddhi gains this knowledge—knowledge is a light. When we close our eyes and we do not see the light, do not worry, because you cannot see the light; your eyes are closed. The light of wisdom, the light of love, the light of truth, the light of happiness, the life of joy, the life of kindness, the light of harmony is not compared with this physical light. This is physical light, and the other one is the eternal light. So the eternal light, which we cannot see and we cannot touch, we feel, and we are in that. That is why they call it Buddhist, Bodha. So Buddha, otherwise known as Siddhārtha. In the mythology from these ancient cultures, they worshipped all five elements from nature. Let us say, for example, we do not know God. And when God will come, we do not know if we can trust Him or not. Is He really God or not? But we know one thing: that our body has a fire element, and if our temperature goes down, there is an alarm in the body, or if our temperature goes high to 40 or 41, there is an alarm. So this fire element in our bodies, for us, is life, is God. If there is no water, we are thirsty, we die. A thirsty person knows what water is. Similarly, our muscles, our bones, etc. If the muscles are disappearing slowly from certain diseases, then it is an alarm, my God. We are only worried about this: how to get healthy. And these muscles and bones, this is the earth element. The space, the spaces in our lungs, in our intestines, in our bones, in our nerves, in our respiratory system—everywhere is space. Can you imagine that you cannot breathe? If all is blocked, the absence of space is death. So in ancient times, humans were worshipping these elements, called bhūtas, to keep purity, because if these elements—water, earth, air, space—are pure and clean, then our life will be healthy and long. If we pollute our field, we pollute our life. Similarly, the sun. When we say people are stupid for calling God the sun, can you imagine if the sun does not rise for two or three days, what will happen? So if God is there or not for us, it is that which supports our life and lets us grow and go. So in ancient times, in the ages—Satya Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Kali Yuga—and before, the cycle of the Yugas is always there. If you see all the Indian goddesses, they are all couples: husband and wife. Brahmā and Sarasvatī, Viṣṇu and Lakṣmī, Śiva and Śakti or Pārvatī and Devī—all. So both are known as gods. In spirituality, there is no duality of the genders and no duality of calling he or she. It is only one. Now, in this family life, why do they show all these ṛṣis—great hermits who were living in huts? They also had families. They were also married, and they gave education to the children on how to live in harmony with nature. If we cannot manage harmony with nature, we cannot manage family life in harmony. We cannot manage friendship with our colleagues if we are not in harmony with nature. So, Mahāprabhujī, our Grand Master said, "Do not go against nature, otherwise nature will take revenge." The consequences will be hard, and now we see the consequences of what is happening in the world. In the field, are we putting poison or nectar? Are we putting life or death in the field? So many pesticides, so many around the whole world. And often I think, what do our politicians want? Where do they want to lead this world? And we people are so afraid, or I do not know why. Everyone accepts this. If there is no consumer, then there are no manufacturers. Let us take, for example, the whole of Australia. Australian people are body-aware, health-aware. If they all will say, "Get up, and we do not want to buy any food which is not organic," for one day, two days, three days, finally they have to provide different things. Let the supermarkets have frozen food; we want to have organic because we do not want to take poison. It is poisoning—not just poisoning our body, but poisoning our feelings, our relations, our thoughts. So those ṛṣis, they were teaching their children love, respect, and to live in harmony with nature. Spirituality means, a spiritual path means, not that you renounce and go somewhere away. No. Spirituality means purity, crystal clear, transparent. Our thoughts and our feelings, positive. It is said when we think negative, we are darkening our inner space, poisoning our inner self. In psychology, they say negative thinking is poisoning oneself, and positive thinking is enlightening oneself. It does not matter what happened; do not harm yourself, do not let yourself suffer. Okay? You do not like it, or it is against your principle, okay. But it means that you do not kill yourself. We kill with our sadness, this and that. That is not the life which God has given to us. Practice yoga. Those who went to the Himālaya, or somewhere else, meditating and living alone—okay, it is their choice. But actually, yoga and its divine principles are designed for the family holders who are leading a family life, so that they can give this wisdom to the generation, to the generation, to the generation. So there is no need to renounce and run away, no need to act like you are divine and they are not divine. Nowadays, there is tension in the families. When you begin to be spiritual, then you are afraid that my family will not accept, and the family is afraid, "We do not know what my child is doing, or my husband is doing, or my wife is doing." That should be clearly spoken. What is it that your husband will definitely not accept? If he has a beautiful cat and he loves his cat, he will not accept in any case that you kill and cook that cat. If your wife has a beautiful hot dog and loves the dog very much, and when the dog is ill, you come from your work, take one day’s holiday, and take the dog to the doctor for medicine and this and that, you are very tired. Early morning, you get up and walk with your dog. And if your husband said, "Let us have today dinner from the dog," will you accept? No way. You will tell your husband, "You go out and sleep in the garden." Because that is the love you have, a relation to your house pet. But we are in this world, and we should have a relation to all creatures like this. So nourishment is a part of our life, a major part of our life. So what we eat and drink influences our feelings, our thoughts, and our bodies. We see that in the last century, or from the time of the First World War, people began to eat more and more meat. Previously, it was not that much. And it is said that it awoke in the human mind that those particular soldiers—maybe the American soldiers or Russian soldiers or other soldiers—they were eating, getting a kind of restaurant food and eating meat. And it is said when they went away, the people were hungry. Many ran into the restaurant and took whatever remained. They took, and from that place, at that situation, at that time, for one kilo of potatoes, you had to work a whole day in the field. God should not show us such days, what our ancestors or our parents experienced. So, at that time, they were looking, oh... They drink alcohol, they eat meat. They said, "Of course, they have money. They are rich people." So now, this word "rich" enters our subconscious, that we would like to be rich. And now, what we call the new rich: the people are decorating their houses very much, but is it not without any taste? But to show that I have a big sofa, I have this furniture, I have this kind of light, this kind of car. This is called a new rich. New rich means in their blood, it is still hunger—hunger for wealth. And those who were wealthy for ages and generations, they do not act like that. They are just happy with old things, and so on. You have very nice old furniture and some pictures and this. And now your son married another girl, and she is coming from a completely modern culture. And she comes, and when the parent is dead, she said, "Oh, these are old, we do not need. This is a very old one. Throw it, burn it, let it go, and put some new, other pictures." So this is how insight is, with no feeling of renunciation. It is take, take, take... hungry, hungry, not giving. So that is why family life is suffering. So, to become spiritual, to become a yogī, practicing yoga or any other spiritual path, you do not need to renounce or go away from your parents. Do not change your relation, and do not change your behavior with your colleagues also. So we say in India, "Mukhme Rām, Hāthme Kām." You have work in your hands, and in your mouth you have the name of God. How perfectly both are balanced. You are typing everything, but inside you have the name of God. You are working different things; you are driving a taxi, a bus, or anything, but you have inside the name of God. So it means that our mouth is the door and our lips are the frame of the door. And when we put on the door a lamp, a light, then outside is light and inside is light. So, the great saint Tulsidās wrote in the holy book Rāmāyaṇa that when you have the name of God in your mouth, you have light inside and light outside in this world also. There is no anger, there is no jealousy, there is no hate. Everything is changing in the world. If you run behind the change, then you will be suffering. So, spiritual life to maintain is very easy. And I have many, many disciples, thousands of disciples; their whole family, they are so happy. I am coming once a year, going to New Zealand, and there in Auckland, mostly because they are decades my disciples, and they are like my family, and they are so happy. They have children, and they are also so happy. But husband and wife, they are so balanced, and this is the beauty of spirituality. Birds have two wings and one body. A husband and wife are like the two wings of the bird, and their soul is like the one body. Just now, before I came here, I had a Skype call from Europe. A beautiful city. And they are my disciples, very nice, Lurgan and Bansi. And they called me and they said, "Oh, happy!" It is a happy couple, so happy. And I think they had already their golden wedding jubilee already, diamond, the golden, all this. So they say, "Thank you, Swamijī, that you brought us into such a beautiful, harmonious life." So, here is distraction, and here is also constriction. So, we should not behave or act in public or in the family as if we are now spiritual and we want to do this, and you are not doing it, and you are not like that. No, who are we to judge? As spiritual you are, that humble you are, to understand your family members, your colleagues, your friends, and nature. So nothing has to change. Only change one thing: do not think negative. So when we turn to the positive, then you are spiritual. And as soon as you think negative, then it does not matter how many years you were meditating, all is zero. Everything is deleted with one negative thought. And when a negative thought comes, a negative word comes. And when the negative word comes, it is like an atom bomb, and that destroys everything. So, words control; put it on the tongue. That name of God is called light, the diamond, which is lighting outside and inside. So, it is a very, very easy life, a very happy life. And yoga without spirituality and without knowing the aim of life is just exercises. They are also good, very good. But think, for what are we born? And we are not born to be alone, single, and throw everybody away. No. You know how big a family I have? Around the whole world, thousands of devotees are my family. And I tell you, it is not easy. It is not easy to make her happy. She is angry. And now, to make her happy, she is jealous. And when to make her happy and not jealous, then he is angry. So it is like we used to say there is a scale for measuring something. This side is the kilos, and to measure how many kilos, the other side. So one day you got a duty to weigh, measure the weight of the frogs. So you brought many frogs and put them on that scale. On the other side, a kilo; before the needle shows exactly, two frogs jump out. Again, you put them in, three of them jump out. And so it is in a big family, always. But the scale must remain there. It does not matter if sometimes there are more kilos here or on the other side. The stick which is holding and balancing must be exact. So, big families—every country has different traditions, different cultures, different languages, different things. India is different. You are all Europeans, you have a different culture. You cannot merge or become harmonized with the Aboriginal culture. But you left from England some decades before, and now it changed a little bit, but still not. If you come to London, you fit completely, okay? Yeah, because still that is in your blood, is that language. Maybe the dialect is a little different. We call there, "Hold on, wait, please," for the telephone, and you said, "Hang on." So I said, "I am not going to hang on myself." So, but this is a sometimes changing dialect, but the culture is the same. It is very hard to unite, but where is the spirituality? Then, many, many people have nothing against it. So, yoga means union, uniting the family, harmonizing the family. Then, it is easier for us to walk on that path of spirituality or the truth. When there are disharmonies, like frogs, then it is always one jumps out here and one jumps out there. Then we cannot put them in a plastic bag and close it, and then put it in; half will die. We cannot do this. So practice wherever you like, how you like, and remember: for what did God give us life? What will be after, and where will we go? We all are one family of one God. So yoga is very nice for the body, for the mind, for our consciousness and our soul. With this wish, I wish you all the best, and God bless you. Live a harmonious life with your friends, colleagues, and your family and your country, and try to work and tell everybody we should work for organic food. It is an alarm in the whole world. It is an alarm. It is an alarm. Cancer, cancer, and many other diseases. If one apple has a little bit bitten by some worm or some bird, why not? That part you cut off, that is all. But not that apple which is completely poisoned. How many times has it been sprayed? So, two kinds of death. One death is we die suddenly. Second death is torturing lifelong, slowly, slowly, slowly. Such a way of food is torturing and killing us slowly, slowly, slowly. All the best, and I wish you a very good evening. And for Europeans, I wish you a very good day. Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Jai means glory. Jai means victory. And Jai means long life. So we always say the glory, victory of Gurudev, victory of the right cause, the Dharma, Sanātana Dharma.