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How to reach the aim of your life

Yoga is a balanced system for physical, mental, social, and spiritual health, accessible to all. Practice consistently to gain its benefits; if you do not use it, you will lose it. Have a clear, unwavering life aim and work toward it with inner willpower. Do not depend on people, but rely on the teachings and your spiritual tradition. Spiritual development is not quick; do not confuse yourself by constantly changing paths or reading endlessly without practice. Connect your core awareness and concentration to your spiritual practice. All genuine spiritual paths ultimately lead to the same truth, so do not divert others from their chosen path. Value satsang and leave something good for the world.

"Yoga in Daily Life Means Harmony of Body, Mind, and Soul."

"Surta bhajan mein jodo—connect your surta in bhajan, and bhajan means spirituality, your interest towards spirituality."

Filming location: Vép, Hungary

Friends, I welcome Swāmī Vivekpūrījī, the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvarjī, and also our Mahant Śrī Premānandjī. "Mehnat" means one who works very hard—mehnat karo, mehnat karo—hard work. This applies physically, mentally, spiritually, intellectually, socially, politically, and financially. I greet all our sādhvīs and swāmīs of the Śrī Alakpurījī Siddhāpīṭha Paramparā, all the dear organizers, and especially our dear Kṛṣṇānandjī. It is nice to see you. The good news is that yoga is finally acknowledged on the international stage, and we now celebrate the International Day of Yoga. I-D-Y. With this comes further happy news for all of you who have been practicing and learning Yoga in Daily Life for ten years or more; you will also receive some good news, so please wait for that. We saw this day last year in 2014, and now we see it again; it is a special day. Yoga in Daily Life is a very balanced system. In the declaration for the international recognition of yoga, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Modi, stated that yoga should be practiced in such a way that everyone can do it daily. He means Yoga in Daily Life. He has read the book and knows our work. His message was clear: yoga should not be practiced like some "Hollywood yoga." Every embassy received this letter. Yoga is for health: physical, mental, social, and spiritual health, which is our subtitle: "Yoga in Daily Life Means Harmony of Body, Mind, and Soul. Yoga in Daily Life for Good Health: Physical, Mental, Social, and Spiritual." Yoga is the harmony of body, soul, and consciousness in everyday life. It is a very scientific, simple, yet effective system involving āsanas, prāṇāyāmas, kriyās, meditations, mudrās, bandhas, etc. This benefits people who cannot, for example, stand on their shoulders, head, or hands. A globally known yoga teacher, Rāmdevjī, also speaks about simple postures and exercises that everyone can practice. He is currently in Australia, where 99% of his attendees are Indian. Some of our people went to greet Rāmdevjī with a flower mālā, and he spoke about everyone practicing yoga in their life. This is perfect. It does not matter if what he teaches or what Swami Maheshwaranand teaches is the same. We must give more people access to yoga to gain good health. We have yoga. If we do not practice, it is our own mistake. People like you, who stay in one place with the same daily rhythm, climate, and environment all year, can gain great benefit if you practice. If we do not practice, we do not gain. As someone said, "You have yoga. Use it or lose it." We should not lose it; we should use it. And not only for ourselves, but also give it to others. It is said that what you have, you should pass on. If you do not, you will lose it. This means the talent, knowledge, and techniques you possess should be shared. If you do not give when you die, it is lost. If you have a very clear life aim, you can achieve what you want. But constantly changing your aim will not help. Our life is getting shorter day by day. If you change your path and begin anew, be sure you will not achieve your aim because you will not have the time—life will be gone. Therefore, do not change. Certainly, physical postures or training alone will not give us self-realization, but they will give us good health so we can practice our spiritual techniques. To have an aim in life, we must know what we want to achieve. Be very clear, alert, and careful, and do not depend on anyone. It does not matter who is who; your best friend can change. Therefore, do not depend on people; depend only on Guruvākya—Gurudev’s teachings, mantras, and the path. You should not depend on Gurudev personally, but you should receive energy, ideas, support, and help. If Gurudeva passes away, you should not pass away immediately. Continue on the path Gurudeva showed you. The Master is like a torchlight in the darkness, showing us the path. Worldly relations will not help you; you can see disappointments daily. Whatever aim you have, work with your inner willpower. You are capable; you will do it. It will take time. A tiny seed takes time to grow into a large, beautiful tree, but it will grow. That is Devapurījī’s Vākya. It takes time for a small sprout to become a large tree. This is the tree of your life, and you have an aim. Work on it freely and independently. Use all the sources you have. Help will come, but do not depend on it; it will come. Similarly, spiritual development does not come quickly. Reading books can be more confusing because every master has different experiences. Those who came from Vienna have different experiences of the road. Those from Zagreb have different landscape experiences. Those from Budapest have another landscape. But the main meeting point is Vārāṇasī. If someone coming from Vienna reads about the landscape from Budapest to Vārāṇasī and then decides to go back to Vienna via Budapest to come here, they will not experience this satsaṅg. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "Arjuna, it does not matter which way you go; ultimately you will meet me there. I will be at the door. Any religion or spiritual path is good, but sooner or later you will come to me." This means, indirectly, God is only one. Everyone will come to God—in this life or the next—but better in this life. We do not know where our destiny will lead or if we will get a human body again. What Yoga in Daily Life teaches is a complete system. The best thing we have is satsaṅg. Satsaṅg is a boat to cross the ocean. Gurū Nānak Sāhib said in the holy book, the Gurū Granth Sāhib—which he declared would be the last Gurū in Kali Yuga, as it is not easy and gurus may fight for position and succession—"Guru Granthako Janiye Pragyat Guruanki De." Nānak Sāhib said, "Know the holy book, the Gurū Grantha, as the embodiment of Gurudev." This is not merely a book; it is Gurudev himself. Jiske hṛdaya sāth se—in those whose heart is truth, meaning trust and belief in the Gurū Grantha. Khoju simile, they will find their Gurudev in that book. He said, "Satguru nām jahāj hai"—the name of the Gurudev is the boat, a ferry. Those who sit in this boat will cross the ocean. Those who remain with confidence in this boat will be brought by Gurudev to the mainland. This is the holy book for the Sikh religion, the final order, and they all trust this Vākya, Guruvākya. For them, that holy book is Guruvākya. For us, our Līlā Amṛt is Guruvākya, and very soon will come Mahāprabhujī’s Gītā, which will be Mahāprabhujī’s Vākya. The Quran is Guruvākya for Islam, and the Bible is for Christians. But the essence is that God is only one. Languages are different; reality is one. They all will come to the same point again. But what we say is: do not lose time. Do not confuse yourself, and do not confuse someone else. To confuse someone from their own spiritual path means you have killed that person, and that is a great sin. Support that person to continue on their path and aim. From our Ālakpurījī Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā, there was a great saint, a disciple of Mahāprabhujī, a Jīvanmukta—one who is liberated while still living. When you have complete realization and liberation, the soul will soon leave the body. But one who can live further is called a Jīvanmukta. One such Jīvanmukta was the father of Sītā, King Janaka, Janaka Videhī. Deha means body; he was a Jīvanmukta with the body, still in the body, yet liberated. For such a one, whatever karma is performed is not counted. In other words, it can be counted if you are not yet a Jīvanmukta. Maṅgīlāl-jī had this state of Jīvanmukta. You know the story of how he attained this state of consciousness in Balāgurāśram. When Holī Gurujī wrote about the cave in Balāgurāśram, people said it was a joke, especially the Europeans. Someone said, "No, Mahāprabhujī is a sweet lemonade." But when they were cleaning and repairing the Bulagura ashram, they found a cave. They were surprised; even the village people were surprised. Many of you have seen it. Similarly, Mahāprabhujī had a cave in Harivāsānī, his birthplace. People who lived there did not even know. Now, some of Mahāprabhujī’s family have discovered it, and I also went in and saw it. That is a sādhanā, silent, in the gufā (cave). But Guru Kṛpā must be there; otherwise, you will be finished, like a moth in the flame. Maṅgīlāl-jī, who was a great saint, asked Mahāprabhujī, "Please give me sannyāsa. Make me a Swami." Mahāprabhujī said, "Do you want to color your dress or your heart?" Maṅgīlāl-jī said, "My heart." Mahāprabhujī said, "I have colored it already." That Jīvanmukta, Maṅgīlāl-jī, wrote a bhajan in the Marwari language: "Sadvai, ab kyun kuru te mauro"—O my brothers, sādhus, yogīs, listeners, do not delay now. Do not wait. Hurry up. Get up. "Sadābāī habā kyū kuru te maulu. Surta bhajan mai jodu." Surta—I have spoken about surta the last three days. Surta means our main concentration, our main interest, our main desire. Like a mother who gave birth to a child: the child is at home, and she goes shopping. She meets friends on the street and will say hello, but the mother’s sūtra (awareness) is still with the child lying on the bed. "How is the child?" The mother tries to return early. A father can sometimes make a mistake; meeting somebody, he might say, "Come, have a drink," and forgets the child, but the mother does not, because she has fed that child with her own blood. Similarly, śruta, that inner feeling, is always there where you love someone. Day and night, your feeling is there. Sūtra—awareness, attention, concentration, feelings. As Nānak Sāhib said, "Teri bitti umar hari nām binā, shumāran karle mere manā"—you know that. "Surta bhajan mein jodo"—now connect this surta. Do not connect it to worldly things. Your very dear one will soon disappoint you. This is the world; this is māyā, and nowadays it is getting worse. Connect our inner feelings, our concentration and awareness, to bhajan. Here, bhajan does not mean singing songs. Bhajan means your meditation, your mantra practice, your spiritual practice. When we talk about bhajan, it must not be mistaken for mere singing; it depends on the context in which you use the word. Many of our people make mistakes with the word dhūnī. Dhūnī means a fireplace, but in many contexts, it does not mean fireplace. Dhūnī means sūtra; it means you are happy in that one thing. In which context are you using dhūnī? Therefore, many of our people translating bhajans, who have little knowledge of Hindi and the dictionary, cannot find the real meaning. Either you must learn the language, or best is to be born there and have it as a mother tongue. Many Western people in Jordan and here learn Hindi and speak it, but still often do not know such words. So, dhūnī means our dhun—we are happy there. If you translate it as "fireplace," how can one be happy and one with fire? Śruti is very often used in spiritual language or songs. "Surta bhajaname jodo"—connect your surta in bhajan, and bhajan means spirituality, your interest towards spirituality. There is also a bhajan about bringing your horses and your coach. The horses mean our indriyās, our senses. Our senses are wild horses; you must have them under control, otherwise they will destroy the coach, and the coach is the body. "Dinre gayo hai toro"—the days left are very few. "Barām kilāne toro"—tomorrow I will translate when I have the text. Maṅgīlāl-jī’s bhajans are very great for ātmā-jñāna. It is Maṅgīlāl-jī’s bhajan, which you know you like to sing always, as did Gurudev: "Śraddhā tumhārī cintā merī mitā de Gurude, śraddhā tumhārī cintā merī mitā de, karke dayā dayā." Therefore, Maṅgīlāl-jī said to Mahāprabhujī, "Gurudev, I seek shelter in thee. Chinta meri mitade—remove my worries (chintā)." In Strelka we spoke about chintā, chintan. O Gurudev, remove my chintā. Chintā is the cause of all failures; it prevents success. The particular aim we have cannot be achieved through vācārtī knowledge—only talking and reading. But lakṣārthī—lakṣa means the aim, and lakṣārthī means one who wishes to achieve that aim. Like we are vidyārthī (students) studying vidyā to gain knowledge, the lakṣyārthī should have no other interest. Vācārtī is only from the brain, reading this book and that book. Of course, all granthas, all books, are good. All spiritual books are holy books, so that you do not lose your way or your path. This life is only a journey, not a destination. The destination is still very far, my dear mother. "Mother, oh mother, I have to go a far, far distance to a city in the far distance. O mother, where is a peaceful shore? Because there is a very stormy ocean, black clouds, thundering and lightning, high waves, and my boat is sinking. Oh mother, oh mother, where is a peaceful shore? I have to go to the far distance." That is our destination. Read as much as you can, but do not get lost in it. It is dangerous, as you will lose your path. In that jungle, when you lose the path, you do not know where it will end. You can neither go back nor go forward. When we lose the path, it is like going into mountains or caves: do not go more than 20 meters far, otherwise you may wander under the mountain for a lifetime, and it is very hard to find the way back. Similarly, when we lose our first spiritual path and lose our bhakti to Gurudev, we are lost. Therefore, śruta must always be on that path. You must mark the sign of how you went, where you began. That is our spiritual paramparā. We are always protected, guided, and have the shelter of our spiritual paramparā: be it Alagpurījī, Devpurījī, Mahāprabhujī, Maṅgīlāl-jī, Lālā Nān-jī, Bodhānan-jī, Holī Gurujī, and you all. I am following you. Let me follow you. In London, I was driving, and on the back of one car it was written, "Don’t follow me, I am also lost." So, should we ride in our own car? I am on the right path. It is that Śruti, that spirituality. Many of us have passed more than half our life. What do you expect? Would you like to go and run and jump like little children now—10-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 8-year-olds? We admire them, but if we look at them, we may become jealous. "I was like this; I would like to be like that." And these little children are unhappy; they would like to be bigger, to have a moustache. One is never content. Therefore, our aim in life should be decided once and achieved through your inner willpower—surta. Surta—go there where my Lord is. Such big, very nice bhajans and very nice things exist. In Yoga in Daily Life, the beauty, the divine, the clarity, is that satsaṅg. Satsaṅg is not one-sided. How? If I were giving one-sided satsaṅg, I would speak only about Mahāprabhujī, Holī Gurujī, and our lineages. I would not use Gurū Nānak Sāhib, Kabīr Sāhib, Mīrābāī, and others. Why not? They are great, the same as our masters. They are great, like Kṛṣṇa. Why not Rāma? Why not Buddha? Why should we not use the divine words and wisdom of others too? That is satsaṅg. These are all our inner supporters; we do not depend on them. We have one path, and we should go ahead. Then you can be successful. If you are born human, do not waste time only in caves. Do something. We owe this world something; we should leave something good behind, and we should achieve our aim. This is very, very important. So, peacefully, let us carry on and have the glory of Mahāprabhujī, which we can sing in his nice bhajans. Come, come, come. Very good. Par Brahma Puruṣottama Svāhā, Par Brahma Puruṣottama Kar Deve Naja Raṇiha. Bhajore Manva Śrī Pudhi, Bhajore Manva Śrī Pujedi Brahma Pura Pura Sotama Swāmī. Bhajo re mana padhari Hari. Jag jeeva ke pratipa, Asar guna roo padhari Hari jag jeeva. Bhaagai Jokai Dhyānadāre Nijam Se Bhaagai, Bhaagai Janam Chote Janam Mokṣa Tatka Bhaagai. Śrī Pūpudī Puruṣottī Om Śānti Śānti.

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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