TV Channel

Part 1: The River of Spirituality and the Journey Home Welcome everyone to Yoga and Daily Life. As Swami Sharadananda said the other night, quoting Charles Dickens, these are the best of times and the worst of times, because this is our farewell satsaṅg. It is the best of times because we have Swāmījī here with us, and the worst of times because it is our farewell. But we will live in the present moment and enjoy a wonderful evening with him. We are so honored, lucky, and blessed by his annual presence and the inspiration from his words and teachings. I am now happy to introduce Swami Maheshwarananda. Aum Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt Paraṁ Brahma, Tasmai Śrī Guruve Namaḥ. Dhyāna Mūlam Guru Mūrtiṁ, Pūjā Mūlam Guru Padam, Mantra Mūlam Guru Vākyam, Mokṣa Mūlam Guru Kṛpā. Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Siddhi, siddhi... In the last five days, we had beautiful programs, meetings, and spiritual songs. It is like many drops of rain collecting together to become a strong stream, making a creek. Every creek searches for the way to the river, and every river makes its way to the ocean. Similarly, when more spiritual people gather, it develops a spiritual stream. When many are in a center, an ashram, a spiritual place, a temple, a mosque, or a church, it becomes like a beautiful, big river. That river leads us to divine consciousness. It is better to join the river than to disappear as a single drop of water somewhere. What is the destiny of water separated from the ocean through fire, the agni tattva? From the ocean, that parā (vapor) begins to rise. That is the first separation; that parā also consists of drops, but very fine ones. When this parā separates from the ocean, no one calls it the ocean; it is steam, a fog. When this fog rises higher, we call it clouds. When clouds change back into water drops and rain, we do not call it a cloud; it is rain. Again, this water falls on the ground. We say this water is lying on the ground, but the origin of the water is the ocean. It does not matter in which form it goes—as fog, clouds, or parā. It has only one aim: the way back to the origin. Suppose we take anything from this room or from our earth and throw it up. You can throw it with your energy, but it will come back to Earth. Science explains this through gravity. Spirituality says differently: this small piece you throw up has its origin here, as it is earth. Therefore, it must come back again to the origin, searching its way back. So every creature, no matter in which form, is a light of God. The purpose of their existence on this planet, of their birth, is this: to cross or come near to the distance. Every form of life is a repetition, a step. Every step will be counted, which means every birth will be counted. So, how many births do you already have behind you? You should know how far you already are, or how near. Mahāprabhujī often said, "If you are five meters far from me, it means I am also five meters far from you." So, how far are you from your destination? That means from the final, from Brahman. Or we are going in the wrong direction. The ocean is somewhere else, and the river just flows into the desert and disappears. But it has a destiny and has to go through that destiny again. All liquid, no matter in which form it exists here—in vegetation, in the earth, or anywhere—originates from the ocean, pānī, the water tattva. So now we are human, and we are very near to our destination, but we make wrong steps. We go to the wrong place, we search for the wrong things, we develop our feelings toward different things, and that is the biggest mistake a human can make. Spirituality means purity, crystal clear, pure. Spirituality is not just that you are praying, meditating, fasting, and whatnot. These are ways to spirituality. That purity is where there are no impure thoughts, no impure feelings, and no impure interests. Then you do not run here and there in the world like a person who cannot swim, falls into deep water, but luckily finds some root of a tree hanging there and catches it. Okay, now he or she caught the root and will at least wait until somebody comes to take you out. But until someone comes, you think, "Okay, I’ll leave the root for a while and go around the water and see what is inside there." Then you lost the root; you lost that hold. Just with your thinking, with your feeling, with your different interests, you lost it. That means you have to die in that water. So this saṃsāra, this world, has many temptations. You go to see a beautiful park, joking, eating, and this and that. Can you imagine that these three hours you spent going to the park and coming back? In these three hours, if you had repeated the name of God, what would you have achieved? What would have happened? So, in India we say it is a sin to waste time. Sameka anādhār, sameka durupyog, is a pāp hai. Not respecting time and wasting time is a loss of human life. It should have been a very long step, but your step is so small and broken—a broken heart. Your spirituality is not that which you imagined to develop in spiritual life. Therefore, always keep in your mind, in your feeling, in your consciousness, one thing. When Holī Gurujī came to Czechoslovakia for the first time in 1975—you know the beautiful city, the most beautiful city in Europe, Prague, golden Prague. These are three cities: Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. All are located at the banks of rivers, two on the Danube and one on another river, the Vltava. People asked Swamiji, "Guruji, would you like to go sightseeing?" Gurujī asked, "What is there?" They said, this and that. Gurujī said, "I saw so many things in life. I am searching for that one whom I want to see." Then he sang the bhajan you heard before: "Gurudev Darśan Dhan Ho, Chetan Ānand Dhan Ho." And Gurujī made one bhajan also; in that bhajan he said, "Please Lord, remain in my eyes, Nayan Me Vatsizo, Mahāprabhujī, always be in my view, only you." Do not disappear from my view. If you disappear from my view, then there will be no more view. It will be only darkness, ignorance, suffering, accidents, misunderstandings, tiredness, and many things. So spirituality is purity, pure love. When a mother gives birth to a small child and goes shopping, her complete feeling is still with that small child who is alone at home or with someone. Even animals, the cow, when she gives birth, does not want to go to the field; she runs back to her baby. All mothers’ love, that is love. Mother’s love is one of the most beautiful and selfless forms of love, mother-father. And so is the love of the bhaktas. Gurudev, mere pās khaṛe meṁ ās karū kis ke kis ke? When he is beside me, standing, he is with me, what should I more expect, and go here and there to do, look something for what? This bhajan we have. In this Kali Yuga, this iron time, it is said: Kali Yuga Keval Nām Ādhāra, Kali Yuga Keval Nām Ādhāra. In this Kali Yuga, we have only one hope, one hold, and that is the divine name of God. There was the Satyayuga, the yuga of sacrifice, the yajñas; Tretāyuga, the jñāna; Dvāparayuga, the discipline, the king; and now Kaliyuga is for devotion. Because humans do not have that kind of faith or confidence. Humans do not have that kind of energy and willpower to endure something. We are very weak. A little temptation keeps us away. A little doubt destroys all your beautiful work. So only the one God, bhajan, kīrtan, mantra, bhakti yoga. But in bhakti yoga, again, we need that kind of bhakti yoga where the mother or father and the child are one. Otherwise, distance means you will always have distance. So spirituality means that we have to come to the pure consciousness. O God beautiful, O God beautiful, in the mountains, in the forest, O God beautiful, in the meadows and the fields, O God beautiful, the flowers and the blossoms, O God beautiful, the bees and butterflies and other creatures, O God, beautiful desert, in the desert, rivers, ocean, in the rain, in thundering, in the storm, in hurricanes. O God, beautiful, how beautiful you are, my Lord. Everything is within us, but we become blind and we go to search somewhere different. So, the great saint Śivānanda said, "Within you is the ocean of bliss." In your consciousness, in your ātmā, within you, in your body is the ocean of bliss, not one drop or one bucket. When someone throws nice water on you when it is very cold, nice warm water, or when it is very hot and cold water, you know, under the shower. But it is from, say, Swāmījī, the whole ocean is for you as a bliss that is within you. Within you is the ocean of bliss, and within you is the fountain of joy. Yes, that fountain is constantly joy. And within you is the immortal Ātmā. Kill this little ego, and lead a divine life. Where are you searching? Nothing is there. Go within thyself and search. But there are three obstacles: Mala, Vikṣepa, and Āvaraṇa. Mala is impurity. Vikṣepa is the disturbances, worldly disturbances, and Āvaraṇa is the curtain of ignorance. The impure thoughts and impure actions are the Mālā, the impurity. Vikṣepa: doubts, no confidence, restlessness, arguments, conflicts—these are the Vikṣepa. We do not see what is lying at the bottom of the water because there are so many waves. So we have to put a glass window over, then the waves will break and we can see what is lying where. And the curtain, the curtain of ignorance. We do not know what is on the other side of this wall. This is a curtain, and this wall, vikṣepa āvaraṇa, can only be removed through purity, through spirituality. Therefore, yoga is not only the physical exercises to perform this posture and that posture, and put your hand under the leg, under the knee, under the thigh, and come hand outside and hold your one ear, you know, yes, it’s good. It reminds me of when I was in school, you know, the teacher was holding my ear. It is exactly the same pressure as when I go under the leg and hold my ear, the same pressure. So it means something remained undone in school, so we have to do it ourselves. Remember that through the postures, you will not get liberation. Through the torturing of the body, you will not get liberation. God gave you a beautiful body, a comfortable body, a healthy body, so be nice to your body, be kind to your body. This is your real house; it is your real house in which you have been living since you came to your mother’s womb, and you did not pay anything. For this house, it is a credit given to you by Mother Nature. It does not matter how many good things we do for Mother Nature; we will not be able to pay back the credit, the debt which we have towards our mother. We cannot pay it back, nor towards our fathers. So it is said in the Vedas, there are five persons or five things towards whom we have a debt. First is called Mātṛ Ṛṇa, towards mother. Pitṛ ṛṇa, towards father or ancestors. Achāryā Rīnā, towards your teachers, who taught you from the beginning. You know, now we can write very quickly. Do you remember when you first got a pencil in your hand and were making, it was very hard to make A, B? Who explained to us how to write? We write and read, and these are our teachers in the schools until university. Yes, we should not forget the wisdom they gave to us. Ācārya, in the old system, the gurukul system, the ācāryas were not asking for any payment. Only the student who goes has to learn and stay there and do all the work of the Gurukul, that’s all. And they were not allowed to go home until their education was finished. No summer holidays, no Christmas holidays, because at that time, there was no Christmas. So, learning time. No cinema, no theaters, no clubs. For students, it was a learning time with the Ācārya. Then Devas. Devas, some call the divine souls, they say semi-gods, but the word semi-god is not so good. But here, devas means elements: fire, water, air, earth, and ether. These five elements keep our body alive and healthy. Did you ever think of these five elements, to keep them pure? If all we had thought like these humans, this global warming, climate change, whatever they are now telling us, these immortal mantras would not have happened. It only happened because of human behavior and the pollution of the human mind, and that pollution of the human mind is born out of greed. Mother Earth has enough for our needs, but not for our greed, Mahatma Gandhijī said. So everything that is happening is human, and we are the cause of that. Otherwise, nature will balance itself nicely. So, Devārīṇā, deva means all these principles. The moon, the sun—now people said, "What a stupid," they think the sun is a god. What will you say if for one month the sun does not rise at all? Our air conditioners will also stop because it will immediately become ice blocks everywhere. Can we imagine without the sun? No food, no life, no breath, nothing. Can we imagine something without moon or air? Part 2: The Path of Spirituality and Our Debts to Life That which we call Vedic Dharma, or natural religion, is the greatest religion. It means to protect everything which is a source of life for everyone: the ocean, rivers, and lakes. Now, consider how much of the earth we have destroyed with our highways and motorways. How many millions of square miles do we destroy with all this concrete and bitumen? And how much pollution do we create? Humans think they are doing something for the better but are often doing wrong. The man-made world is not perfect. Two years ago, there was a conference about climate and pollution. A gentleman from America stated that the system they created there—separating residential and commercial areas—is a complete misconception. You have residential colonies with a few houses, and shopping centers are kilometers away. Now, if you need only one lemon, you must take your car and drive five kilometers. Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā He Kevalam. No car, nothing, no parking problems; everything was okay. But we humans have made it more complicated. When an engineer designs a house, a room, or a building, and they finish it and leave, who is more unhappy? The ladies. Because they now do not know where to design the kitchen or how to design it. There is a half-meter wrong measurement. The engineer does not think about the practical facilities of the household. They just put up four walls, a door, a lock, a key, and say bye-bye. It’s your karma; you can cry within the four walls. According to the Vāstu Śāstra, it has been thoughtfully designed. One must ask the family members. First, you have to ask the wife, the lady of the house: where would you like to have the kitchen, how big, where, and what about water? Then we shall decide. Where will we be nearer to the children, and for eating, so that we can all be together? So many things disrupt humans, and therefore humans are restless. Humans cannot properly sleep, cannot properly think, and are constantly in distress. Many lives are not happy because spirituality is lost—the spirituality which balances us. So, it is not only about postures or torturing your body. God gave you this body without one dollar, a single dollar. Therefore, we shall respect the elements that God is. Do not say, "A tree, how can a tree be God?" Can you imagine our planet without a tree? A wise American, an Indian American, said that when the last tree is chopped down and the last fish dies, then, oh man, you will realize that you cannot eat your dollar. So, what is God? Did you ever see God somewhere? I fly nearly every week, so high up. My God, such a high altitude, but I do not see even His footprint anywhere. Everyone talks about God as omniscient. Where is that? Oh, He is very far, but He is closer than you could think. And so, in everything, respect all of nature, for this and that is God. Respect life, others’ lives. Finally, it is called Ṛṣiṛṇa. Ṛṣi means the spiritual saint who is praying for us, who is blessing us. So these are the five where we have to pay back our credits: Mātṛṛṇa, Pitṛṛṇa, Ācāryaṛṇa, Devaṛṇa, and Ṛṣiṛṇa. Then you have liberation from the astral world, which is called the ancestors’ world. So it is your duty that you do this karma to liberate your father, mother, and your ancestors. Then you have access there; otherwise, you are hanging somewhere. And it is your children who have the duty to do all these ceremonies so that you will go further. It is said that when you have a grandchild, then you have golden stairs to heaven. But today we do not even have a rotten wooden stair. Who is thinking of this? No. We have forgotten, lost all these formalities, the natural ways which keep us clean, happy, and spiritual, and which help our ancestors. That mother, who was here for you all the time, has died. Did you ever think how she is somewhere? How long did you pray for her when you put the earth on her? Perhaps then you went to the temple or the church, and after that, perhaps, the evening was for you. And if someone asks you, "What was the name of your grandfather’s grandmother?" We do not even know the name of our grandmother or our ancestors’ names. Your great father’s great mother, what was her name? No, no, no. Maybe Lakṣmī or Sarasvatī or Pārvatī, or what was that? Anar, Anar, Abhimanyu, whatever. We do not know. We have lost memory completely. On the 17th of March, 2008, at 7 o’clock in the evening, what did you do? Just exactly one year before, do you know what you did? Of course, we were driving somewhere in the car, and we were tired and wanted to go home and sleep. That’s what we can think, but we do not know. And on the 7th of March 2009, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, what did you do? Many know, many do not know. So even we do not have the memory of one week; what are we going to do? How to open the door of mokṣa, of spirituality? So we are running. So please, slow down. Please slow down. Go to your heart, and you are such a great person. You are so divine. You have an ocean of bliss. You can bless the whole world with such divine light and love. But you have to go there, inside, and spread that divine love. That is the purpose of our life; otherwise, this step which you are making is a wrong step, unfortunately. God will say, "Why did I give the last step to this person or this soul?" Again and again we will suffer and suffer. Destiny is our own creation. Mother and father can give only birth, but not the destiny. Karmas—we have caused the karmas, we are doing the karmas. So lucky are they who have spiritual interest. Ādiguru Śaṅkarācārya, a very great saint—one German philosopher said that if ever in humans one is born such a great thinker, then it is Śaṅkarācārya. At seven years of age, he knew all the Vedas and all holy śāstras. And he said, "Blessed is that soul who is born as a human." And the fortunate one is that soul who has spiritual parents. And good destiny has that soul who has a spiritual interest. Maybe your parents are spiritual, but you do not want to be. So this is already bad luck. And they, the divine, are they who, before coming to birth, spent one minute with God. As a result, they got in this life a Satguru, who will liberate them. Others had no time for God. God said, "Now you can go down." They said, "Thank you, I go." So we just fall down. But there were some people, it is said, that when God sent them to this planet, they stood up and said, "Merciful Lord, wherever you will send me, I accept to go. Whatever you will do, I surrender, and I do. Only the Lord should be with me." That God is incarnating in you. That’s it. And we say to God, Mahāprabhujī, everything is yours. My body, my mind, my soul, my house—always, you are my Lord. If you want, I die; if you want, I will do this. And then Mahāprabhujī will come and take your hand and say, "Come, let’s go into the sky." "No, Mahāprabhujī, I didn’t mean this until my husband is home." Are you ready to go anytime with God? "No, no... my dog is still not fed, and my dog was not walking outside, no. God, can you wait five minutes so I can write a note to my husband or my wife?" Where is the reality? It is very easy to say, "I love you." Yeah, on the lips, and from here to here, completely śūnyakaś. After the tongue, empty space. There is nothing, no feeling at all. So, surrender. Lord, I am the piece of sandalwood, and you are the stone. And my devotion is the water. As much as you grind the sandalwood, it gives off a beautiful smell. You have to become one. Who said this? Mīrābāī, the great bhakta Mīrā. Tum binā rayo na jāī—without you, Lord, I can’t breathe even. Then, God is running behind you. You do not need to run behind Him. He will come. That’s it. So, there are many, many stories about what God has done for His devotees. So liberation, spirituality, my dear, is in the knowledge, wisdom, devotion—which means love—and clarity. Other than that, whatever we do is good. Of course, we have to do yoga, we have to eat to exist physically and healthy. The movements are very good, they are beautiful, there is nothing to say. But the point that we are searching for is different. At that point, we shall find within ourselves the call to come to the spiritual life. So, practice your mantra more. Try to remove all doubts toward anyone. If you do not like someone, okay, you do not like them, that’s all. But do not create in you bitterness towards others. Sometimes people say, "Ah, I am so bitter. I am so sour on that person." My God, that person becomes sweeter, and you become sour like a lemon. Thanks, thank you. You become bitter, and that one becomes nectar. Because you are taking all the karma from the other one whom you do not like. You suck. God Kṛṣṇa said one day to his friends and his father and mother. Kṛṣṇa was very young, a few years old. He said, "I must go to Mathurā." They said, "No, do not go there." This devil, Kaṁsa, he said, "Yes, because I am going to see Kaṁsa, my uncle." They said, "Do not go, he wants to kill you." Kṛṣṇa said, you know, "I always go there, or to that person, who always thinks of me." But he is thinking of you with anger, with hate. Kṛṣṇa said, "It does not matter how he thinks, but he thinks of me." So I must go. Of course, they did not know that Kṛṣṇa is a thousand times, a million times stronger than Kaṁsa, no? So God said, "I go there, no matter how, in which form he or she thinks of me." And so, if you do not like someone, then day and night, you are jealous and you cannot sleep. All the time, that person is in front of you, true? You are jealous of someone, or someone did something bad to you and you are angry. You cannot sleep because, ah, you know, always. You are all the time with that person; you cannot sleep. Even the sleeping tablet does not function because you keep yourself aware. You are consuming a lot of energy to stay aware and to think of someone. Have a beautiful, big heart. Forget it. Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing. Good night. Hari Om. So, to release inner pain, to come out of the darkness of suffering, is forgiveness. Who are we to judge someone? We think that one is bad, but in reality, that one is not bad. We are bad. You say, yes, but he came and he pushed a knife in my back and ran away. I was not guilty. Swamiji, my father would say, "Yes, you were guilty." I said, "Why? I did nothing." He said, "Yes, but you were there. If you were not there, he could not put the knife. So it was your mistake. Why did you go there?" So guilty somewhere else? No, also on us. If someone gives you a slap on the cheek, it is not his mistake. The mistake is because you have a cheek. Why did you stand near? So we are both together. With one hand, we cannot make a mistake. We do not make a sound except this. We need two hands. So it means you and me, we both together, 50-50%, are mistaken. And when there is a laugh, it can all melt. We need to bring education to our children to understand and avoid those unpleasant situations, not to go there, not to run away, and so on. So, spirituality, my dear brothers and sisters, is that which is in your heart. God is in your heart, and what you are searching for, search inside. Everything is there, and with this, work and be in the world and help everybody. And do not cry, "I want to see God now, now or never." God will say, "Then cry forever, till I come somewhere." There is no God anywhere in that way. Yes, I believe He is here. One man was walking through a beautiful desert, nice sand, beautiful, and he could feel that someone was walking with him. There were steps, and a second person walking beside him, but he could not see. It was a beautiful, nice way. So the path led him slowly, slowly to the thorny bushes, a stony, thorny way. And suddenly he sees nobody is with him. He is alone, on a hard way, with scorpions, snakes, somewhere a wild cat, somewhere he sees the running wolves. Nobody is with him. After two miles, again came a beautiful path, a nice tree, water, and it was very pleasant. Again, someone is walking with him. So he sat near the water, and he was angry. So when someone was sitting beside him, he said, "Why are you angry?" "I am angry with you. You are selfish. When the beautiful time of my life, a nice comfortable way, you were walking beside me. And when the hard time came, the thorny way, the stony way, the dangerous way, you disappeared. You let me be alone. I was lonely. And now, a very nice atmosphere, and again you are here. You shared only the beautiful times of my life." He said, "My dear, you do not know. When the nice time comes and the comfortable path, I walk beside you. But when the hard path is thorny, then I carry you on my whole path. I walk, and I carry you on my path. In difficult times, do not forget God. You are in the palm of God, in the heart of God. He will not let you suffer; have confidence." So spirituality is beautiful. No human can come through without spirituality. Otherwise, living, being born, and dying—other creatures can do that too. We humans have a golden opportunity, a divine chance, that we can become one with our divine consciousness, which is part of our self. With this, I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you again. So it is saying goodbye is not a bad thing, because it is already time. It began that we are waiting; we will come again. So, what is gone will come, and what came will go. That’s it. Thank you. God bless you, and I pray for your good health, happiness, and long life. Om Śānti Śānti... Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī. So now we will have a 15-minute interval, and then we will have prayer. Those who wish to stay are welcome. If someone is in a hurry, then...