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The beauty of the Himalayas

The Himalayas hold the sacred kingdom of Śrī Ālagpurījī, a place of divine energy described in scripture. Traveling there is challenging, with paths often blocked and basic comforts absent. The high altitude brings purity and a different prāṇa. Specific sites like Gaṅgotrī, the source of the Gaṅgā, and mountains named for deities like Nīlakaṇṭha are profoundly holy. Local legends speak of celestial beings in places like Kubera's mountain. A journey requires permission, respect for the fragile environment, and acceptance of harsh conditions. The experience is transformative, connecting one to ancient spiritual seeds within the landscape.

"Whoever enters that Svarga Loka automatically becomes young again; you look like twenty-five."

"To go there is not so easy... It is just rocks, and there is Ālagpurījī’s gufā."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

First of all, good morning to everybody. Blessings of our Siddhāpīṭa Paramparā, Śrī Ālagpurījī. We saw beautiful photos last time. That is known as the kingdom of Śrī Ālagpurījī. That part of the Himalayas, the beautiful valley, is described in the Śāstras, the Vedas and Śāstras, as the kingdom of Ālagpurījī. We have a lot of material and information. As you know, nearly a month ago, I was personally there. It was a very good journey. It is always a challenge to go to the mountains. It is said that the Himalayas are one of the youngest mountain ranges. Certain paths toward Badrināth, Kedārnāth, and Gaṅgotrī are accessible only for three or four months. Sometimes there is heavy rain, and the road is blocked by earth or an avalanche. Then the army has to come and clear it again. You may have to stay three or four days in that spot. That is the best time to fast, because there is nothing. Only mountains and water are there, or you are on the other side and cannot come because the road is blocked. Not always, but sometimes. You know mountain driving; it is driving along a big river. On one side is the Alaknanda, on the other is the Bhagīrathī. Gaṅgotrī is the point where the Gaṅgā begins. There is the temple of the Divine Mother Gaṅgā, and a few kilometers higher up is a beautiful fountain or spring where the water emerges. That is our original Gaṅgā. It is at about 4,000 meters in height. We feel it already. Gaṅgotrī is at about 2,500 meters; it is good to stay there two, three, or four days and then slowly go to the original place. The mountains have a different energy, a different prāṇa. Does it matter which mountains? The Alps are very beautiful mountains. The rivers, the High Tatras, are very beautiful with beautiful energy. Also in the Czech Republic, there are hills, high hills. The higher it is, the more purity and higher consciousness. So all mountains are good, but to go there once is something special. Now we are also trying again to go to Kailāśa mountain. We will take a private airplane so people who cannot walk the long distance can have darśana of the Kailāśa mountain. The Mānasasarovara lake is beautiful. It is said that the real Paramahaṁsa swan lives there. You cannot see them; only the luckiest ones may. So Mānasasarovara is something great. There are many, many holy places. When you go to the desert, it also has its beauty and very good energy, like in the Sahara. It is beautiful. There are a few holy mountains. One is called Nīlakaṇṭha Mountain. Nīlakaṇṭha is the name of Śiva. It seems that when Śiva drank the poison from the churning of the ocean and held that poison in his throat, purifying it through his power—we call it Ujjāyī Prāṇāyāma, but that time it must have been a very quick Ujjāyī Prāṇāyāma—that mountain is named after Śiva, Nīlakaṇṭha. Nīlakaṇṭha means Śiva: nīla is blue and kaṇṭha is the throat. When Śiva drank that poison, his throat became blue, so Nīlakaṇṭha Mahādeva is Śiva. Beside that is a beautiful hill and valley called Svaragarohiṇī, the stairs to heaven. It is like the Pāṇḍavas went with their bodies. You know the story. Then there is one mountain, the seat of the treasurer of God, Kubera. The people living there have many stories. Maybe some stories they made, some are true. It is said that between twelve and one at night, beings called Apsarās—you could call them angels—come. These Apsarās are from heaven, Svarga; they are the dancers of Svarga Loka, of King Indra. Whoever enters that Svarga Loka automatically becomes young again; you look like twenty-five. So I tried to go there and come back as I am. But there is one condition: to go there is easier, but to come back is not easier because the gravity is so little for you. You cannot come to earth, like when you are on the moon: you take one step and jump far. All the angels always come flying. Maybe for a little while they come and see you, and then they go again. It is like a balloon filled with gas; it does not come to earth. That is how all the devas, gods, and rākṣasas too are there in the skies. They are not in heaven, but they have their own kingdoms there. They have more miracles, more siddhis in heaven. They are not boring divānas, but they are all divānas. When I was there, one person told me a story. He is an authority person in the village of Manā, near Badrināth. It is said that on the mountain of Kubera, Apsarās come dancing between twelve and one. That is why he told me, "Do not sleep between twelve and one. You will see different lights, hear sounds, if you are lucky." We were sitting there for two nights. One night, the sky was very clear and beautiful, and I was looking. I thought, at least one Apsarā must come. They did not come. They were afraid of me because they would say, "Swāmījī, what will he tell us?" He will tell, "Apsarā, stay here, sit down." But it was divine: stars, no moon, darkness. Therefore, it was more beautiful. The full moon is a completely different beauty. The old village people sometimes talk. They say every night, some young girls would go and dance there, 10, 20, 30 girls. One girl went a little farther, dancing. She saw a beautiful golden gate and was attracted to it. She went to the golden gate and saw many devas, or I do not know what. Everything was gold. Then she became afraid and wanted to go back. They gave her a lot of gold and said the gate disappeared. She said, "Where to go?" They guided her. Again, a door appeared, and they said, "Do not tell anyone, and especially do not tell anyone from where you got the gold. If you tell, you will die." But this girl could not hold herself back and told her parents. She died. So there are certain Vākyas, powerful statements. They were dancing with the Apsarās, these girls. This is a very mysterious place, not negative. I asked if there are only Apsarās, girls, or men also. They said, "Yes, they are devas, but they are observing somewhere." This is what they told. I am telling you. I do not know how far the reality is, or how far it is just a fairy tale. It is difficult to go so high, but the Kubera Seed is there. The Kubera Seed is in the kingdom of Ālagpurījī. And in Ālagpurījī’s kingdom, there is the Divine Mother’s seed also, called Nandādevī. The river begins from there. First, it begins from Ālagpurījī, then beside Nandādevī. That is why the name is called Alaknanda. When you want to talk, or you know what the name means exactly, there is also a Lakṣmī mountain, not a temple, the mountain itself. They are beautiful, not little mountains like Strelka, but several kilometers in distance with high peaks touching the sky. One day, on the day we left, there is one called Balkan Mountain. There were many, many clouds. Above the clouds, only the peak of the Balkan was visible, and it was like a śivaliṅga in the clouds. We took a photo; it was beautiful. It is like a big support, a protection. This long mountain, a few kilometers, 10-20 kilometers long, is Ālagpurījī’s kingdom. Many fountains are there. It is beautiful, divine, but you have to go with good thinking, good positivity, and training. Devpurījī’s gufā is higher, I think 4,500 meters in height or maybe more. That is a challenge to walk for us. For such a journey, you have to go there slowly from Badrināth, a minimum of two or three weeks. First, we get used to that altitude. This year was great. We got so much research, and now there is one story I received. The head organizer of the Badrināth temple, an officer there, invited me. We were sitting, and he told me many things. So that is what he told; I am telling you. Then he told me, "Swāmījī, if you want to know more, read the book." That book is written by a famous poet in the Sanskrit language, Kālidāsa. Kālidāsa lived 200 years before Christ. He wrote the whole poetry in Sanskrit, and that book is called Meghadūta. Meghadūta means the name: megha is rain, clouds, or Indra; dūta is the ambassador, messenger. So his poetry is named Meghadūta. The first translation was in the German language, translated by Max Müller, and then many books became available. The German publication was not printed further, but in some libraries they are available. Especially, you can get it on the internet from a very big book company, Amazon. There you should search for Meghadūta, okay? Kālidāsa wrote it. You can read it, you can print it out. He told me that, Swāmījī, when you want to go to Ālagpurījī’s kingdom, first you should bathe in one fountain, a beautiful waterfall called Vasudhārā. You cannot come near; it is a big, big waterfall. But there is a strong wind. If you are a good person with good thinking and good karma, then for a while the wind will blow in your direction and you will have, like, a shower. Otherwise, you should stand and stand and stand. Then you can take the water from the creek flowing from it. So he told me that I should go there first. There were big glaciers, looking nearly like a mountain, and now 75% have melted. It is sad, very sad to see the Himalayas, which were covered by glaciers. Many ṛṣis were sitting on the glaciers. It is melting. Yes, it is due to climate change a lot. Well, anyhow, I was carried to go to the kingdom. You must go with dignity to Ālagpurījī’s Siddha Pīṭha. Especially people came from Nepal, because Nepal also belongs to this kingdom of the Himalayas. Four of them were carrying my chariot. I was sitting all the time and looking. There is no road. For five kilometers it is stones, a little footpath. Then, for three kilometers, it is rocks with no way at all, and they were climbing up and down. I said, if one of them falls down, I will be the first one to fall down—big rocks. So I said, "Ālagpurījī, please. I am your grand-grand-grandson." So he protected me. I was standing near Vasudhārā and thought, "I should not have gone there." If Vasudhārā will not come in my direction, then they will say, "Who is now having bad thoughts?" Others said, "Swāmījī, we are with you." So whether it comes or not is your duty. I said, "Ālagpurījī, if you accept me, then bless me." And in that minute, some drops came. Umāpurī said, "Oh, came, came, came." She said, "Let Swāmījī go further." It was very nice. Then the kingdom of Ālagpurījī began. But there is a very strict rule: the border between India and China, with soldiers from both sides observing. India suddenly said, "Why are so many foreigners here?" Before, it was not so known to people; now many are going to Ālagpurījī. There is no electricity, no telephone reception, no rooms, no toilets. It is just rocks, and there is Ālagpurījī’s gufā. We had a tent. We hired tents, paid a lot of money, let us say 200 euros for a good tent. We put up the tents. It was sunny and very nice, so the tents were warm. At night it was cool, and the next day rain came, and some miracle happened: abhiṣeka, water in the tent from above and from below, and not only in the tent but also in the cave. We had to take permission from the forest authorities. In no case can you buy land, and you cannot occupy any cave. Otherwise, slowly, many sādhus will come and occupy it. But Ālagpurījī is very, very well-known. People adore him. I declared that I know our organization is the Ālagpurījī Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā, the Holy Seat. Somehow they accepted something, but you cannot build anything, not even toilets. So to go there is not so easy. What we will try to manage is some little groups. It is no problem to take you there; I will do it. But what to do with your toilets? We were about thirteen people, and for two nights we were there. They made a little hole and hung one kind of tent. But still, in two days, many did not go into that hole; they went behind a rock somewhere. In two days, it does not matter from which side the air comes, it was not a good smell. So everybody knows humans were there. Yes. So that is a big problem. How to solve this problem? They do not want to build anything. So perhaps chemical plastic boxes. If they allow plastic cabins, they will destroy the whole beauty of the mountain. So now we are arranging that anyone who goes there should get permission from the Ālagpurījī Siddha Paramparā. Then you have to go and take permission from the authority, and someone should be there to take care of you because there is no telephone, no walkie-talkie over such a far distance, no lights, no doctor. It is always a risk. That is what the authorities are afraid of. Well, otherwise it was beautiful and very nice. Now, this was thanks to Dr. Śāntī. For twelve years she was researching everywhere, and now she is known in Badrināth and this village, Manā. That is why we got the vibhūti, the ash. I made the dhūnī, the fireplace, and the next day it was raining and cold, so how to save the fire? I told all the people who were with me and the shepherds who were helping, so we brought rocks, built a round structure, then other big rocks like this, and like this, and like this. We made a pyramid, like what you call the South Americans—Mayas, Incas. No, no... igloo, an igloo hut. Inside was fire. On the top was a little hole. We put our hot water or tea there. It was nice. Afterwards, people had wet clothes, so everyone was drying their shirt on the igloo, and from there we brought the vibhūti you all have. I think we will soon prepare a very nice book. So, that is it. Thank you. This was for the prāṇa seminar, the teacher training, and on top, this story was the cream. I wish you all the best, good health, a good journey, and have good holidays. Guru Pūrṇimā is coming on the 19th. Sometimes there will be a webcast also. I pray to Ālagpurījī, Mahāprabhujī, Devpurījī, Gurujī, all, for this Guru Pūrṇimā, to bless you. In August, I will be with you, if not earlier than the 15th of August. Many blessings to all bhaktas and to your families. All the best.

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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