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I want to share something that is, for me, very important: throughout this journey, try to keep in mind that this is not a trekking expedition—it is a pilgrimage. There is a significant difference between trekking and pilgrimage. Trekking revolves around your shoes, your physical condition, and external gear. When visiting Śrī Alakhpurījī’s cave, approach it with a spiritual mindset rather than a trekking mentality. If you view the path to the cave and the Himalayas from a spiritual perspective, it becomes far more than a tour. Of course, you need appropriate shoes and a certain level of physical fitness for such a journey, but what will all that matter if you lack bhāv and genuine feeling? If you go with a trekking mindset, you may end up a little disappointed, because the terrain is not terribly difficult or extremely high. Remember: it is not “where was,” but “where is”—Śrī Alakhpurījī is still present. The place where Alakhpurījī resides remains accessible, and if you walk with the feeling that every step resonates with your mantra, you will experience a real pilgrimage. Swāmījī has spoken many times about how to undertake a pilgrimage. You go with that inner sentiment, you walk—and I will not say only walk, but also drive, because your pilgrimage begins from Delhi, or even better, from the web. For now, you are starting to think not just about shoes and climbing up and down stairs, but you are beginning with your meditation, your prāṇāyāma, and your daily sādhanā. As you travel along the road that winds up and down in circles—changing altitude constantly from 1000 to 2000 and back again, much like a preparation for an astronaut—remember that all of this is happening under G1 gravity, though sometimes on a curve it feels like one and a half or two Gs. When you start this pilgrimage by bus or car, pay attention to the way other Indians travel on pilgrimage. You will notice a very big difference between Indians and Westerners: Indians have immense patience. We, on the other hand, tend to have little patience and constantly need a schedule. Once you leave Delhi, you don’t need to think about anything. Just try to enjoy, to cultivate your inner feeling, without fear, without worrying about what will be, what needs to be planned, or what to do tomorrow. Put everything in the hands of God. In Badrināth, we met a paṇḍit, about 75 years old but full of youthful vitality. He told Sadhvi Ānandī and me, “Next time I will go with you to the Satopan, much farther than the cave of Alakhpurījī.” And he said, “You don’t need anything. You don’t really need anything. You only need to breathe. Everything else is in the hands of God.” This is the idea, the feeling of the bhakta, the essence of pilgrimage. If you start worrying about altitude, shoes, and such things, you are turning it into a trek. But if you go with joy—like the two sādhus we saw walking from Badrināth to Manā—the experience transforms. They walked in a state of such devotion that it deeply influenced us. They chanted kīrtan: one sannyāsī sang the first part, the other repeated. It was not a subdued “Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya, Śivāya,” but full of joy, almost like a dance. “I’m going to my beloved one”—without worry, with love and joy. That is pilgrimage. Everything else is spoiling, as Swāmījī said. Some other thoughts are like putting lemon into milk. Not tomorrow—right now—if you go, really try to take the lemon out. Do not carry lemons with you to India or Badrināth. That is the most important thing. Now, this retreat, seminar, and anuṣṭhān are the best preparation for pilgrimage. It is much better than going somewhere to walk ten kilometers every day, because with this seminar, with being with Viśvagurujī, we are changing—or rather, Viśvagurujī is changing us. Kilos and kilos of lemons simply disappear from our life. Always keep in mind that we have the opportunity to be only the observer, like those two old men from the Muppet Show, or we can be in the action, in the situation, enjoying and working on something—but really, just be the two guys from the Muppets. They don’t only have lemon; they have limetta inside too, very bitter. So if you are a little worried, thinking, “How will I prepare myself for the pilgrimage? I am struggling, I am in the web,” don’t worry. Satsaṅg with Viśvagurujī is the best preparation. We spent five weeks at the Kumbha Melā. All the physical strength we had built up before the Kumbha Melā just disappeared there, because at the Kumbha Melā you are not practicing so much, you are not walking so much; you are mostly sitting. But the atmosphere of the Kumbha Melā, and especially being with Viśvagurujī, is what will change you and prepare you for such a journey. That is what changes you. So don’t worry if, during the seminar, you immediately think, “In every interval I will go walk somewhere in the forest.” At that moment, you are no longer at the seminar but preparing for a trek. Don’t worry about how you will physically perform on the Himalayan tour. From that moment on, you are not in the seminar but on a tour like that. Be present in the seminar, be in the satsaṅg, enjoy the satsaṅg, and know that satsaṅg is the best preparation for everything in our life. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ, Śrī Alakhpurījī, Śrī Dīp Paramparā Kī Jaya, and now we will continue with the bhajans. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānī Kī Jai, Terī Sattā Gurū Rakhī Lāj, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānī Kī Jai, Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Viśvagurū Deva Kī Jai. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavānī Kī Jāī, Śrī Devpurījī Mahādeva Kī Jāī. One more thing: you know, when Viśvagurujī is in the hall, he always speaks about having little stuff around us. All the time, we do not have so many things around us—not only for aesthetic reasons, but also because if we are surrounded by too many things, we pay more attention to them and follow progress less. There was a documentary film about a pilgrimage. In medieval Europe, there were many pilgrimages; people traveled everywhere, even to Jerusalem and across Spain. But the secret of being able to undertake a pilgrimage was light luggage. When people began traveling with a lot of luggage, they could no longer travel quickly or far. And that mirrors our life. If you have so many things and are constantly taking care of them, you are not free. Even if you have a house, plants—I’m going to Śrīlankā for three weeks, and I wonder, “Who will take care of my flowers?” All the time, we take care of material stuff. Yesterday we talked about shoes: entering the temple, we are taking care of our shoes. On pilgrimage, we are always attending to our belongings. And on the Zorāṇ Doctrine, we have similar thoughts. One very important announcement: Swāmījī will arrive shortly, but he will not come here until early afternoon, which we will announce at the beginning of the three-hour session. So everyone should come to the yoga nidrā in the three-hour session at the Akhāṛā, and we will announce at the Kriyānusthāna as well when Swāmījī will arrive in the afternoon. Swāmījī will arrive this afternoon very soon, and we will announce the time and place. He will come at 3 o’clock here in the hall, and also at the Kriyā group. Now we should continue happily, with a light heart, the satsaṅg. We will receive the information about Swāmījī’s arrival at 3 o’clock in this hall or at the Kriyā place. So now we know Swāmījī will not come now, but at three o’clock, and we will continue with the satsaṅg. If we travel without so many things—through this pilgrimage, but also through our life—you will see that you have fewer and fewer problems. Yesterday we talked about light travel. Our life is a journey, and if we try to travel through it with few things, we will be free and able to move much quicker. Remember what Swāmījī mentioned about pizza? What is moha? When you have cheese pizza and you take a slice, the cheese stretches but remains connected to the pizza. Symbolically, all around us is this stream of pizza, this cheese, and we are like a fly in a spider’s web. Because of that, really, try not to decide, “From September, I will clean my house.” Try from now. Just try to reduce a lot of things that are not important. A few years ago, a man from my yoga class traveled the Spanish Camino de Santiago route. He told me someone asked him, “Do you take something?” and he replied, “No, I don’t need this,” with a strange energy. That would be wonderful: our way, our path, our life on a similar course, walking and simply leaving behind things that are not important. Then we will be able to travel light. When you have to board an Indian train with a lot of luggage—a backpack and two suitcases—how will you enter? But if you have just one piece of luggage, you move in and out very easily. That is also our life. We will travel through our life very easily, not in moha, not like a fly in a spider’s web. So try to be without so much stuff. You need your pillow, maybe your documents, a case, keys if you don’t want to put them in the car—and you are a free person. A bhajan book—it would be nice to have a bhajan book here—but okay, you have your bhajan book, and we are free. We will have two more bhajans, and with that we will finish the satsaṅg. Siddhi number one, Kī Jāī.