TV Channel

Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Dev Purīṣa Mahādeva Kī Jai, Alakhpurījī Mahādeva Kī Jai, Satguru Swāmījī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Satyāsana Tandarma Kī Jai. Good morning. The timetable is changing. I had my watch on Indian time, and you changed it one hour more, so I thought I came today too early, half an hour earlier, but it is already 11, not 10:30. Well, there are many, many different techniques. Now you have one duty or task. You have to learn by heart the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras. Until next year, beginning in December, so by Christmas 2018, you should know the Patañjali Yoga Sūtra by heart. Now we will see who will win the gold medal, who will win the silver medal, and who will win the bronze. Others will continue to learn for 2019. So, you have Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra in every language, but the chanting will be in Sanskrit. And this is written in Sanskrit, written in the Latin alphabet. Why? We know many things about yoga, but now you have to come to that part where more is written about yoga. It is an immense amount of wisdom inside. We can learn the Upaniṣads or many other books. But for all our yoga practitioners, the yoga teacher training students and yoga teachers, and those yoga teachers who are capable of teaching students to become yoga teachers. So, if you will learn by heart Patañjali’s Sūtras, it will change your complete ideas, your view, and your life. It will change in a positive way. Because Patañjali is not only about Haṭha Yoga, but there is also Haṭha Yoga. So when we learn, there is a very concrete essence of yoga in Patañjali. Now, we are on that level, all of you. You know more physical yoga training, a little bit mental. And then you went to another branch, and that branch is more or less bhakti yoga. Well, Bhakti Yoga is very good. Kali Yuga is based on the way up for us, which is Bhakti. But Patañjali, the science of Yoga, is about our mind and our body—our mind, our vṛttis. What Patañjali speaks about is Yoga: Chitta Vṛtti Nirodha. And why is it a mantra? The second mantra or śloka is about vṛttis. The very first one, Ṛṣi Patañjali, is teaching his disciples, the students who come for learning. Then he gives them, for a long time, one work that they should do. Then he will choose who is the good student, who will be successful, who is capable. So the master is watching, observing the students. One month, two months, three months, or one year. Nothing else. Just eat, sleep, and enjoy. Of course, you do āsanas, prāṇāyāmas, readings, etc. But this is the training of the master. And this is one year or one month, depending on the school. But Patañjali said, it’s enough time, enough time, take time to learn. But to get admission in the yoga teacher training, there is a one-year task. The master is observing. Kindly, nicely. In Europe, you have a very common one word: "Big brother is watching." So you should know the big master is watching. The difference is between a brother and the master. For one day, one weekend, three days, it’s nothing. So, the first duty that the master is giving them is that if this student will be capable of passing the examination to become a master, follow the master’s word, Guru Vakya. So, the first mantra, what you have to learn? Well, you know, nowadays stress management is a very common subject. And this stress, you cannot get rid of it without some particular technique. So Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a great person. He passed away, I think, two decades ago. Many of you know, and many of you don’t know, because people forget everything. The new things are for nine days. After thirteen days, then they are forgotten. So, there was a time when all people were talking about Maharishi Mahesh Yogī. What was his subject? When everyone is talking, then his technique was Transcendental Meditation. Many people learned from him, many follow him, many forgot him and became themselves as Maharṣi. You cannot become like others. Mahāprabhujī is Mahāprabhujī. Mahāprabhujī. You cannot say that I am Mahāprabhujī. It is a great mistake, a great mistake, that you can say I am Kṛṣṇa or Rāma. Yeah, but you can follow that. You are a follower of that. We should not forget the dignity of such persons. We shall walk in the footsteps of the Master. So, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was doing stress management. And his techniques and his knowledge, you all know. He wrote one beautiful book long ago, let’s say nearly 50 or 60 years ago. A very nice book; you should buy that. The Art of Living is a very big book, a nice little one. There are many subjects in it, and we can learn a lot from that book. You see, we should not steal even intellectual knowledge. Nowadays, people are imitating everything. For example, when we say, "Be the change you want to see," many people don’t know this slogan. But we should know that it is from Mahātmā Gandhījī. So you can use this word, "Be the change you want to see." Then you have to say one word more. Gandhījī said. Then you did not steal the intellect or knowledge. But you can make something, and people will put your name. But nowadays, so many things are stolen. Or they change one alphabet, and then they think it is mine. So Maharishi Mahesh Yogī was great, and we can learn from that. About stress management, he designed the meditation, and it’s very easy. There’s no remedy, no medicine to get rid of the stress. He said the mantra. The best is to repeat your mantra. But if you have stress, then even if you repeat a mantra, as soon as you begin to chant mantras and close your eyes, then 100% more thoughts come to the mind. So, mantra, mālā, this is to bring this restless mind back. But he said, if you don’t believe in mantra, or you don’t have a mantra, you don’t like the mantra, He said, doesn’t matter. I give you technique, and our purpose is to get rid of this stress. So I give you one other technique which can replace the mantra, subject to stress management. So he said, "Sit in meditation, close the eyes, and meditate. But chant one mantra." And can you imagine which mantra he said? Yes, good. So, he said, repeat in meditation. Don’t give up your mantra. You have nothing against it, and no one has anything against it. It doesn’t matter in which religion you believe. Such a mantra that no one will be against, and that mantra was, and you should try. I don’t have a stress, otherwise I will use it, and I have my mantra, but He said very simply. So that mantra is—should I tell it now or next time? And so Patañjali said to his disciples, "I give you one word, one sentence. I give you one year’s time. After that, you can come and become a student for the training, the yoga training." And he said, "Unless you learn this, you will not be successful." Your whole training course, whatever you have for one year, two years, five years, ten years, it will not be successful. The foundation is very important. This building is standing on that foundation. And that is what Patañjali said, very first, "Atha Yoga Anuśāsanam." He said, "My dear disciples, devotees, students, I give you one year of training." And this one here, serve the ashram. Work on everything, cleaning this, that, that, karma yoga. Because Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, Yoga will become successful when you do karma yoga. If you can’t maintain anything, then do Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is purification of the antaḥkaraṇa. And so the first mantra is Atha yoga anuśāsanam. Your yoga learning, and you are learning your yoga teacher trainings, etc., etc., to achieve the master’s degree, so that you are becoming the master, if you will follow this discipline. Anushasan, discipline. Then after one year, the Master will observe you, testing. It is the test. He will make a joke with you, this, that, in eating, in sleeping, in working, this, that, many, many things. Meditations, mantras, āsanas. In one year, the master will say who follows the discipline. That will be chosen to get admission. So, Yoga Anushāsana. Now, I give you 365 days to learn. And you know nowadays there is an earphone, so listen to this mantra, only one mantra, and chant with your instrument, always, or five ślokas. Repeat, repeat, repeat. This is the ancient training for learning the Vedas. Getting up at three o’clock, cold water washing, and then sitting and chanting the Vedas. They don’t tell you what that means. They don’t give you the grammar, only chanting, chanting, chanting. Like a parrot. You can... Papušek by sitting here. Yeah. So, you can teach this; this bird will imitate you. You know the story that someone gave the challenge to Ādi Guru Śaṅkarācārya. There’s another one who was a Maṇḍana Miśra, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Maṇḍala Miśra, not Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, and he said, "You are calling yourself Jagat Guru." But still, you are not Jagat Guru. You have to have discussions with me. So, if you win, if you answer my questions, then I will say you are Jagat Guru. So, someone gave the message. Śaṅkarācārya goes to that small village where Bandhan Miśra was. So he came to that village. And so there were some ladies who were drawing water from the well to take home. Śaṅkarācārya asked them, "Please, can you show me or tell me where is the house of the Maṇḍana Miśra?" So they said, "Who are you, and why are you going there?" So he said, "I’m going to have a dialogue with him." They said, "No one can defeat him." He said, "That’s okay." I ask you only address. There was not a house number. There were no other techniques then, like nowadays. So they said, "You go in this street, and you will see outside of the house, in the veranda, there are two cages hanging. In both, there is one parrot, and they are discussing with each other, the parrots, about Vedas and Vedānta." So when you hear, yes, this house, even the parrots have so much learned knowledge that they are discussing the Vedas. So you have no chance; it’s not necessary to go there. Shankaracharya said, "It’s okay," and he went there. So there are these two papagayas, parrots, they are talking in Sanskrit about Vedānta and Śaṅkarācārya asked, "Where is Maṇḍana Miśra?" So the parrot said, "What is your interest in coming here?" We can answer you. Śaṅkarācārya said, "There must be something." These must be the disciples of a yogī and their life. They are ready to answer everything. Well, Maṇḍana Miśra, he couldn’t defeat the Śaṅkarācārya, and Maṇḍana Miśra said, "I accept that you are the winner, you are the Jagat Guru." Shri Jagadguru, Maṇḍana Miśra’s wife came, and she said, "No, no... the wife is half part of the husband. You defeated my husband; it’s only half. Now you have to discuss with me." He said, "No problem." So she put the questions to Śaṅkarācārya, and Śaṅkarācārya told her, Please give me some days or weeks, and I will answer your question. She said, "Okay, and what was that question and answer?" It will come next time. So Patañjali said, "Atha yoga anuśāsanam." So you need a discipline to learn whatever you want to. But if you have inside this kind of feeling that I want to become like that, if you love to be a dancer, then you will learn. You have this hobby, you have interest. Have interest to learn what you call the, on the toes, the girl’s ballet. Oh God, the toes, you know what? How his toes are. It’s not easy. But after some months or years, they can go like this, and we will break all our toes. So, therefore, Mīrābāī said what she said, and that is what we need. Can you tell what she said? Lagana, lagana, this is something. If you have no laganā, you can’t study. You will not have a perfect examination. You will fail, you will fail, you will fail. Why can’t you pass your examination? Because there is no Lagan. Lagan, yes. In the Mahābhārata, there was a certain subject, and that was between the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas. And there was a mandala. There was a mandala, and on this mandala there was reflecting. There was a fish eye, and that was moving, rolling slowly, slowly clockwise. And down there was a water pond. That’s a test. Why am I talking about this? Because I will have such a test with you, yes, yes. So it is said, the winner will be that one. You look at the water’s reflection. In this picture, the fish on the maṇḍala is moving along its design, and you have to look into the water and shoot at the eye of the fish, which is moving slowly. And there is water, you see clearly in the water. Everyone fell, only Arjuna. And Arjuna’s Lagan. Now he had a Lagan. That was a concentration. That was the longing that he wanted to do, and he showed the arrow, exactly looking into the water, and he showed the arrow. It went at the eye of the picture of the fish. Therefore, Mīrābāī said, "My concentration, my suratā is on the holy feet of my Gurudeva." I have no other interest, and the whole world, it is not the reality. So if you can keep this quality, this energy, this lagan, that is very important. And the same thing Holy Gurujī said. Bhagavān, Kī Jāī, that not even one second, a quarter second, my eye doesn’t go down, doesn’t move, constantly I’m looking, my concentration on the holy feet of Mahāprabhujī’s. Then nothing is impossible for you. Nothing is impossible. Everything you will win, you will get it. Lagan, you should have interest, but you are changing today, this and that, this and that. And it is a test. It is not easy. Sometimes we say, okay, here and this and this energy and that head, this fat, this cat, this cat, this is... No. So Patañjali’s test was that. Atha yōga anuśāsanam, you need anuśāsanam. So that you have a lot of stress, a lot of feelings here and there. So it doesn’t matter how many sleeping tablets you get. You can sleep for two days, but the stress will not go away because you are a workaholic. So this mantra first, Anushāsan, have a discipline. And so Maharṣi Mahesh Yogi said another mantra. If you don’t like the mantra of the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc. Because what does a mantra do when we repeat it? It is something changing in our brain. Our awareness is awakening. And that mantra he said, second mantra, sit straight, everybody. I think tomorrow is nice. Time is over. That easy mantra. He said, "One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five.... One, two." So, one, two, three, four, five; one, two, three, four, five,... Deeply, in the ranges of dogma, one, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, only one mantra, one, two, three, four, five, or eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, one mantra, okay? So, just a simple mantra. One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five... Slowly, slowly, then, when we have an anuśāsan, then we have an interest, we have a love for it, we want to learn this, we want to be successful, then forget all other desires. Then he will say, when you have... Mastered the discipline, then he will tell, "Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." Now you come to your discipline, but still you have so many desires. You know how? We have a good plate camp for the lunch. Very good, deliciously, according to your taste. There’s rice, there’s chapati, it’s Indian taste. But you are there, you have something, this something, this... Or junk food, you have this, you have that, you have ketchup, so after all, suddenly your spoon goes to, or a piece of bread goes to the ketchup. So there are many, many sādhus like Devpurījī; they had only one pot, and whatever they gave for eating—everything inside: yogurt, milk, sweets, chapatis, vegetables—everything in one. And that means that person comes above the test. Svadhā indriya, there is one bhajan from Achala Rāmjī. Tame indriyan das, koi pure yogī ke bas, do kā nahī itbhara, kida jagat hathagāra. So these two, the test, the senses of the test, and that is not easy to control. Can you imagine a beautiful, beautiful cherry tree that has no worms inside? We call the heart cherry, good life, and imagine you take that one cherry. To pluck the cherry takes time, but to put it in the mouth goes quickly, and you are not waiting for anything. Just you bite, and the cherry explodes. This juice, the taste, unbelievable. You don’t know how good it is, like a cherry. So, that is a temptation or a lemon, you know. You take the lemon and chew a little bit. Still, you did not chew, but all the hormones are coming; the saliva comes. Like this, if you have the interest to become something, then give up all the other tastes, all temptations, all indriyas, give up all. Your interest is for one thing, nothing else but dance. Dance. So what Mīrābāī said, there is one bhajan. Aga Gunga Dhamira Natchiri, and there is her father-in-law gave poison in the nice cup, the golden bowl, but inside was the poison. But it said, "Give it to Mīrā." This is the holy water of the holy feet of the Gurudev, Caraṇāmṛta. And she took it, and she knew, but she drank that, and she threw the ball. The golden wolf was making sound, and she had bells on her ankles, and she was dancing. That became amṛta; that poison turned into the amṛta. So this is that, how much we have energy, power, and therefore it is said, Patañjali, "Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." Now first you master, that’s called Yoga Anuśāsanam. But now, you have anuśāsan, but still you... Have the desire; always your thoughts are going there. You will not be successful. Therefore, Chitta Vritti Nirodhaḥ: Chitta is our concentration, Vritti, our thoughts. Nirodha means to control those feelings, those thoughts, those desires. And without controlling this, your yoga sādhanā will not be successful. Now it’s twelve o’clock. The next subject will come after. So, you can practice this mantra. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,... Deep Nand Bhagavān Kī, Sanātana Dharma Kī, Devādhi Deva, Devīśvara Mahādeva Kī, Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Mahāśvarānanda Purījī Gurudeva, Kī Jai.