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Follow the Guruvakyas and practice

A spiritual discourse on the importance of consistent practice and good company.

"You were listening to what they were singing. It was beautiful. We are all on that path." and "If you are not practicing, you will not have success."

Swami Ji addresses a gathering after an evening of bhajans. He emphasizes that spiritual development comes from regular practice (sādhanā) and the company one keeps, using the proverb Jaisā kare saṅg, vaisā lāge raṅg. He shares personal anecdotes of his early morning practices with his Guru and warns against neglecting discipline, comparing it to medical treatments that only suppress illness if not fully addressed. The talk covers themes of karma, the human lifespan, and the necessity of following the Guru's guidance.

Filming location: Vép, Hungary

Aum, Aum. Śrī Ālagapurī jī kī Jai. Devādidev, Deveśvar Mahādev, Haradev Bhagavān, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhū jī, and our beloved Satguru Dev, Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand jī. All brothers, sisters, all dear ones, it is very beautiful and joyful to see you here and to be here together. It was beautiful this evening with the beautiful bhajans sung by our devotees. These bhajans are from our guru-paramparā. We have such beautiful bhajans from Mahāprabhujī, our Sadgurudev, Swami Madhavānandjī, Brahmanandjī, Śivānandjī, Lālānandjī, and others. In these bhajans we possess a great treasure. They contain all different kinds of yoga and philosophy. If we understand each bhajan, each word and teaching, we need not run here and there. You were listening to what they were singing. It was beautiful. We are all on that path. We call it yoga in daily life. The postures are very, very important for our good health. The relationship between these bhajans and these yoga exercises is very interesting, and we should think it over. These yoga systems began in my life when I was about three or four years old—something everyone can do. But when I came to Gurujī, he used to perform the exercises himself. He did his exercises in the morning at 3:30 a.m. Our beloved Satguru Holī Gurujī’s life itself was sādhanā. Even when he slept, his mālā was running, or sometimes the mālā remained still but his fingers were moving. We can imagine how much sādhanā our beloved Gurudeva did. When he did his āsanas, he woke me up also. Sometimes it was okay, but sometimes I thought, "My God, why do I do this? I want to sleep." But Gurujī would say, "Do this posture," and I would do it. Gurujī’s program was one hour of āsanas, during which he also repeated mantras or Mahāprabhujī’s Prabhudeep Nirañjan Śabdukvañjan. He began with particular postures, followed by one and a half hours—or one hour—of singing bhajans. He had a fixed set of eleven bhajans to sing from our paramparā, from the many books and great saints. Then he would sit in meditation. It is like this: when we are with a spiritual master or person, their vibration comes to us. There is a saying: if you have two cows, one white and one black, and they are together, the white cow will not take the black color, but it will take the habit of the black cow. Do you understand? The slogan is: Jaisā kare saṅg, vaisā lāge raṅg. With whom you associate, you will take on that habit or color. Unfortunately, we now have a big problem in social life: drugs. The young generation somehow gets involved. Some don’t want to take any drug, but others pressure them, saying, "You are crazy, you must try it, otherwise you are out of society." People talk in such a way that they say, "Okay, just try." This trial enters the blood. If you go to someone who is a sports person—in football, basketball, skiing—they become very good champions. If you are with someone studying and interested in scientific work, that develops. If you are with spiritual people, spirituality develops in you. Those who do not practice cannot get anything. Very often, when we have a program, if I am not in the class here in the hall, about 35% of people are moving around. Some people, I can count on my fingers, I never see practicing. Where I am, of course, they sit in front. This is also a habit, but they cannot do the practice. Sometimes you have good company, good friends, but sometimes someone comes to catch you. You think maybe it is good. They say, "You are always in yoga and meditation. Why don’t you once come and see a night club, or a disco?" The person goes there. It is like a drug; you forget your spirituality and go in another direction. Many people only like to enjoy a lecture. They don’t practice. I sometimes have no chance to go to every class. Again, I will say—the Austrians, the Viennese, may be angry with me, but I was raised among them with love. They know that whatever I say, this Swāmījī says with love. For example, when people come for a class or Kriyā Yoga, and then I come for prayer, certain people do not come for practice at all. How will you develop your spirituality? How will you develop as a yogī? It is jesā kare saṅg, vesa lagerāṅg: in which company you are, that kind of habit you will have. And then, what kind of liquid, what water are you drinking? Like that, you will speak. If you drink nice, pure water, juice, or milk, you speak balanced, happy, and relaxed. But if you drink something like alcohol, you know how it is. So, jesā pīe pānī, vesī bole bānī. Bānī means speech, words. Similarly, what do you want to achieve? I know many of you come, giving up other work, your families, driving here. I think you come because you have an interest, a love for spiritual life, to see our friends, and perhaps I am also your friend. Is that not so? Guru is Gurujī, Mahāprabhujī. Some have interest, but only in gossiping. If you accept me at least as a friend, I will be very happy. A friend is a father, mother, brother, husband, wife, master, teacher—all in one. You know how happy we are when we come together. But many are resisting or avoiding practice. They don’t want to practice. Practicing is what we call the reality. You are hungry, but you only talk about food. You will not fill your stomach with words. But if you eat, your stomach will be filled. So I say to you personally: please do practice, not only in class but at home too. Otherwise, the karmas you have already purified may be neglected, and that karmic enemy begins to come closer. Unfortunately, in this environment, humans have many cancer diseases. Once we get an operation or treatment, it does not mean it is finished. A few months ago in Boston, there was a conference. They invited me for yoga in daily life, among others. The theme was Āyurveda, yoga, and cancer. It was at a very famous, world-renowned university—Harvard University. That city has more than 300 colleges and hundreds of universities. It is a resource for education. If you want to study there, it costs about 80,000 euros per year, and they may or may not take you. I talked to doctors and professors—one Āyurvedic, one allopathic. We were sitting at lunch. I said, "Maybe it is not nice of me," and excused myself, "but I have one question." We all know there are things we cannot do well. I asked the Āyurvedic doctor, a very well-known person, "Can you tell us honestly, can Āyurveda cure cancer?" He said, "Unfortunately, not. But we can press it down with herbs and Āyurveda, yet it may come back after 10 or 15 years." I asked the allopathic doctor, the head from that university (originally from Indore, India, now in Atlanta), a very spiritual person who liked to sit and talk with me. I said, "Is there any treatment for cancer?" He said, "Yes, we operate, use chemotherapy and radiation. These are very strong, but within 8, 10, 15 years, it may come back." My dear, it can happen that many people will have their karma cleared and will not be under cancer anymore; it will not come back. They said, "Okay, Swamiji, as you said, we trust you, but we cannot say." Anyhow, there is destiny. They said, "Yes, but we are educated in this way; we don’t know what destiny is." But keeping discipline—avoiding sugar, even fruits—is important, as these can be enemies and food for cancer. I don’t want to go further. I pray to Mahāprabhujī, Gurujī, Ālagapurījī that nobody should suffer from this, and that God helps us so cancer disappears from the world. It is my prayer, though I do not know how it will be. Similarly, what I want to tell you is that if you are not practicing, you will not have success. You had a strong spiritual love and were searching for this, but after a while, if you did not practice, you may think you are spiritual, but you are not anymore. If you eat, your stomach will be full. If you are thirsty and drink water, you quench your thirst. Similarly, with our exercises and our mental and emotional behavior, we shall try to cleanse ourselves. We are sitting in this hall with light. If the light goes off, we are in darkness, and we make light again. Our spirituality is like this: when we are pure, positive—not only for you, your friend, or your family, but for everyone—we shall give that love, respect, and understanding. Do not rush to judge someone. We have to work on ourselves because God has given us everything. But sometimes we cannot master it, so we grasp outside, thinking, "I am clear and good," yet we collect certain karmas. It comes to us, my dear. Why did I explain what Gurujī was doing with me one morning? Gurujī gets up early, does āsanas and exercises. Gurujī said this is called niyam, meaning we should do it regularly. Yoga in daily life began with our Gurujīs. Then, when I was in Rajasthan, in Jaipur, there was Swāmījī and Ānandarāmjī. Gurujī would visit him sometimes, and Ānandarāmjī taught me many āsanas. What I want to tell you is that soon, in two months, I will have been in Europe for forty-nine years. In these forty-five to forty-nine years, we—you and I—have our system, Yoga in Daily Life. We did not change. One of our friends, Gulab Kotar’s father, Kulishjī, used to come here and said, "Swāmījī, many systems in the world have changed, even politics. It is not easy to maintain a system." I can say that because of all of you, we have maintained our Yoga in Daily Life. This system is around the world—in China, Japan, Mexico, America, everywhere. Many individuals, our yoga practitioners and disciples, went somewhere with our book and are doing yoga practice. It is a system. So, keep your system—physical, mental, social, spiritual. Then you will be successful. Sometimes you fall, sometimes you rise. In elections, different parties are lost and come again. In football, one kicks the ball into one goal, another into the other. It is a game. Sometimes we have personal problems and think, "I did this, so why did it happen to me?" Many people tell me, "Swāmījī, why did this happen in my family? I pray always, I chant mantras every day." My dear, this is nature; it is the principle of birth and death. Who came will go, and who went will come. That will happen. You and I were young. One day, with ego, I said I had black hair, many hairs, and I held my hair saying, "Look, my hair is strong; I will not become old. I’m a yogī; I will be young all the time." In the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, people asked, "You will be young all the time?" I said, "I know, I know." It was maybe a joke, but today I say, "Boy, don’t speak like that." There is a river. Why do you call it a river? A river means flowing. If there is no flowing, it becomes a forest. We are the river, flowing in this river, and we will come again, maybe. So, it doesn’t matter what happens. Keep your principle and practice. You see, Gurujī was a big personality. If you see old pictures of Holy Gurujī, you can’t imagine. But Gurujī always told me, "Boy, you will not remain ever like that. But keep your inner promise to thyself, and go on this path. We will come again as humans. If we did not, there are many other creatures." We may find ourselves in some creature, but it is not easy to come as a human. That is what we call our system, meaning humans. Some humans are like this, some like that. But as spiritual humans, we understand, remember, and know karma. Finally, after all this, you have to come to Gurudev. Therefore, what to do? Dhyāna mūlaṁ gurumūrti, pūjā mūlaṁ gurupadaṁ, mantra mūlaṁ guruvākya. That Vākya, what your Gurujī said—"Do this"—if you did not follow, you will fail. Do not tell Gurujī, "It is like this." Mokṣamūlaṁ Guru Kṛpā. After all, we can only go through the mercy of Gurudev, Guru Kṛpā. You felt the words of the Guru’s Vākya are gone. Your Vākya and Guru’s Vākya, both sides, so that you say to Gurudev. There are many stories, which I am not going to tell. We are all one, with our own feelings, opinions, different ages, families, and countries. But in our inner self, our spirituality, we know that we will come and go. So it means: practice is yours, the benefit is yours, and success is yours. When you do not, nothing is yours, and there will be no success. You stand at a closed door. It is said: knock, and the door will open. When it opens, someone will let you in—somewhere written in the Bible. Who has not read the Bible, please read it. But the Old Testament says, "Do not eat those who have eyes. Go and search for those who have no eyes." I do not mean the blind, but so practice, please. We shall do. We have practiced many āsanas. I taught you so many. Our Yoga in Daily Life book is a bible of yoga. How nice. We have many prāṇāyāmas and kriyās. I have given many lectures. I think next time I will come, observe mauna, sit, and you also meditate, then go. It is a principle. Gurujī’s mālā—he was doing it until his last breath. In the hospital, when he was in deep sleep, only his fingers moved from time to time, as if he was doing his mantra. It is not easy, my dear, to follow the Guruvākya, to follow the masters. Why are you taking so many photos? We don’t want so many photos. This is what I want to tell you today. So do not ask him, do not ask her, do not blame this, do not blame me. Everything is within thyself. Sometimes it is like snow. The sun rises, the snow melts, flows, goes to the river, and the river goes to the ocean. That ocean is the One. So we come and go. It is a return for everyone. Everyone has a written number of breaths. In yoga, we say that is how much breath you have. After that, you have no more breath. It’s finished, your money. One drop falls out; there is no more. Breath is life. In that minute, that second, it is written: your life is gone. It doesn’t matter if you are young, old, healthy, or otherwise. Some people suffer greatly from disease but still live because that breath is still given for that ātmā, that jīvātmā. A yogī can prolong life only through prāṇāyāma. When you can do prāṇāyāma, then it will be. You can prolong it. Sometimes you have to pray for your karmic burden. It is morning, six o’clock. I think we will all sit here. Now we have different kinds of cameras. They will sit somewhere here, and others will show Swamiji. We will see how many there are. So practice. It is very important for all of us. Adiós.

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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