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Hari Om. Good evening. Hari Om. Welcome. Today is again a beautiful day. The most beautiful day. It is the day of wisdom, the day of mercy, the day of light, the day of love, the day of vairāgya, the day of discipline. This day is called the divine day. According to the lunar calendar, our dear holy Gurujī, Śrī Svāmī Madhavānandajī, was born today—Gurujī’s birthday, his incarnation day. So, I bless you all in the name of holy Gurujī. Many devotees know Gurujī, and many know him through videos or photos. Many read the Līlā Amṛt book. It contains the divine glory of Bhagavān Siddhi Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī. Līlā means divine play—those miraculous things that happen in the presence of a great incarnation, a great soul. In Leela Amrit, you will read about Mahāprabhujī and also come to know about Gurujī’s sādhanā and Gurujī’s message. That is why we have the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand World Peace Council, which organizes an international conference every year with the aim of promoting bhakti, devotion, and ahiṃsā. We are many who are born, but the question is whether we bring a good message to the world, whether we understand our own life and the lives of others. Every sense... And Gurujī also said: What is impossible, Gurudev can make possible. And what is happening? Gurudev can change it. Gurudev is Parabrahma. But now, there are many people who ask, "Why didn’t my wish come true?" I believe and agree with you that your wish didn’t come true, and I don’t think it will come true if you lead life like this. In your mind, in your intellect, in your heart, in your cidākāśa, there is more conflict, more doubt. You think you will begin prayer with great love today, and tomorrow all wishes will be fulfilled. And when your wish is fulfilled, you forget the Gurudev. So it is not like that. You have to purify your karma, your destiny, for years and years, even for many, many lives. Whatever happens, you must not lose your confidence or your faith. Then your every wish comes true. If your wishes are selfish, it will take time. It’s not that your wish is selfish, but God knows that this selfish wish is also not good for you. A child has a selfish wish to eat ice cream, but the parents don’t give it because the child is ill, and this cold ice cream will not do good for the child. The child doesn’t understand why the parents don’t give it. Similarly, our selfish wish—no matter in which direction—always has negative results, which means disappointment. And that is not everything you should wish for. Therefore, God ignores our selfish wishes. That is the greatness of God, that is the greatness of Gurudev. But what do we do? We lose our confidence and say, "If God doesn’t help me, I will do it myself." Of course, no one tells you not to do it, but then don’t blame God. "Why do such things happen to me?" And that’s why... Is it the truth? So now, blessings have come from above. Thank you, holy Gurujī, for your blessing. Therefore, many yogīs are practicing every day, but... still, it’s not what we should do. We should know that the only chance to come through is through surrender—through our devotion, our positive way of life, and having discipline. Sahansakti. Sahansakti means the power, the energy to endure. Sahanśīlatā: whatever happens, one is still very kind. So if someone is upset with you, if someone is angry at you, you show mutual understanding. You endure it, you digest this, and still you show kindness. That is called Sahanśīlatā. Sahan means to go through, but without losing your temperament, your thoughts, or your visions. Those who have sahanśīlatā have ātmabala. Otherwise, you cannot have this sahanśīlatā—enduring pain or pleasure, thirst, hunger, everything. Ātmabala. And when ātmabala is there, it means the power of your Ātmā is very near to you, and you don’t care, or you don’t become angry, or you don’t take notice in your mind. Because everything that comes negative is coming out of ignorance. A bhakta sees only love; a bhakta sees only light. Good people see only good things. Even when bad things happen, they know, they understand that it can happen. And it has happened. What has happened and is happening—if we can’t change it, then why should we suffer for it? We know we cannot change it. So where there is Śraddhā, there is surrendering, there is love, and there is understanding. So, I welcome all of you this week. We had two weeks of a beautiful seminar, a retreat, in this beautiful ashram—the Mahāprabhū Deep Satsaṅg Foundation and Yoga in Daily Life ashram in Strelky, in a beautiful country called the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic, a country of landscape, nature, and everything. They used to say it is a country where milk and honey flow. And when we talk about milk and honey, it means literally pureness, the planet. Up to the Brahmaloka, as is said in Vedānta: "Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā." The truth, the ultimate truth, is Brahman. That Brahman is the cosmic consciousness. That Brahman is that reality in the universe—not as an embodiment, but that God in the form of truth. You cannot describe truth. What is the truth? We can say, "I tell you the truth." Others will say, "No, he didn’t tell the truth." Or love: "I love you." Or someone says, "I don’t love you." But can you describe the form of love? How is it that? Though you know what love is, what truth is, what hate is, and what a lie is—both we cannot explain. So, how are you going to explain the ultimate truth, the cosmic Self? Though you know, you cannot explain. Similarly, some people can understand and achieve, and some cannot. Kabir Das said: "Pānī mein mīna piyāsī re moi, dekhata āvata hāsī." "I am laughing, my stomach is full of laughter, because I see a fish in the water who is very thirsty." A fish who is living in the water is thirsty. When I see the fish thirsty in the water, I must laugh. Similarly, we humans are living in this Brahmajñāna, in the presence of Brahman. We are in Brahman. We are that fish in that cosmic aquarium. But still we don’t know. We are thirsty. We don’t know how to drink that nectar of Brahmajñāna. And for that, again and again, Patañjali tries to help people and students. He is one of the greatest, the father of psychology. How much he understood about the human—from the physical body till Brahmajñāna, till samādhi. He is very step-by-step, following the situation of a devotee, a practitioner, and where the mistakes are, where the dangers are, where one is making mistakes. Of course, if these mistakes we make were easier, then we would not make them. But somehow we do not understand. And that means we do not understand; it means we do not know how to drink the water in the aquarium, as we are a fish and we are thirsty. So our spiritual journey, which we began many, many births ago, is still uncompleted. Though we don’t want them, obstacles come, and obstacles have to be expected. Don’t think that everything will be very comfortable and very nice. There is no one in this creation who was born, incarnated, or manifested who did not go through obstacles. Even God went through many, many difficulties. Even the messenger of God, what is called Jesus—how many difficulties he had, though he had such a high consciousness and all this. So, who are we? From which garden’s carrots are you, that you say, "I am"? No. But if we follow the instructions given by great saints from our smṛti... Yesterday we spoke about śraddhā. Smṛti is what is coming from past life. So smṛti means our memory. Always keep in your mind why you are here. Someone told of a spy: no matter where they are or what they are doing, through whatever situation they are going, inside they know what they want. And one gets that information and escapes. So we know we are going through such situations, but we know what we want. And that is our aim, and that is what Patañjali is guiding us step by step. So what was the last thing he said? It was very nice. Describing the Prajñā Samādhi, where he is speaking about Śraddhā (confidence), Vīrya (strength), Smṛti (memory). That memory which is spoken of by great saints through the scriptures—Vedas, Upaniṣads, and holy books. Every religion has a holy book. And there is written something that a human can follow to get salvation. "Śraddhā vīrya smṛti samādhi prajñā pūrvakāya taresām." Then it is explained about the Bhagavad Gītā, in the 4th chapter, 39th verse or mantra of the Bhagavad Gītā. Jitendriya means that you are the winner of your senses. Your senses are your slaves; you are not a slave of your senses. One who is a Jitendriya is constantly practicing. Don’t think now, "I am the master of all my senses, and I don’t need to practice anymore." That is the biggest mistake we make. Still, you have to keep under control, observing everything, so that one can achieve param śānti—free from the vikṣepas, free from tṛtāpa, and free from the kleśas. Always kleśas are there; even kleśa will attack you as a temptation, or... Whatever it is, at the door of Brahman, you are half inside; half he will pull you out, like a snake pulls out a mouse, or a fox pulls out a rabbit from the earth, from the hole. Yes, till the last minute. Lucky are they who can protect themselves through their feelings, through their behaviors, through their tyāga, vairāgya, śraddhā, bhakti. And we have to follow the instructions. So Patañjali is saying in the next verse, the 21st: "Tīvra Saṁvegānām Āsanaḥ." Tīvra Saṁvegānām. This is a strong, burning desire. Tīvra means quick, fast, speedy, quicker, intensive. So Tīvra Saṁveg means feelings. Unbearable pain—oh God, unbearable pain when you have a toothache or an ache anywhere. Similarly, there is a fervent feeling of desire for self-realization, God-realization, or coming to samādhi. Āsana—why is he asking about āsana here? It means that which is fixed in this feeling. No one can change your opinion. Nothing can be changed because that is the final truth, and you know it, and you are going towards this path. So, those whose practice becomes now quicker—not that khatuparna, "we will make tomorrow." Half a minute, whole round. This is another thing also said: in one way we tell yoga practice to do slowly, steadily, relaxed. So this is not that. Tīvra is burning desires. "When will I come there? When will I get that? Or what can I do so that I will remain there?" That must be a feeling inside. Inner feeling demonstrates your outer behavior or your outer actions. All your decisions, physical decisions or anything, depend on your inner intensive feeling. And no one can understand that for you. Everyone knows what love is, but they cannot describe it, and you cannot describe what love is. It is said in one poem: "If it is a piece of paper, I can read it to you, but I can’t read to you my destiny." You cannot read your destiny to anyone, nor can anyone read your destiny. That is written somewhere else, in other languages, in other letters, and even you can’t see that. "If it is a piece of wood, I can break it, but love, I cannot break." And therefore it is said that love is such a fragile, gentle thread. Don’t break it with some misunderstanding. If it breaks, you can’t join it again, and if you do, there will be a knot between. So, finally, we are the ones who can come through, and we are the ones who can’t come through. Therefore, be aware and do your sādhanā every day. Yes, there are some situations where you can’t do it. When you cannot perform your āsanas, prāṇāyāmas, or some exercises, it doesn’t matter. Inner continuity must be there. Holy Gurujī gave an example once. Someone asked the question: "In this troublesome world, we cannot concentrate. How should we get realization?" Gurujī gave the example of a tailor who is sewing a shirt for us. He takes a cloth and is ironing the cloth. He cuts with the scissors, listens to the radio, talks with friends who are coming, looks at who’s going and coming. He sits at the machine, starts the machine, and he’s sewing the shirt. Though he listens to the radio and this and that, in no time, the shirt is ready. Similarly, there are vikṣepas from families, from children, from parents, from illness, no good school, parents are unhappy. Many, many things happen, and other diseases, and this. But your tīvra vegnat, your concentration, your sādhanā is... there. And you cannot have that unless you have śraddhā, confidence, love, and that you have realized it. Yes, this is that. "I want to have it"—that’s also selfish, but that selfishness is to have, to see God, to become one with God, to become Brahman. That’s also the biggest selfishness. But there’s a healthy one, a positive one. In that, everyone has a good benefit. If one of us becomes a Brahmajñānī and we bless, everyone will get prasād, blessings. One sun rising illuminates the entire earth. There are millions of stars, but they cannot illuminate our earth that much. And so, great incarnations, great saints—they are that light of the universe and the path for us to go through, that light of wisdom. So, practice every day faithfully with great concentration. As I always tell, there are three kinds of disciples, three kinds of practitioners: the best, the medium, and the worst. And it’s very hard to say who is the best one. If I tell you that you are the best one, then the other one will be jealous or angry, or will say... We are very expert at giving judgment immediately. But it is said: the great doesn’t speak about greatness. A great person doesn’t speak about her or him. "How great I am?" Never prizes oneself. Rahim Das was one poet. He said: "When does a diamond speak to us that my value is millions?" A diamond doesn’t say that my value is millions, but we say this is a diamond and it is very expensive. Similarly, those who are spiritual and great do not say, "I am a great bhakta, and I know this, and I am more of a sevak, and I am very close to the Gurudev, and you do not know this." This is ignorance. Therefore, it is said: as long as you didn’t speak, you were wise. So, best to be silent. And when someone is very angry with you and tells you that you are stupid and this and that, be silent. And you know, when you are silent, that is also provoking the anger in others, you know. But still, you listen and smile. Then that person will become more angry. Even he will come and hold you to throw your head towards the glass door. Some men came and told my wife, "Hold me and throw me through the glass door." I said, "Well, this is very rare." So he said, "What do you mean, Swāmījī? Very rare?" I said, "Well, wife does very rare." So after a few minutes, he or she will become... You should not become aggressive. Don’t let your temperament come out. Then it is like this: donkey to donkey. When they come together, they don’t know each other, but when donkey to donkey comes together, then you know what happens with their back legs. I think what they call boxing came from donkeys. And the Australian said, "No, no, from the kangaroos." Do you know how the kangaroos are boxing? I saw one nice video from Australia, this whole video about kangaroos, how quickly they can box with their legs, the back legs. Since that time, I don’t want to go near a kangaroo to see how they are. You know, always better from far. So, inside, be calm. Others will realize their mistake, or others will also become calm, peaceful, and go. So, these practitioners, three kinds: Mṛdu, Madhyam, Mātra. Tatva Topī Viśeṣa. Someone’s sādhanā is light. "Yes, I am practicing, but occasionally is also something better than nothing." But your sādhanā is very slow. There are some people who work 12 hours and come home, and then again they make a side work. And there are some people who work one and a half hours in the morning and one and a half hours in the evening. And when they both get their salary, the one who is working 15 hours a day, two jobs, says, "Money is coming bigger, more." And who works only three hours gets little, then one is jealous. "Why does he have so much money?" Yeah, because he or she is working more. Similarly, who practices more has more benefit. And who is ignoring, sometimes, "Okay, I will do my sādhanā. When I am in my yoga class, I practice. Other days, I am not doing so." Once a week practicing means you will get benefit only for this one week. What? Once a week you practice one hour or 40 minutes, and 45 minutes you were gushing up in drinking tea and sitting and doing nothing. And my yoga teachers, they are so expert in how to do the things, that people are sitting, drinking tea, and practicing little, and then they are surprised why they are so little. I’m talking especially for my particular disciples in Vienna, Austria, you know. In the webcast, everybody is saying, "Why is Swāmījī talking so much about Austria?" Are there any specialties? Yoga teachers, when the students come, first ask them, "How are you? Would you like to drink? Relax," and so on. Now, should we practice asking them? Should we practice? Others are thinking, "For what am I here?" Then they practice a little bit, they say, "Lie down and relax." They are relaxing, they put the music on, and what is the teacher doing? Going in the other room and having a quick cup of coffee. Then practice Mahārjarī, a few postures, again relax, then have coffee, tea break. They offer tea for about 10 minutes, then they do a little pranayama five times, in and out, and then they say, "How are you?" and "Nice," then they are sitting again together and having biscuits and chocolates and these things, and then they are surprised why so little practice. Come, because practitioners didn’t come for your coffee and your chai. They come for practicing. So, when the teacher, he or she, doesn’t have that feeling to give people something, then you are not successful. A master, a teacher, an instructor must have a lot of wisdom inside that one would like to give them. That’s it. But when you don’t have that kind of feeling, then you are gone. So when I ask you to come in and speak something, you are speechless. Why? Because you think, "What will I talk about now?" Now, you have so much wisdom in you, you can come and talk a lot. But when the gushing up is there, then the teachers are so expert in sitting there and talking and talking. So I will not tell more about which country, but you know. The mother-in-law is telling hard words to her daughter, but with the intention that her daughter-in-law should listen to this. Mother-in-law, mother is telling her daughter, "You are uneducated, and you are this and that." And mother-in-law, daughter-in-law is sitting in another place, and the mother-in-law wishes to tell her daughter, but indirectly she is telling her daughter-in-law, you know. That’s why people don’t like their mother-in-law so much. Before marriage, they want to have an apartment. They want to move from another town. And that’s why a lot of the environment is destroyed. Because everyone wants to have a house. And do you imagine, you know, the farmer’s family, a big family estate, in one small farmhouse? We don’t know how to maintain, and we become individualistic, and we don’t care about others. So the sādhanā: there is a sādhanā which has a very light practice, slowly, time to time, yes and no. This one will have to wait for a few lives to come to this point. Why not a few lives? We enjoy. The life: good eating, good drinking, good breathing, good ocean swimming, sitting in nice nature in Brahma Loka—not even Apple there. And when you enter the Brahma Loka, forget about this Loka. Therefore, read carefully all ślokas of the Bhagavad Gītā and decide which karmas you will do. So, one lady came to me—sorry, ladies—and she said, "My husband is true, but from which country, I don’t tell you now." She said, "My husband is so angry, so angry, hardly a day goes away the way. He doesn’t beat me, and this and that, but Swāmījī, the problem is that I love him." So I said, "Then it’s okay. Be ready. Put more powder on the face with blue." That’s love. Even if he beats or kills, he is my husband. I said, "You are the best woman. That you have such a mutual understanding, I tell you, in five days your husband will change." And she said, "How?" "He will be nice and kind to you, and he will never raise his hand on you." She said, "Gurujī, I believe you in many things, but on this point I disagree with you. Even you didn’t see my husband, how can you tell me this?" I said, "Well, I wish you okay." And the next day when we could, she came to practicing. She said, "Swāmījī, from the last time when I was here till today, my husband didn’t raise even one finger. He’s so calm, and even three times he told me, 'I’m sorry for my rude behavior.' What have you done, Swāmījī, by magic?" I said, "I have no magic." So, but the thing is that you began meditation one week ago and became calm. He said, "Yes, that’s true. Actually, Swāmījī, I am the cause. I make him so angry and crazy that he cannot swallow it all. And for one week, I didn’t tell him anything except good words, and nothing happened." So, it means we have to change. We have to change and speed up our humbleness, kindness, mercy, understanding, love. Give up your hard words, and he or she will become your best friend. And so, sādhanā: if you do little, then your development will be little. Madhyam, the middle one, and the apibhi viśeṣa, and others which are strong desires towards God—and this your development is quicker. So it means that nirbīja samādhi, you are on the door of nirbīja samādhi, near, but now you speed it. But there is one thing missing now. It doesn’t depend if you practice asanas and pranayama or not. There comes Īśvara Praṇidhāna. And there is a... Patañjali said, "Īśvara Praṇidhāna Dvā." Īśvara is that God who has no name, no form, but we must call him in some way. We cannot say "nothing one." And even we say "nothing one," one is always the name "nothing one." So, Īśvara—he is in everyone, omniscient, omnipresent in each atom. And to understand him is very hard. If he is in everything, then he must be in the bullet also. And when, from the gun, the bullet is released, it can kill. If Īśvara is in every atom everywhere, then how can he kill someone? And there is a problem to understand. Many people said, "A small child died. My God, even God has no mercy on this small child." But how should we know what the destiny was saying? So it is difficult to understand. But when you will come to the Brahmajñāna, then you will become bulletproof. Okay? So it means no weapon. No weapon can kill. Death cannot take you away. And no element can destroy you. Fire cannot burn. So, Īśvara Praṇidhāna. Now, the last remedy is what you need: devotion. Īśvara Praṇidhāna. Surrender to God, more and more bhakti. Now, "God, I know that I am old. I have no strength to do all these āsanas, prāṇāyāmas. But I surrender. I am thine." Then the Vihāsa, that’s called Tīvra Vairāgya. Your Vairāgya will be great. So Patañjali is the greatest teacher who is leading us step by step, and we will have the whole week continuity on these Patañjali’s thoughts, sūtras. And so today is that beautiful day; it is the birthday of our dear Holy Gurujī. And on behalf of Śrī Alagpurījī Siddha Pīṭha, I bless you all in the name of Gurujī. And thanks to Mahāprabhujī that he brought and blessed the Holy Gurujī for us, who inspired us and who is our example of our sādhanā. And I pray to Holy Gurujī that his divine immortal light should guide us, and may the light of his physical form and the light of his ātmā be with us and guide us further. So today, that’s all. Wish you all the best. Good evening, and I’m very happy to welcome you, and I am looking forward to being with you the whole week again together. Īśvara Praṇidhāna means that you come to the Nirbīja Samādhi. Where there is a seed, it means the seed. You are in higher consciousness, but still you have desires. And you are in the higher consciousness, but you have no desires—only you, Lord. That’s it. Wherever in prayer we used to say... "Wherever I see, I see you, Mā Prabhujī." Holy Gurujī said in prayer: "You are nitya, everlasting; chetanya, conscious; and everywhere. Nirakāra, without form." So that is the consciousness which is coming to the Nirbīja Samādhi. Rest tomorrow. What Patañjali is going to say is something more. Even if you surrender to God, some kleśa comes. Maybe God takes parīkṣā. God wants to test if we are really in bhakti. You saw yesterday in Śiva Purāṇa, even Śiva was trying to test how strong Pārvatī’s devotion is and how strong her clearance from her parents is. So always, Shiva was knocking on the head, always. If this is empty like this, or a solid... So we all have this empty. Why? Because we want to have God everywhere, to become a solid. Hari Om. Wish you all the best.