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Śrīman Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa, Śrīman Lakṣmīna... Nārāyaṇa, Satyanārāyaṇa Satyanārāyaṇa... Good evening. Blessings to all of you from the Siddha Pīṭha of Śrī Alakapurījī, blessings of Gurudev. All the dear friends, bhaktas, practitioners, and spiritual seekers around the world, this blessing is coming to you again from the beautiful ashram, Śrī Mahāprabhū Deva Satsaṅg Foundation. You have been watching the ashram, different locations, the beautiful park, organic production, vegetables, and herbs. After a long time, it is raining today. That’s good news. God is very gracious, and God always looks after each and every creature, as well as each and every blade of grass, trees, herbs, and vegetation. It is said there are three who have the same respect: Śarvar, Tarvar, Śāntājan. Cauṭhā Barṣe Meṃ, Parmārat Ke Karne, Cāro Darī Hai Dāhī. Śarvar, the lake. A lake keeps water for everyone. It doesn’t matter who—humans or animals. Tarvar is a tree. The tree and the saint have the same respect, the same values, the same mission. The tree is standing only for the benefit of the entire world, without expectation. Those who are planting a tree, the tree is not a test to them. If someone is cutting off the branches of a tree, the tree is never angry. If you throw a stone at the tree, the tree gives, throws back at you fruits, not stones. It gives oxygen and gives shelter. Śāntajana, the saints, they speak for all, not for a particular person. They are above attachment. They are for all, they preach the truth and wisdom for all. And the rain—when it is raining, it’s not only raining for one small garden, but for the whole field, for everyone. So we are very happy today to have the rain. Rain is a symbol of blessing. Rain is also the rain of nectar. Holy Gurujī said in one bhajan: "Gyān Ghaṭale Satguru Āyā, Amṛta Jal Barasā. Gyān Ghaṭale Satguru Āyā, Amṛta Nīra Piyamāna, Bharate Nirbhaya Sāganā." Īśvara Praṇidhāna Patañjali is saying, before coming to samādhi, a sādhaka, a practitioner, should realize and have a shelter in God. Īśvara Praṇidhāna—surrender, devotion. But in devotion, there are also many obstacles. It means the higher you come, that much more dangerous the situation can become. But those who are clear about what they want and what their sādhanā means for them, then there are no doubts. I remember one nice story on Īśvara Praṇidhāna. How should we practice in everyday life? What should we do? Should we renounce everything and just go to the temple and sit the whole day there? Should we renounce all social duties and go into the church and kneel down and stand the whole day? God didn’t say that He needs you to come and sit the whole day in the church or in the temple. Mera Jeevan Terī Pūjā—my life is a worship to Thee, O my Lord. Do everyday duty, but keep Īśvara, God, or Gurudev in your mind. Yesterday we were watching Gurujī’s video, and what Gurujī said: yes, through certain practices, mantras, tantras, yantras, and magic, and this and that, may give you some siddhis, but not Brahma-jñāna, not that mokṣa which we are all searching for. Brahma-jñāna only comes through surrendering to the Satguru. If you have doubts, then you are out. Ask yourself: does the Satguru need me, or do I need the Guru? One bhakta came to Mahāprabhujī and said, "Mahāprabhujī, I don’t believe in God." And Mahāprabhujī said, "And?" Does God lose something? Does He lose one candidate? No. We need God. A thirsty person needs water. Water doesn’t need a thirsty person. So if you are thirsty, then go to the water. Or if you are near the water, then accept it. And if the water is polluted, then purify it. It is you who can purify that water through your devotion, through your vivekā. There was a bhakta, a barber. He had his small shop. In the morning, people used to come for shaving. He had a nice family. The whole family was devoted to God and to the saints. In that city where the barber was living, there was a king. The king had a leprosy disease, or what you call skin cancer. So the king told the barber, "Your duties every day: come at nine o’clock and shave my beard and my head, and then I will have my bath." The barber said, "Yes, sir, it is my great luck. My happiness is that I will do service for you. But take care. I am a disciplined one. I have my fixed time for pūjā, for breakfast, and for the public. Especially, the public should not wait because of me. So be on time." The barber said, "Yes, sir, I will always be there on time." Don’t think that it’s Indian time. Many people call it Indian time. Now, I would like to clear up this thought from your mind: why do they call it Indian time? Actually, Indian time is so punctual. One second is divided into 49 times one second, by Indian mathematics of the Vedānta. One second. The Indians who founded this Jyotiṣa, astrology and astronomy. All Indian ceremonies, all kinds of events which take place must be done on the right constellation. Even the earth-breaking ceremony for digging the foundation for your house must be at a particular time. Marriages, everything. If you miss it, then another constellation is there, so you should not perform that ceremony. But what happened? Englishmen came to India. They came as businessmen. The spices of India were very well known and very healthy. They were exchanging the spices for gold, and then they hired the land for agriculture, to cultivate themselves, and so on. The whole story I don’t want to tell you. Then Indians were only as workmen. Englishmen were only ruling. And whenever something came to do, the Englishmen said, "Oh, wait a minute, it’s time for tea." What? Time for tea? Though tea is grown in India, it was used only for Āyurvedic purposes. Tea is a very powerful, very good herb, but if you take too much, it is always prohibited. When you take more and more, then it is not an herb anymore; you become addicted. The tea, how it is prepared, everything, it is changing completely. Pure tea leaves, that is something. And then also, the Indian Āyurveda doctors, they change the way of drinking tea. You have to add some, like cardamom, ginger, cloves, and milk. This changes the nature of the tea in a positive way. If you drink only black tea without any spices and milk, then you become very addicted, and it may have a bad effect on your health if you drink it every day. But if you drink it from time to time, only once a year when you have diarrhea, you drink black tea, and your diarrhea is blocked. Then you have to go to an Āyurvedic doctor to get something to open, sodamukhī. So it has a treatment for everything. So Englishmen liked it very much, and now they said they introduced the tea to India to drink every day—time for tea. And so this is still a habit in India. They are late because they said, "Oh, let’s have a cup of tea." So even our trains come a little late. Because they also said, "People are drinking tea, I should not go punctually," the train driver. Otherwise, Indian Śāstras say wasting of time is a sin. Shamaika anadar karna pāpa hai. Not respecting time, wasting time is a sin. And therefore, every second should be utilized in this life. That’s why they said, "What you have to do tomorrow, do it today. And what you have to do today, do it just now. Who knows when your last breath is? You die." Therefore, Gurū Nānak Sāhib said, "Your life went without the name of God till now. But now, at least begin to repeat your mantra, God’s name. Otherwise, time will not come back." So the barber said to the king, "Yes, sir, I will do it." But at the same time, the barber was so devoted to all sādhus and saints; for him, on the first place were the sādhus. And even today, in the Holy Land of India, even the President of India, or the Prime Minister of India, or any officer, anyone, if they see a sādhu in orange dress, they respect, they give the first place. There is great respect and devotion for the orange robe. Well, the barber left his home at 8:30 to go to the king. And on the way, he met five sādhus. And he said, "Praṇām, Praṇām... Praṇām. Please, I seek your blessings." They gave the blessing. And he said, "I would be very happy if you come to my home and have breakfast." And they said, "Okay, no problem." So they were on the way to go somewhere. They left early morning, so that was the time for breakfast. And the barber went with them to his house. It’s a real story, it’s not a man-made story. One of these five sādhus began to give pravacana satsaṅg, and the barber was sitting and listening. They were giving blessings and pravacana satsaṅg, and it became 9:30, 10:30, 11:30. Then he served them breakfast and this and that, and then it was 11:30 and he became nervous. Oh God! The king will be angry. So anyhow, he made a praṇām. The sādhu said, "Now we have to go." So he said, "Okay. Please bless my house again." And now he took his bag, where he has all these knives and so on for shaving. His heart was a little bit nervous, but he said, "I hope the blessing of the saints will protect me and the king will not be angry." The barber came to the palace, and people said, "Hello, hello, how are you? Where are you? Why did you come again?" And he said, "What? What are you saying?" And before he approached the king, the king walked and approached him and said, "My dear, my friend, what kind of energy did you have in your hands when you were shaving me? Look, my whole disease is gone." The barber was looking, thank you Gurudev, and the king said, "Look, I’m completely healthy. You touched me today. At nine o’clock you came, you were shaving, and what kind of jādu, what miracle you had in your shaving knife, and your fingers were going like this, putting the soap. My disease disappeared." The barber said, "That’s Guru Kṛpā." What? Guru Kṛpā. He knew what happened. It means for the sake of the bhakta, God took the form of the barber and went and did the work of the devotee, and he was serving the king. So, we call all barbers in India Sena Bhakta. Sena is the caste of the barbers. Some call Naya, but this is not, but Sena Bhakta, Sena Bhakta. It is a very famous, very famous place. When you go to Gujarat, you will see the Sena Bhakta. For the sake of the bhaktas, God came as a barber. And so Devpurījī said, "The destiny of the devotees, God takes upon Himself. The destiny of the devotee." But you have to be a devotee. Now, that is called Īśvara Praṇidhāna. How should I perform to be Īśvara Praṇidhāna? Should I give flowers every day? Should I bow down? Should I sit, "I love you, God. Oh, my divine lord," and this and that? What should I do? How should I surrender? You have to surrender nothing. You should just be there. That’s all. Be in each and every blood cell. His presence is within you, nothing else. Your thinking, your eating, your working, everything is in the name of God, with such a positive thinking that I work for the well-being of the entire planet. That is Īśvara Praṇidhāna. Hāth mein kām, aur mukh mein Rām. Work in the hands, and name of God in the mouth. Some people have mukh mein Rām, bagal mein sūrī. In the mouth they have name of God, but they have a hidden knife to kill someone. For that, God will never come to help. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said, and Bāprabhujī Bhajan said, "Who gave one’s word to you and then broke it, became against or something, that person cannot come through." And there are obstacles. That was the biggest obstacle. The king was very aggressive, very angry. The barber had to be on time. This was an obstacle, but even for the sake of God, he denied that. Therefore, God appeared there. So there are so many bhaktas. There is one story also. One real story, should I tell you a story? It was not loud enough. They should listen in the webcast that you said, "Yes, that’s it." Thank you. This is a story coming out of Rajasthan from the farmers, those farmers who are living in the grass huts. And you know, today, according to the world situation and especially... The health situation of those who are living in the grass hut and every day see the multi-stars, millions of stars, fresh air, and blue skies, that is their happiest one. Even I can tell you where I was born, in the small village, we were sleeping all outside under the beautiful open sky. Now, too many mosquitoes have come because of the pollution. All days there, when I was young, there were mosquitoes, but not so many. And if then, rare were the malaria. And, doctor, my God, we heard only the name "doctor," that’s all. And now, before birth, you already have a doctor there. You became pregnant, and you run to the doctor. And every day, every month, and every week, you go for checking. And when babies, you are going to be born, the ambulance is coming, taking you to the hospital. You are born in the hands of the doctors. And we were born on this hand, in the hand of Prakṛti, nature, and mothers. So, to see the doctor for the first time in my life, I took one tablet, maybe when I was 20 years old or 15 years old. It was not necessary. Yes, if we had a fever or something, my mother was the best doctor. She gave this and that, and that’s all, or the tea. You had a fever and a headache, they gave you a little tea, and you were healthy. That’s all, but not drinking everyday tea. If you drink everyday tea and you have a headache, you may drink five liters, but the headache will not go away. Anyhow, the story I am going to tell you is very interesting. Every small farmer’s house or little village has a temple. Also, in these countries, there is a temple of Jesus, a temple of Mary, a temple of some holy saints, and so on. Every house has an altar. Those who are coming from the ancient education, village education, spiritual education, wherever they go, they have an altar. But spirituality is suffering, and the spiritual culture is getting lost because of so-called higher education. All higher education, those who have university degrees and degrees, they lost the faith in God. They think they are a God now, and so humanity is suffering. No minister in the world is worrying about the spirituality of his country. They are all worrying about how to create weapons, atoms, and money, and that’s all, and to have a position. So the time has to come that such a politician will be a great spiritualist, and they will again bring the waves of spirituality. Village people are more spiritual because they live with nature. A small temple, in that small temple, Krishna’s idol was there. And there was one priest who used to do pūjā every day, morning and evening. Morning also gives Krishna some eating, offering, and evening also. One day, the priest, or Brahmin, pūjārī, had to go somewhere. It was very urgent work to be done. And the farmer had a small girl, about 10 to 15 years old. And the priest told her, "Tomorrow I am not here, so please, you make the ceremony, the prayer and bhoga." Bhoga means offering food to Kṛṣṇa. And after, when God has eaten, then you can have prasāda. She said, "Okay." Now, the priest used to cook nicely for Krishna every day, you know. Butter, milk, rice, halwa, puri, parathas, and offer to God with one curtain standing there. "God, please eat." And after five minutes, he makes like this, opens the curtain, takes the food, goes in his room, and "Brahmārpaṇaṃ Brahmahaviḥ," eats himself. Of course, we offer to Mahāprabhujī something, and after we eat. The goddess, the God, they are only hungry for the smell, the nice smell, the fragrance. And that’s why we put agarbatī, the incense. That’s why we put the flowers. That’s enough. Those who live in this astral world, they don’t eat this physical food, only the smell, the fragrance. And Asuras, devils, they also have their food, also only smell, but their smell is rotten fish, rotten meat, blood, and alcohol. You have seen in Mahāpurāṇa, Śiva Mahāpurāṇa, the devas and rākṣasas. So the food has a very big influence on the body, mind, emotions, and so on. So in the temple, only prasāda is offered. Now this young girl, she came to Krishna’s temple, she opened the curtain, she made a prayer, and she brought from her home a little cooked millet, bajra, khichḍā, we call it khichḍā, the millet. And on the top, she put a little butter. That is the best a farmer can eat. There was a real story. Bill Clinton went to India, and then he went to Jodhpur. He asked the Jodhpur Maharaja that he wanted to see the villagers. So Mahārāja organized, and he went to the small villages and saw how they eat, and so they had this bajra and this butter. And then when this Bajra butter remains, they make what they call the Rabri. Rabri means this old morning or evening cooked and morning used with cold yogurt. Mix it, a nice drink, very, very tasteful and very good. And Bill Clinton said, "Do they take this every day? This is great." They said, "Yes, we drink like that every day." I said, "My God, it must be very expensive." They said, "Yes." But these poor people, he said, "Yes, they can, they can afford it." I thought they are very poor. He said, "No, no, they are not poor." So, healthy food is the farmer’s good one. Someone told me, "Swamiji, in a five-star hotel, the food vegetable is five days old vegetable, and a one-star hotel visit on the street just cooks for you, what we call in India, dhaba hotel, is a one-day old vegetable. So it’s your decision: five-star or no stars." That’s it. So the natural way of life is gone. Well, let me come to again, back to this girl. She brought an offering and now said, "Krishna, eat." What should Kṛṣṇa eat? He is the only statue. And she said, "Eat." You see how children are innocent and pure. We put on the mind of the children; they take it as it is. Parents are a very great example for the children. Even the videos that they are looking at, what they are showing, the children take as it is. And so, criminal videos and this and that for the children are not healthy. And also toys. Now there are toys, like a gun, plastic toys. You know what you are doing for the subconscious? That’s it. She said, "Eat, Krishna, I have to go. My father will be angry because I have to go in the field working." She said, "Eat. No, Krishna is coming." She put out the curtain. "Now eat." No eating. She said, "Okay, I’ll put a double curtain." She took her rock and she made it like this. "Now eat. I have to go." And really, it happened. Kṛṣṇa appeared and ate that rabrī, and now I finished. "You take rest," and Kṛṣṇa disappeared. Her name was Karmābāī. So Īśvara Praṇidhāna is very easy to say: surrender to God, but how? You know, how many conflicts we have between God and ourself? How many conflicts we have between Gurudev and ourself? How many times have we said, "Oh my Gurudev, great," and how many times have we said, "No, I don’t accept this"? Now, we are challenging the Gurudev. Gurudev should challenge us, you know, but time is gone. So, one mahātma said, "If you are a well-wisher yourself, then don’t say, ’Bhaktas, no.’ Let them give the challenge and be peaceful." That is a time. So Īśvara Praṇidhāna, Patañjali is talking about unconditional love. But unconditional love does not mean that you leave your families and run away. No. We shall develop the vivekā. We have to work. We have our dharma, our duty, and our duties. Also, "merā jīvan terī pūjā"—what I am doing, this all, honestly, my Lord, is a ceremony to you. But there will come many, many obstacles, and we will not pass through; we will fail. Was that so much necessary, that Jesus had to suffer so many things, so much pain he had to go through? For what? He could have run away. He could escape. He would say, "Okay, I change it." Why? Because he knew that all that is happening is not forever and is not what I expect. It doesn’t matter how it happens. I have one duty given to me by the Holy Father, and that’s what I am fulfilling. And so what duty is given to you, what saṅkalpa is given to you when you took the mantra, when you took the kriyās, and so on. Where are these words, Īśvara Praṇidhāna? Kankar me Bhagwan hai, in every atom is God. Hare, kankar me śaṅkar, in every stone is God Śiva. But do you see that? No. If you have that belief and surrender to God with devotion, then your consciousness will be pure. Even if you make a mistake, God will forgive it, and God will correct it. He will be a worker for you. You sit comfortably, and God will work for you. Love is that, that you don’t run behind God; God will run behind you. Krishna said, "Nothing is impossible for me in this universe, but for the sake of bhaktas, I am doing karma, I am acting." And there is no power which can change me or stop me or tie me, only one, that love of my bhaktas, devotion, the love. The most powerful, therefore Krishna said that love is God, that love is divine, that love is mighty, and that love can melt the rocks. What kind of love? Īśvara Praṇidhāna, surrendering, devotion. That devotion will be our way. And so, while doing this still, there is a call, Kāleśa Karma. There are some karmas and kleśas coming. Many kinds of kleśas, but for the svar, for bhaktas, all kleśas are gone. The biggest kleśa in us is called avidyā. Avidyā means ignorance. Without knowing, never judge anyone. And when you know the reality, then never punish anyone. Because you are a wise one, great one, you can forgive, or you can understand. If you don’t know, then you are wrong to judge someone. If you know and are punishing, you are wrong because you are so arrogant that you don’t have mercy or compassion in your heart for every creature. Knowing, still you have a problem, and not knowing, you have a problem because you think it is wrong. But if the jñāna, avidyā is gone and vidyā, the wisdom appears, viveka, then your heart is full of compassion. Your heart is enlightened through the blessing and grace of the Gurudev or the knowledge. Great saint Guru Nānak Dās Jī said: Maybe hundreds of moon rises and thousands of sun rises at once. All this still cannot make a light enough. Guru bina hirde ghor andhakār. The darkness of the heart, thousands of suns can rise, but it cannot be destroyed. Only the Guru Vakya can destroy the darkness of the heart, meaning the darkness of ignorance. So Īśvara Praṇidhāna, what great saint Patañjali is saying, and then he is coming to certain kleśas, vikṣepas: avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dveṣa, abhiniveśa. These are the five kleśas. And these five kleśas, if you cannot work out or solve, samādhi, you cannot attain the nirbīja samādhi. So tomorrow we are coming to these five kleśas. And to solve, to know the solution, how to overcome these five collisions. Therefore, Īśvara Praṇidhāna, surrender, surrender, surrender. Act in the name of God, but positively. Also, there is some fighting. I fight for my rights, for my religion. God will not accept this. Doesn’t matter if you are Hindu, Christian, or Muslim. Do you think if you fight in the war, create the war, and then come, Jesus will be happy? He will say, "My son, I told you clearly, ’Thou shalt not kill.’" How many animals were you killing, not only killing but eating them too. "My son, I had another vision: to send you as a human on this planet." Will Krishna be happy? No. So God never said, and God will not force us to do the wrong things. And if there is a need, he will come, he will do it. So Īśvara Praṇidhāna, surrendering to God. Prani means the living being. Prana is life force. So we are the prāṇīs, we are the humans. We surrender our prāṇa to God, to Īśvara. With this, I wish you all the best. Tomorrow we will again be here with Patañjali, and I am happy that all our dear bhaktas, practitioners around the world, again they had an opportunity to have a darśana of Gurudev, Mahāprabhujī, and the hall of practicing, where all bhaktas are coming. Thank you. Wish you all the best. Deep Nand Bhagwān. Once more.