TV Channel

Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrī Śrī Deveśvar Mahādev Kī Jai, Dharma Samrācak Guru Svāmī Madhavānandjī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai. Oṁ Brahmanandam Paramasukhadam Kevalam Jñānamūrtyam Vandatitam Gaganasadṛśam Tasmāsyādilakṣyam Ekam Anityam Vimalāchalam Sarvaddhisākṣibhūtam Bhavatitam Mātriguṇarahitam Satgurutam Anāmamyam Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... In Maharishi Patañjali’s Yoga-sūtra, the Samādhipāda—the chapter concerning Samādhi—states that the sole lakṣya, or aim, of yoga practice or any spiritual path is the upliftment of consciousness. Everything unfolds within this consciousness; this is called the miracle of consciousness. Patañjali explains samādhi. Literally, samādhi means that higher consciousness which, at the end of this life, merges into the cosmic consciousness where duality disappears and the reality of non-duality is realized. Knowledge, knower, and object—these three become one. That is called the highest level of consciousness. Is our self-knowledge what we would like to know? The object—about which object do we wish to know? The merging of these three into oneness is samādhi. But along the way, Patañjali explains, warns, and makes us alert and aware of the kinds of obstacles that can suddenly arise on your journey to samādhi. Unless you purify or remove those obstacles, it will not be possible for you to achieve it. For that, we need a healthy body; for that, we need a healthy mind; we need a healthy intellect; we need healthy belief, not fanaticism. Without dualities, without discriminations, we need the guidance of the Master. All in all, there is one obstacle that is very, very difficult to overcome. Everything else we can overcome, but there is one obstacle which is very hard, and that is moha. Some translate moha as ignorance, but moha means attachment, dependence. It is being so deeply attached that we do not want to realize, or even to hear of, separation from that object. In this way, that attachment is ignorance. It is ignorance to say, "It belongs to me"—it’s my body, thoughts, feelings, properties, relatives, parents, partners. Anything that you think is yours is only temporary. Sooner or later, it will disappear; it will go away, or be taken away, or be separated by death. Attachment and relations are two different things. A relation can be without suffering—a relation with love, with understanding. But our attachment is accompanied by suffering. There is one story. Holy Gurujī, our dear Gurudev, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Śrī Svāmī Madhavānandjī Mahārāj, told this story in 1968. We were staying in an ashram in Jaipur—Gurujī and I. The Jaipur ashram did not exist at that time. In Jaipur, there is a beautiful ashram called Amrapur Ashram. It is a beautiful ashram where many sādhus and saints stay. They have very strict rules. When the bell rings, everyone must come if they wish to drink tea, milk, or juice. The bell rings for lunch, breakfast, or dinner, and that time is only for 45 minutes. If you come late, you must wait for the next bell. They were very good friends, known to Gurujī, so whenever we went to Jaipur, we stayed at Amrapur Ashram. The ashram is still there. All the swāmīs and sādhus who stay there must follow the strict rule of attending the daily satsaṅgs—two satsaṅgs, morning and evening. No one can stay there more than three days. If you wish to stay longer, you must get permission to stay another three days. If you must go somewhere during those three days, you must inform the bhaktas that you will be absent from the satsaṅg. If you did not inform them and you disappeared, upon your return you would find your room locked and your things waiting for you outside. Very clearly, Patañjali said in the very beginning: Atha yogānuśāsanam—discipline. Yoga begins with discipline. The success of yoga is in discipline. Without discipline, life is not successful. Many people say, "Well, in my culture it is like this, not this and that." No arguments. Where there is discipline, there are no arguments. Quality does not have compromises. Similarly, discipline does not have any compromises. So, after two days, it was Gurujī’s turn to give satsaṅg. They informed Gurujī, saying, "Your Holiness, Śrī Svāmī Madhavānandajī," and it was written on the blackboard that Gurujī would give satsaṅg. The subject they gave was about moha. Moha means attachment; moha means dependence. Gurujī was an ocean of wisdom. At any time, no matter the hour of day or night, whenever Gurujī spoke, he delivered beautiful lectures on spirituality. Gurujī could even create beautiful new bhajans within his speech. So, the subject was moha and nirmoha. Gurujī began with a beautiful lecture. He said the subject was beautiful and he was very happy that the ashram devotees had asked him to speak about moha. Moha means suffering. Where there is moha, there will be disappointment. Where there is moha, there will be pain. Where there is moha, there will be anger. Where there is moha, there will be hate. Where there is moha, there will be jealousy. Where there is moha, there will be ego. And where there is moha, there will be offending feelings of humiliation. Where moha is, there is darkness. And where moha is, be sure that you will not be successful. Try to become Nirmohī—without attachment. Gurujī then told a story. Long ago, in some yuga, there lived a king. He was known as Nirmohī Rājā—a king without any attachment, which is nearly impossible. King Nirmohī had only one child, a young prince. The prince liked to ride horses and go to the forest—not for hunting, but for walking, as we do. The prince went with his friends, riding on horseback into the forest. They rode in different directions and lost contact. The prince came near a cave where there was a water fountain. Both the prince and his horse were thirsty. The horse pulled in the direction where the water was, as it could smell the water. There was a very nice, beautiful small pond and a waterfall—a cool stream of water coming from the rocks, naturally filtered. Of course, at that time there was no question of pollution. The only pollution was mental pollution—human mental pollution, which still troubles us. The prince dismounted, drank water, and the horse drank as well. He washed his face and hands, and because it was hot, he also cleaned his horse with the cool water. He removed the saddle and made himself comfortable. From the cave, a mahātma, a yogī, emerged. The yogī asked, "Who are you?" The prince went and made praṇām, saying, "I am the son of Nirmohī Rājā." The yogī said, "Nirmohī Rājā? Being a king, with no moha?" The prince replied, "Yes, your holiness, my father is Nirmohī. My father taught us all to be Nirmohī—my wife, my mother, we are all Nirmohī." The yogī said, "I must go and test your father to see if he is truly Nirmohī or not." The prince said, "Yes, you can do it, please. Even if you take my horse, I will wait here." The yogī said, "No, I will not take the horse. I need your shirt." The prince said, "Okay, here is my shirt." The yogī instructed, "Do not go away until I return." The prince replied, "Your command is accepted; it is on my head. I will wait, Guru Vakya, till you come back." The mahātma tore the prince’s shirt and colored it a dark red, like blood spots, and went to the king. When the king saw a yogī coming to his palace, he went to greet him barefoot, as one does for darśan. In Christianity, you go on your knees; you stand on your knees in front of the temple. You go for the darśan or blessing of your Pope on your knees. Now it is a little different. Why? Because feeling is lost. Feeling is lost. Everything is lost. We have to cultivate our feeling, our love, our devotion. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said, "Nitya Nitya Prema Mera Adhika"—day by day, my love should increase for thee, O Mahāprabhujī, O Gurudev. The king welcomed the Mahātma, the Yogī, saying, "Welcome, please, to my palace. It is not my palace, but I reside here. It is your place. What a great day today that you have blessed this place. What brought you here? If you had sent a message, I would have come running to have your darśan. Why did you take the trouble to come here?" The Mahātma was playing a role, as sometimes one must to test if someone truly loves you. How deep is the water? You should know before you dive. We are sitting here on the coast. Today we went in a small boat, and the water was 45 meters deep. They told Swāmījī, "Jump out, okay?" Forty-five meters of deep water was not a problem, but if it were only half a meter deep and I jumped, that could be a problem. So, how deep is the love in your heart? And are there rocks beneath? Therefore, do not fall in love without knowing the depth of the water. The clarity of the water means devotion. Love means everything: your house, your garden, your swimming, your eating, your friends, God, saints—everything. The Mahātma said, "King, I am so sorry. I am very sad." The king said, "You, your holiness, are sad? What makes you sad? You are above sadness." The Mahātma replied, "Yes, king, I am sad for you and for the whole kingdom." The king asked, "Why? What happened?" The Mahātma had tears in his eyes and said, "King, I do not dare to tell you." The king insisted, "No, no, come on, please. Nothing in this world can move us. Please, tell me." The Mahātma showed the shirt. The king said, "Oh, yes, this is the shirt of the prince, my son." The Mahātma said, "Yes, but he is not here anymore." The king asked, "Really? What happened?" The Mahātma explained, "He went into the forest, and a tiger attacked and killed him. It was very hard for me to free him from the tiger, but somehow I managed. I placed the body somewhere safely and brought this shirt as proof." King Nirmohī said, "Your holiness, you know very well that everyone has a life with counted breaths. How many breaths he will take is written in destiny; then life will end. Not a second can be longer. Why did you take the trouble to interrupt your meditation?" The yogī was surprised. He asked, "May I meet the queen, his mother?" The king replied, "Of course, she will be delighted to have your darśan and blessings." He went to the queen and told her the same story, saying, "You know, his highness the king, I think he got a shock when I told him his son was killed by a tiger. He became confused and did not know what he was talking about. But you are a mother. When a child dies, the pain of a mother is a thousand times greater than the father’s. It is the mother who feeds the child in her body with her own blood. That child grew from her own body. She knows what it means to carry a baby for nine months and the pain of giving birth. Oh, divine mother, I do not dare to tell you, but it is something." She said, "What? Tell me." He showed the shirt. She said, "Yes, this is from my son." He said, "Yes, you see the blood on it? Unfortunately, a tiger killed your son. It was very hard to free his body. I kept it somewhere safe; please arrange the funeral. The king is in shock." She said, "Thank you for giving this news. I am happy that he is not suffering anymore. But why did you interrupt your meditation and come here? Anyhow, he died, but you did something not good." The yogī asked, "What?" The queen replied, "A hungry animal, with hard work, found its food. If you are hungry and someone serves you a plate of food, then takes it away, how will you feel? Therefore, whoever comes into this world will go. Please go and give this body to the tiger; perhaps it is still sitting and licking its lips." The yogī said, "It is something. It is something. I am sorry, but I would like to meet his wife." The queen said, "Yes, my daughter-in-law will be delighted to have your darśan and blessing. What a great day for my family that they have your blessing." He went to the wife and told her the news, thinking, "The father doesn’t care, the mother-in-law doesn’t care, but the wife—oh my." Now was the time of the wife. He went to the wife, and she said, "Thank you for coming and giving me darśan, and for blessing the palace. Anyone who enters this place will feel your blessings. The holy dust of your feet will forever keep this palace spiritual and beautiful. You know, Gurudev, every jīva comes with their karma, with their destiny. One day, everyone has to go. So far it has happened, and he is not there anymore. He is gone. Now he is one with me. Before, he was separate. Now he is one with me. His ātmā is in my ātmā, merged. So please do not take trouble. Just go and pray, meditate. Prayers will help his soul." The yogī said, "Can you come to your mother-in-law?" She said, "Yes." He brought her to the queen. "Can you come to the king?" They said, "Yes, of course." All three said they would be very happy to serve him and asked if he would like to eat something. The yogī said, "No." When the three were together, the Mahātma said, "King, now I trust that you are a Nirmohī king. Your son is safe; he was not a victim of any animal. He came to me. I met him, and he said he is the son of Nirmohī Rājā. I said that in this mortal world, being human, one can be nirmohī. Now I have found that you are truly a Nirmohī king." The king said, "That is your blessing and your līlā. What can we do for you?" The yogī said, "Nothing." The king said, "No, but I must accompany you to where your heart is." And the prince came happily home. That is the beautiful story of King Nirmohī. There is also a bhajan: Mīrā Bāī said to Krishna, "Nirmohi." She prayed so much, and yet you do not care at all. You have no moha. It is easy to say, but very, very hard to realize. When salt goes under one’s skin, then you feel the burn. So, moha! That is how far you must come in order to attain samādhi and become one with the Cosmic Consciousness, my dear. Otherwise, once someone asked Mahāprabhujī about a disciple: "Is your disciple able to have samādhi? Did he realize samādhi?" Mahāprabhujī said, "Yes, he is every day in the biggest samādhi. If you give him nice, spicy, good food and feed him nicely, let him go for a walk, and when he gets tired, he comes and sleeps—that is his samādhi." And that is our samādhi, my dear. A little sitting, we are in prāṇāyāma, and then that is our samādhi. Therefore, chetan—we have to awaken ourselves, chetan. It is easy to speak, beautiful to hear, very interesting to read, but where is the reality? That reality is what the great saint Patañjali wishes for. Great Saint Patañjali is preparing his devotees. That is why the first chapter is called Samādhipāda. Everyone would like to have that samādhi, no? There is even a tank called a samādhi tank. They fill it with salty water and close it like a solar box so people can become tanned. They lie inside and close the tank completely dark, and this is called Samādhipāda. But in samādhi, there is no darkness. So if you wish to be brown-skinned, marry someone from those countries so your children will have a nice color, if you are not satisfied. We must have that inner color—the color of the ātmā, the divine color. O Krishna, color me, color my soul—not black or white, green or yellow or red. What does color mean? That color of your color means His divine consciousness. A washerman can wash many, many lives with washing machines day and night, but that color will not go away. Color me with that color. There is also a bhajan by Kabīr Dās Jī Mahārāj—Kabīr Dās Jī Mahārāj Kī Jai! Chadar means this cloth—the soul. And Kabīr Dās says our body is that chādar, that cloth which the soul has covered itself with, just as we cover the body with cloth. Aṣṭa kamal kā cakra banāyā—eight lotus means eight chakras. Kamal means lotus; aṣṭa means eight. He made a spinning wheel with eight lotuses turning. The cotton material, when it is spinning and weaving, is the pañca tattva—the five elements: ākāśa, agni, vāyu, jal, pṛthvī—space, fire, wind, water, and earth. This body is made of five elements. It took time, nine to ten months, to make this body for the soul. Now, the foolish one, the stupid one, has made this soul dirty. Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa—how? Through karma, through karma. Next time, I will also translate a bhajan from Mahāprabhujī: "Ganādin Bhakti re Kaniya Kāvarīnā"—a beautiful bhajan. So, what do we—Kabīr Dās was a great saint, a very great saint, now and throughout. He said we have made the whole world dirty; this soul means negative karmas, negative thinking. Again and again, a human, when he spits, does not lick it again, but a dog can. One experience once, and then finished. When this all was prepared, ready, brought home—meaning you were born—then we brought this to the man who is making color, coloring fabric. Who is that? Of course, a beautiful country: Croatia. We are on a beautiful island called Pašman, in a beautiful center place called Harmony. That is why all was in harmony. You know, the effect and influence depend on where you are, what kind of place. I wish you all the best. Also, dear brothers and sisters, bhaktas, devotees, practitioners of yoga in daily life, spiritual seekers—we will see when and where God blesses us to be together again, and we will continue Patañjali’s teachings. Till then, God bless you. I wish you good health, a happy harmonious life, and spiritual development. The next broadcast will be announced in time. Bless you in the name of Śrī Alagapurī Jī, Siddha Pīṭha. Om Naha Karatā Prabhu Dīpa Karatā Mātā Mā Prabodhī, Mātā Ke Śānti, Śānti.