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Obstacles on the spiritual path

The spiritual search is conducted within, not in the external world. We possess everything we seek, yet we search outside like a mother frantically looking for the child she already holds. Spiritual blindness is like a fog or a blind man missing an open door while feeling along a wall. The path involves purification of body and mind through gradual practice, not competition. The guru awakens inner knowledge but cannot walk the path for the seeker. Disease originates in impure thoughts and nourishment. Reduce consumption gradually, not austerely. Serve others before yourself.

"Everything is with us."

"The guru has given that knowledge; the guru has given that spirituality."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Oṁ namo śrī prabhu śrī buddhi pāṇaraṅg Haṁsabhādas Prabhusar Parāyaṇam Haṁsabhādas May Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpanāra Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpanāra Haṁsabdhasprabhśaraṇparāyaṇa. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhudī Namaḥ Śrī Prabhudī Haṁsabhādas Prabhu Śaraṇaprayāṇam Haṁsabhādas Śaraṇaprayāṇam Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāyaṇam Namaḥ Śrī Prabodhipa Nārāyaṇa. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Devādhī Dev Deveśvara Mahādeva Alakpurī Jī Mahādeva Haradī Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī Kī Satguru Svāmī Madhvanānjī Bhagavān Līlānānjī Mahārāj Kī Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Oṁ Śāntiḥ. We all welcome you; this is a beautiful day. We were all waiting for you, and today is a very nice day. We are all oneness, and so we are here in the holy place of Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, Holy Gurujī and Svāmijī. Bhagavān Mahāprabhujī, with folded hands, we make praṇām. Oṁ Śrī Alak Purī Jī Mahādev Kī Jai. Devādhī Dev, Deveśvara Mahādev Kī Jai. Our Guru Paramparā, I pray that all our bhaktas, our devotees, our friends who are here, please give us your blessings. We are now at your holy lotus feet of Gurudev, Mahāprabhujī, and other Mahāprabhujī’s disciples. Mahāprabhujī and all our paramparās, we pray that you please give us peace, harmony, love, understanding, and spiritual development. We say to all our paramparās, please, give us that time in a beautiful atmosphere for our sādhanā, our practice. Practicing yoga means not only physical exercises. These exercises, these prāṇāyāmas, are also very useful. Someone said, "The body is not all, but without the body, nothing is there." We are our own self and have everything within us. We are not searching outside anywhere. We are searching within ourselves. We go everywhere to see this world and atmosphere in different places. That’s always good. But what we are searching for is within us. Everything is with us. There was a little story. About 25 or 30 years ago, a girl had a baby. As every mother does, she had a lot of love for the child. She was also working for the home and taking care of the child. She took her child in her arms and worked. With one hand holding the child, the child sleeping on her shoulder, she worked on something. She went outside, into the garden, and suddenly she said, "My God, where is my child?" She searched in the house, in the garden, and ran to the neighbors. At the neighbors, there was one grand lady, a grandmother. The young lady said, "Grandmother, grandmother, where is my child? Where is my child?" The grandmother said, "My child, the little baby is with you, in your arms." The young lady said, "Oh, I’m sorry." So we all, including myself, have everything within and with us. But we are searching outside. Outside, we are looking for something, for God, for different things. In this regard, according to our guru, they are awakening us. They awaken us; they do not give it to us. They say, your child is in your arms. Their knowledge is inside. Your God is inside. Everything is within. But it is like this: sometimes, in the winter, there is a lot of fog, and we don’t know where to see. Then the sun rises, but it is still very foggy. Similarly, we are also like blind, and we don’t know where we are. So we are all in the fog. That is because we are blind. When the fog goes away, the clouds go away, the sun rises, and the beautiful blue sky appears, we know everything very clearly. "Oh, I am here." There is another story. There was a big hall like this, and there was a blind person inside. He had a stick in one hand. He wanted to go out of the big hall. Where is the gate to go out? There was a conference or something. People left, but the blind man said, "I will go, don’t worry, okay?" The blind man, with one hand on the stick and one hand on the wall, went along the wall. When the door came, he took his hand from the wall to scratch his hair. But walking, he again put his hand on the wall, going slowly, slowly. When the door came again, he was scratching his armpit and again put his hand on the wall. This happened three, four times. Then he said, "My God, how big is this hall? It is very long." There was a man working there, cleaning. He said, "It’s not very big, but you don’t know; you always forget or you leave it behind." The blind man said, "Don’t think that a blind person is so stupid. Who are you there?" The man said, "I am the person who is taking care of here." The blind man said, "Don’t talk to me," and again he went on. Then the man said, "My dear friend, you lost the door many times. You missed the door." The blind man said, "I’m not stupid." The man said, "You are." "I am not," he said. The man said, "My friend, you have your hand on the wall all the time, but when you put your hand in your hair, on your shoulders, the door is only two steps behind." The blind man said, "Oh my God, I think I’m not blind." And I said, "I am blind, really now, because I lost the door." What does this mean? From time to time, God gives you the door. It means that you are going to mokṣa. God gave me the door open, but you are blind, and you put your hand always on the wall. And that’s why these are the walls; this is for the blind. You don’t know. Similarly, we are in this world; we have so many things to do, and we lose it. So we come to our sādhanā, our yoga in daily life, where there are many, many practices of different yogic sādhanās. Not only āsanas, but the prāṇāyāmas. Not only the prāṇāyāmas, but the concentration. And not only the concentration, but also meditation. And in meditation, we have to see within our cakras. Similarly, we are coming further through Guru Kṛpā. So Gurudev can guide us, but Gurudev cannot do more. We show you the path. You have to walk. You should walk. Similarly, Gurudev can give us mantra, some techniques, etc. But you have to do it yourself. It doesn’t matter what you think. First, you have to understand. First, we have to understand. First, I have to understand my guru. Yes, my Gurudeva, it is like that. So the guru has given that knowledge; the guru has given that spirituality. The guru will look in you for what is a mistake. But you should not look at the mistakes or something in the guru. That’s it. And the mistake we are making is that we think, "I’m searching for my guru," that he is the best, and he should not make any mistakes. But what have you done? We need milk, so we get milk from the cow. But we are not taking everything from the cow. What cows are eating, what kind of fodder they are eating—we do not take the grass, only the milk. So we should need only milk, not extra things. So, here you are here for how many days? I don’t know. But I can tell you that you are in the ocean of milk. That is milk, and you are very pure, clean. Now, milk means not only this white milk. These are only milk, and water is the same. These are the five principles. Or these are Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya, Manomaya, Vijñānamaya. These are all what I am talking about every day. But after these five, the sixth one we are searching for, yes. There are four which we can see and search; we will get them. So these are the ten principles. We will talk about this tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so on. But these are ten, and each of the ten is multiplying. So there are twenty-five principles, and from that, then we get out. That is going, your sādhanās to go to the supreme. In the hidden powers in humans, kuṇḍalinī and cakras—in that book you should read; you didn’t read properly. You were like a newspaper, and then through the newspaper. Bhagavad Gītā is not a newspaper. Rāmāyaṇa is not a paper. Vedas are not papers. The holy books are not a newspaper, so all of this, we cannot throw them out. But you have your holy book, and it is on your table, or somewhere else. Sometimes you look in; otherwise, it’s dusty. So that will not give us that knowledge. Similarly, we have to read our body as the holy scriptures. Therefore, what we are learning, and in your book, The Hidden Powers in Humans, it is there, but we don’t know. That’s why we completely have a lot of physical problems. But still we cannot see. Only the doctor will see. The doctor will say, "Oh, there is something." You say, "Please, doctor, please, can you clean this or make an operation?" So it happens to everyone, but if we are really very pure, clean, then we don’t have that kind of problem that a doctor needs to make an operation. So we have to purify ourselves. No one has given you something that is not good. The five tattvas, these five tattvas, if we can purify them and give them energy and movement, then let us say 95% we can be healthy. And when we are not doing this and are eating differently, without thinking, then we have 95% of our mistakes. The first mistake, the first big mistake, the first terrible mistake, that first very negative power, what is that? Our nourishment. Even if you think that you eat very good sāttvic and vegetarian food, still, you make very many mistakes. I also make mistakes. But a yogī, they are not mistaken. But they don’t know where they are. So, even if it is sāttvic food, you know what is sāttvic? Pure. No eggs, no meat, no fish, etc. We are eating good vegetables, we are drinking milk, etc. But still, our mistake is that we are putting too much of our food into this garbage. More and more and more and more. Now we know what to do. Then we think, "Now we will give up everything," and eat very little. Also, not good. That again makes you ill. Then what to do? Step by step, at least 15 to 20 years, we are slowly, slowly making our nourishment less and less and less. Then, what we call the energy, prāṇa’s purification, is clean; then our body will be strong. But you go for one week or two weeks somewhere, eating little, this, that, swimming, massaging, everything, and coming home again, you’re putting all the garbage in. And all these desires, and what we call our problems, like cancer, etc. The snake is inside, and whatever you will do, he will bite you one day. So, how to get this out? You need a master for a snake. So, slowly, slowly, think today. You eat well. I know you are vegetarian and everything. Now, if you are eating one kilo, then cut it by only two percent. Otherwise, we will be very weak, and we will be lost, slowly, slowly, slowly. Other things, if we are going towards spirituality, God, etc., then there is a second problem, illness. And that is that "I am; the rest is not. I am the best. It is I who am in the front. I am, others are not mine." This is not good. That’s why many people who are coming to spirituality, coming to the Master or to the Guru, then what we are thinking, we neglect others. "I am the best one, I am the good one." Then it is going to cause disease in the body. And so, what is negative? That thing that "I am," what is inside, is creating disease. Not only physical disease, it’s also mental. And you know, it doesn’t come first in the body. No. The disease comes from our thoughts. This is only our laziness, anger, hate, jealousy, etc. And there is a pollution, slowly, slowly, which then comes to the body. As Gurujī was telling, this illness is not illnesses in your thoughts. It doesn’t matter to whom you have jealousy or anger, etc. So it is said, early morning when we get up, we should wash ourselves. Then impurities go out. Now, you know, the corona, they say, "Wash your hands, again, wash hands, wash hands," you know. And alcohol, washing hands. Alcohol is not for drinking, but for cleaning. And you know, the alcohol comes from the ocean. When Śiva said, "Churning of the ocean," and there comes all this, these kinds of qualities or something, and alcohol also came. But those Rākṣasas, they said, "This is good for us," and they were drinking alcohol. And the others, for them it was like a medicine or something, on your skin, many things, but not for drinking. So this is the difference in this good or bad: that alcohol is not bad. But the second one is bad. And who is that? Who is drinking? So, first you have to accept others, because I know who I am, but now I will see everybody and not neglect one or the other. So it is said, there are people doing yoga, and they are making it a competition. But a yogī will never say competition. We will first give to you, and then I will take. When your guest comes, do you first eat and then give them? We give first to others, and then we give to ourselves. And that is when you are a yogī, then you are a master, then you are a god. Everything you can understand is in this. So, this is our book, Hidden Powers in Humans. With what? What is that? The cakras, and these are four points. And what is in this? You read completely again and again and again, sometimes the last. My father said, when someone serves you food—vegetable one, vegetable two, different vegetables, chutney, etc., etc., yes, sometimes chutney. You see, something is big, big things we are getting, eating, and then a little chutney. That is very nicely said. A good vegetable or a nice chapati, but then chutney, because chutney has more taste than others and more power in it. So it is said, when we are serving the invertible, or in the thālī, or a plate, when we all have eaten, then you should take a little piece of chapati, and from the plate, all that is inside that is tasteful, so we are eating this. We are doing these prāṇāyāmas, āsanas. There, there, but after all this, what the guru said, that is the test. We have a beautiful chart here, our kuṇḍalinī and these cakras. A big chart. Who does not have a hand up from this chart, our kuṇḍalinī and cakras? Those who don’t have, they should like this, okay? So tomorrow you will see how beautiful it is. Because the cakras and kuṇḍalinī, this is a yogic science. And each letter on it, the resonance in that, it will feel only like a spinal column, but there is energy going up and down, not the bones, nothing like this. We will see tomorrow, day after tomorrow, everywhere. But as I said, from today, from one kilo, we shall make it a little less, just like how many, not 20%, one corn. From one, what you eat, the bread and this, one corn. So, in one month, how many corns? And they’re not all in three meals: morning, then noon and evening. There we should eat one corn a day. So, how many corns is one kilo? That is one day, one day... only one corn, only one corn. Then we will see that our nutrition, what we have, will become slowly, slowly that come, and prāṇas will come more and more strong. I saw today Badrināth and the people are there, not so much, but many people are there still. And there are sādhus, those who are more practicing sādhanās. And it’s not that they are starving. And they are just jumping, going straight up and down on the stairs. And one very rich person, and how they are eating, and how they are eating. And now they are coming to the temple for darśan in Badrināth. There are little stairs, but they cannot step. Because they are only eating. How many years? How much were you making in your body? So, one year, how many days? And from that we take just a little, let’s say, like, what can we say? One corn. And always eat one, two, or three times, but not in between. Then, in three years, you will step on very quickly. It does not matter if you are a woman or a man, how big, big. So that I said that yogīs, sorry, that it is said that yogīs will say first, "Please, I serve you," and then I will. And those who are not, they said, "Competition, I will run first, and I will do the best postures. I will do āsanas beautifully." This is not good. That’s not a yogī. Because posture will not give us what we call liberation. And may it give, but they will not run first to God. God will say, "Go back." And don’t go left or right here; that is a problem. So let’s come to our sādhanā. Tomorrow is Saturday or Sunday? Saturday we have some conference. Saturday or Sunday also, I see. I have every day, Saturday, OK? Or every Sunday. If not, then you will see the day after tomorrow; Sunday is there. And wait, again Sunday will come. So, always we are there. The days we humans have done, humans said one, two, three, and the sun, Saturday, Monday, etc. Can you tell any animals how to do that? Yes, they don’t. They say it is, we are, that’s all. But of course, we are humans, and we are doing all nicely, clearly, etc. So we are not like a crocodile, just like a devil. So we do everything. We have the day, we have... And we are because every day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., it has the signs, and it is because of the moon and the sun. This is everything. In the Jyotiṣa, it is first coming from the Jyotiṣa. So, my dear, again, I welcome you, and I’m very happy to see you. I do believe that you have all accommodations now, and they have told you that, please, you know, the day before yesterday was Kṛṣṇa’s birthday. And so we had Krishna’s, this, like, there we were all I had here. And look, I did not think why he stood. Sorry, I’m not doing anything, but he’s so active there. Krishna, Krishna, yes, please sleep, you know? Everybody... And then people were so... Happy, all so happy. So El said, "Kṛṣṇa, they were giving him a kiss. Kṛṣṇa, I’m not moving." So all kissing, kissing, everybody took the Kṛṣṇa, like this. So we have to, at least today, the question was, when you are walking, then you should have a minimum two to three meters distance. There was a very nice lecture by one doctor, and really, he wrote and explained very, very nicely. God bless us. Mahāprabhujī bless us that we will not have this Corona, Brona, Trona, but everybody is doing so, we should also. So welcome very much, and we will have next programs, and they... I have told you where, what will be the programs. Thank you. Dīpan, Bhagavān, Nekhī. Nobody. Yeah, Krishna was crying that nobody said like this. Yes, we have, please. Okay? That no one even blinked. Yes, it’s okay, we blinked.

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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