TV Channel

We offer our praṇāms to our Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, Śiva Svarūpa Devapurījī, and the Emperor of Hindu Dharma, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān. Together, you and I also bow at the holy feet of our Gurudev. It is a beautiful day with many programs ahead, but first, we must offer our praṇāms and surrender to our Gurudev. Hands together. If possible, sit straight with folded hands at the heart. Daśa Prabhu śaraṇa parāyaṇam. Oṁ namo śrī Prabhu Dīpa. Oṁ śrī Prabhu haṁ saba daśa Prabhu śaraṇa parāyaṇam. Oṁ namaḥ śrī Prabhu, śrī Prabhu, śrī Prabhu, śrī Prabhu, śrī Prabhu, śrī Prabhu. This is our praṇām, our respect to Bhagavān Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, representing all our gurus. Our adulation: Oṁ Namo. Oṁ is the first. Oṁ Namo means we bow down. Oṁ Namo Śrī. Śrī is wealth—the wealth of peace, harmony, and understanding. Everything in our physical, mental, and spiritual being is within that Śrī. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Dīpā Mahāprabhujī. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpā Mahāprabhujī. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa. Nārāyaṇa is Bhagavān Viṣṇu. As written by Gurujī in Līlā Amṛta and elsewhere, Mahāprabhujī is Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Oṁ Namo. Namo means we bow down. Oṁ Namo Śrī Prabhupādīpā Nārāyaṇam. Oṁ Namo Śrī Prabhupādipā. Oṁ Namo Śrī Prabhupādipā. This means we all together—including these little children, your dog here, all little birds, every living being—we are all. We are not saying only humans, but all creatures nearby. We adore, we bow down. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhupādipā. We are all your devotees. We are your bhakti, and we all bow down. Please give us your blessing. Śaraṇa. Śaraṇa means at your holy feet. We adore thee. And so, haṁsabha, divine disciples, we all bow down. With this praṇām, we give the very best we have to thy holy feet. This is a very nice mantra from our Mahāprabhujī, Devapurījī, Holī Gurujī, Alakpurījī, and all these paramparā disciples. They are our God, and we are all disciples. Remember this mantra whenever you can, especially in difficulties. But the effect may not be immediate. Sometimes yes, sometimes not, because we do not know our own past karma. How can God immediately make us supreme or solve our problems? It is said that sooner or later, everything happens by Guru Kṛpā, the Guru's grace. Gurujī wrote a very beautiful, large book with many pages. It contains many stories of sādhus and sannyāsīs. When they receive this book, they carry it in their pocket. They said to Holy Gurujī, Gurudev, "Please, can you give me this book?" Gurujī said, "It is for you. Will you read it?" He said, "No, not for reading, but I will give it to all the people. The knowledge and stories within will give me great wisdom." Some stories we cannot immediately understand due to different traditions in different countries; they must be read in a different way, but the essence is the same. The stories are very nice; some are real, and sometimes we create a story, but that created story is also real. Our Holī Gurujī told one such story. There was an āśrama about one or two kilometers from a village, with a beautiful park and small cabins. The head Gurujī lived in a grass hut with others. There was a merchant. Another person had a flower farm. When we go to a city, we need flowers, but you cannot buy them there; they are brought by people who harvest them. This merchant was always traveling. He saw the person in the flower garden and said, "Please, can you make one flower garland for me every day for my Gurujī's morning pūjā? I will give you four paisa daily." At that time, that was a quarter of a rupee, which was significant. In that little village, there was a king who visited Gurujī once a week with the queen, and many people went. One day, the merchant said to the gardener, "Tomorrow is Guru Pūrṇimā. Please make the most beautiful garland you can, as it is for my Gurudev." The gardener made an exceptionally beautiful and large garland. He was standing with it when the king and queen passed by in a horse carriage on their way for Guru Pūrṇimā praṇām. The queen saw it and said to the king, "Your Highness, stop here. I would like to have this Mālā for Gurujī." She asked the gardener, "Please, can you give me this Mālā?" He replied, "I can give you another, better one, but not this one. This garland is promised. I give him one every day, so I cannot give you this." The king said, "Why not? I will give you money." The gardener said, "Money has no value for me. My promise is what I cannot break." The merchant arrived and asked, "Please, a little?" The gardener said, "Yes." The king interjected, "No, stop. I'll give you money. How much does the merchant give? Four, five paisa?" The king said, "I'll give you one hundred." The merchant said, "Give me one thousand." The king said, "Twenty thousand." The merchant said, "One million." The king, knowing the merchant was very rich and that he himself sometimes borrowed from him, said, "Fifteen million." For half an hour, the king and merchant offered enormous sums. The gardener was surprised. He thought, "Why are they offering so much? Perhaps this garland is more valuable to Gurudeva. Maybe it holds a greater price for him." So the gardener said, "Your Highness and friend Merchant, today on Guru Pūrṇimā, I will offer this garland to Gurudeva myself." He went and gave the garland to Gurudeva. The king and merchant watched. The gardener said, "For me, billions have no value. My devotion to my Gurudev is more valuable." The king and merchant said, "You are great. We did not believe you were like that." This is what we call true value. What kind of value? The devotion to God, to the Guru, to the temple, to the church—there is nothing greater than our devotion. Do you understand? When we are on the path and decide to become a holy, spiritual person, we know it is a long way, but if day and night our steps are towards that goal, then we will be happy. Nothing else will matter. The king was so happy. The queen alighted from the chariot and offered praṇām to the gardener. The king also stood up. The merchant said, "My friend, I think I am the best merchant here." Janama janama means life after life. You have attained peace, harmony, and understanding for many, many lives. The merchant said, "Money has no value. May I give you one little petal of a flower, not even a whole flower? Or if not that, a little stone? But it must come from my heart." That is what we must strive for. I am trying day and night. I hope someone will jump in front of me. Do you think I will say, "What will I do now?" or "What do I have to count now?" That someone else is so great? I will say, my friend—you are not my friend, but you are my Gurudev. I offer praṇām in front of you with my head at your feet. That is our sādhanā. That is our life. Even when we first meet a guru or a disciple, or someone who has no Mālā or mantra, if we accept that person with our heart, then it is everything. We do not know if he is the highest, or who we are. There is another story from long ago, hundreds or thousands of years, during the time of the Mughals. There was a king who declared, "In my kingdom, no one will be hungry. No one will be without good clothes or money. In my kingdom, all are great." Every morning, the king told his guards and people, "Take me into your hearts. In my kingdom, there will be no poor people, nor animals in need." God decided to test him to see if he was truly a good king. The king used to come out of his palace about an hour after sunrise to see if all was well. Suddenly, a poor man appeared, dressed in an unclean shirt, very weak, with a stick and a pot. He approached and fell down. He said, "Who are you, your highness?" The king replied, "I am yours in your kingdom, but I am dying." The king said, "But you look like that." The man said, "Yes, for about 40 days I have eaten nothing. No one gave me anything, and I cannot work. The water is also not good. So, King, I came to you. Please give me something to eat." The king was surprised. "In my kingdom? My son, my disciple... From where are you coming?" The beggar said, "Just behind this wall. I have always been here, only by this wall. I have been here the whole time." The king said, "Your Highness, please keep talking later. I am dying for food. No gossiping, please." So the king said, "Please bring him something to eat quickly. First, some nice, hot sweet milk." It was poured into his pot and disappeared. Then came some bread. The king put many things into the pot, and they vanished like the wind. The king, looking on, said, "Bring more, please, quickly." Again, the king asked, "What is this? I don't understand." The beggar said, "I only know I'm hungry, and my pot is empty. You are the king; please fill me with food." The king said, "I think you need something more." The beggar replied, "I don't know more or less. Just my stomach feels it." The king put in vegetables, gold, and many things. The king became frightened. "Who are you? A beggar? You are a king?" The beggar said, "No, I must be something. Please, take whatever you want." The king said, "I give my whole palace, all my kingdom." The beggar replied, "What will I do with your kingdom and palace? Just fill my stomach." The king knelt down and took the beggar's hand. "Who are you? Please, if you are dead or a beggar, appear as God." The beggar said, "My son, king, I wanted to know how you are. Now I know you are the best king. You have that prāṇa, that life force. So I gave you all, and you gave me also all. Live in this kingdom like this." It was God. God blessed him: "Your hands will always be up, not down like a beggar's." The king was frightened, and God disappeared. These are stories, but that was a real story from about five thousand years ago. So, we do not know about ourselves. Perhaps someone among you is like that. Therefore, do not think any person is not good. Who knows where we will be? This is the learning. I know all our people here, and in other countries, will always offer to you first. Except the football players? No, they are all sleeping. So, my stories are finished. They are all, how to say, captivated by the king's story. That is what gurus do first: they choose something to give us confidence and certainty. Our Holy Gurujī and his mother were very, very holy. His father was a great Jyotiṣī. They had three brothers (one died, I think) and four sisters. One of the last was my mother. From birth, Gurujī was very special in a way no one could understand. Slowly, he performed many sādhanās at a very young age and always prayed to Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. One day in a dream, Kṛṣṇa said, "I will come." Gurujī woke up, not knowing what had finished, but he knew that one day He said, "I will come." Again it came in a dream: "I am that Kṛṣṇa, and I will meet you on that day, in that place." In that dream, he said we would meet then and there. Gurujī was still very young, about 17, 18, or 20 years old. After some years or months, a sādhu came—now Holī Gurujī's guru-brother—and told the King of Jodhpur that during monsoon, they were staying in one place and that Mahāprabhujī would give them darśana. So, Holy Gurujī walked from there, nearly 200 km (or 170 km; now the road is straight, about 100 km, but at that time it was from village to village). He arrived at that time. Devotees were sitting and singing bhajans. Mahāprabhujī was walking there. You know Mahāprabhujī's very nice, big personality. Gurujī saw Kṛṣṇa in him. Gurujī fell at Mahāprabhujī's holy feet. Mahāprabhujī said, "My son, my child, get up. You know, my child, I saw you on that day in the dream, and I spoke to you this day, this time, and here. Remember that? The time has come now." This is in the Līlā Amṛta book. Have you read it? From that day, Holī Gurujī went with Mahāprabhujī. He was a young man, probably 14 to 20 years old. Of course, his parents were sad. "Where is my child?" It took a few months to find out where he was. Holī Gurujī's father came by train to the place and reached Mahāprabhujī's ashram. Mahāprabhujī was in a little hut, and Holī Gurujī was sitting under a tree. He saw his father and said, "Why did you come here?" The child said, "My father, my everything is here." Then Mahāprabhujī came out and said, "He is your father. Respect him. Go and offer praṇām." But Mahāprabhujī also said, "He is yours, and he will be. I will make you have many sons like this. Don't worry." Of course, it was not easy. At that time, there were no vehicles, maybe only a jeep from the Mahārājā. We all looked from afar. When we see deer and we are walking, the deer look at us like this. Now, we don't even have a place to park our car. So many things have changed. It was not easy. There are many, many stories Gurujī has told, also in the book. In three days, it will be our Holy Gurujī's incarnation day or birthday. We all will be there—all our devotees, disciples, friends, everyone who listens to Svāmijī on television. On that day, there will be a lecture by Gurujī and a beautiful program. All around the world—America, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, China, Europe, Africa—everywhere, our devotees will offer praṇāms and worship to our Hindu Dharmasamrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Mahārāj. Everyone must go through difficulties and good times. We know this is a test. Many will neglect, many will gossip and talk about work. Even to Kṛṣṇa, to God Rāma, to Buddha—all were suffering, and many people spoke negative words because they are only dirt. When we take something out from a fruit or vegetable, sand comes with it, and that must be cleaned too. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva—all suffered. All great sages suffered. But they knew they were certain. Gold is gold, and it will remain gold. The sun rises, and it will rise. If we are born or we die, similarly, the saints, the ṛṣis, the sādhus know what they are doing. Many will give negative thoughts. That is good because when they give negativity, they are purifying all our negativity onto themselves. Positively, we are cleaning ourselves. We are lucky. You are all here. Today is a new moon day according to our Jyotiṣa, which is very nice. It is a great constellation. The new moon—maybe we see it otherwise. The second day, then we can see the moon. Now is the last of the moon days, then will be one more night, and then the next day the moon is new. The moon has a big story we will share sometime. You, my dear, may also have many problems. Many say, "What? You do not eat eggs? Do you not eat this? Do you not eat that?" It is not our religion. Our religion is a human religion, nothing else. But you are that star. This is what I wanted to give you today: these two stories and the remembrance of our Gurudeva. My own stories with my Gurudeva, perhaps we will talk about them sometime. It is not so easy. Now you see me here; you get up, you look at me, you come close, people are helping me, someone holds my arm, and so on. But there were days with little stories. I wanted to become a sannyāsī, and Gurujī said no because of my mother and brothers. My mother is Gurujī's sister. Gurujī said no, otherwise his sister would be angry. I insisted, and so on. Gurujī said, "I give you a very nice job." For three months I was there. I said, "My son, in this hot sun, hardly any water, working in little mines—that's not a life." Truly, one day I had no money, only one or two rupees. The workers were paid after a month. I had only one dress. I wanted to go somewhere, but first, I went to Gurujī. I knew Gurujī would be very angry. I came to Gurujī, and Gurujī said, "Go out." He did not give anything? "Come, sit down, drink water." Then he said, "Go. Why do you come here? Go, go." This is the test of the master. Now I had no money, nothing. There was a railway train coming around midnight. From evening, after work at sunset, I did not know the path. I had no money and did not know how to go, so I was running along the railway tracks. I thought maybe there would be a snake or other animals, but I kept going. I reached a little station and sat there. A train came. I looked left and right because I had no money, then I got on the train. After two or three kilometers, the ticket collector came. "Your ticket?" I said, "I have no ticket." "Money?" I said, "I have no money." He said, "OK. You can come here with me and lie down." I thought, oh God, this is good. At the next station, the ticket collector called the police. "This person is in black." The police took me away and put me in a room with no food or water. In the morning at 11 o'clock, another train came, and the police took me to Jodhpur to a judge. They said, "This is a boy." The judge asked, "What is your name?" I did not want to give my name. I said, "Please, I lie, I lie." "What is your father's name?" I also did not want to give my name and village. "Then why this?" So I said, "I know. I was working there, and I want to go to my village to bring something." The judge just said, "Don't do like this. You can go now. Thank you." The police let me free, but for two days I did not eat. Then I came to my mother and brothers. I said, "Praṇām Māṭājī." I stayed two or three days, then went back because Holī Gurujī was angry. My mother gave me some money, and I took the train. After a few days, I wrote a letter to Gurujī. There was no telephone or anything. The rest is a story for next time. Thank you.