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Part 1: The Essence of Rāga, Seva, and Sattvic Living This is a morning rāga. Rāga means melody. In all our traditional texts, it is specified when a rāga should be sung, which is very important. However, with modern technology, we can listen and play it at any time. Traditionally, people would stand and wait at least two hours before sunrise to learn and listen to specific bhajans throughout the night. It is important to know which bhajans to listen to and when. Although it is now late, it is still morning for prayers. Listening to this after prayers is beneficial. Not everyone can grasp this melody perfectly; often, people listen and speak, and then it is gone. This recording has been made in the hope that we will find time to learn it again. Now, the next part: Jāgame māri hari guru rākhi hīlā jāduvati jāgame māri samuratta rākhi hīlā nai jih bhavana chandana sharir arehare bhavana chandana sharir vātāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇakāraṇak. Do Prabhujī, hotī moṭhī hān, apanā milā do Prabhujī, hotī moṭhī hān. Nare Hare hotī hān, Chora Seemeh Jā, Chora Seemeh Jā. Rāma Guru Swāmījī, māro janama sudhāryo a ḍhūbate jagmeh. Mari Hari Guru Ra Khela Dhoobate Jagmeh, Mari Samrata Ra Khela Parasamani. Svaryo Hoha Januvatme Jagame, Mari Hari Gurura Khela Januvatme Jagame. Mari Samrāta Ra Khela, śrī-nāyā gurūśo tam śrī-devā purīṣa-bhagavān. Śrī-nāyā gurūśo tam śrī-devā purīṣa-bhagavān, nāre harē devā purīṣa-bhagavān, śrī-dīpa-kahedanya-devā Parama Guru Swāmījī. Maro Jannama Sudharyo Hoa, Jag Dhoobati Jagame, Mari Hari Gurura Khe La. Dhoobati Jagame Mari Samrata Ra Khe La Om Boleshne Deepanayam Bhagwana Ki Jai. Shri Deveshwar Mahadeva Ki Jai. Once more, so three times is good—for Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśa. Na ime maṅgvokā ca nahi dana-dvāraṇakī, prabhu iccha nahi dana-dvāraṇakī. Rāja-dina gurusya moye caranokī, rāja-dena dayalu moye charanokhi, Prabhu charaṇokhi pada kammaḻokhi rāja-dena gurushramoye charaṇokhi yad yad... y Samo each other, okay? Rajadev, nada y’all boy each other. No key, no key, father. Come on, oh, oh... Rājā dīna guruśrama oye caraṇokhi naime māṅgu sāthaṁ. He dāsī guru caraṇokhi. He prabhu mukti dāsī guru caraṇokhi. Rājā dīna guru śrama oye caraṇokhi. Rājā dīna dayālu oye caraṇokhi. Caraṇokhi pādakaṁ malokhi. He datha charanokhi padakam marokhi rajadena gurushamoye charanokhi rajadena dayalumoye charanokhi pa prabhuji charanna raja maangu nathila hala nandakihi prabhuyevi nathila hala nandakihi. Very good. Would anyone like to sing? Always Umāpurī, Śāntī, and others. But you have a choice today. Come on. Nobody? No? Come. Okay, then once more, with many blessings. It is nearly noon now, midday. You had a good program. Who was teaching you, giving instructions in your Anuṣṭhāna Kriyā? Annapurna, did you? You can speak? You did. Okay, good, thank you. The rest, our teachers? Very good. So, all were together, no? Two groups or one group? One group. Was it okay? Very good. Thank you. And the third one? Giving the teacher training? No. Very good. Karma yoga? Did someone do karma yoga? There are no women. This is another karma yogī. So, karma—yesterday I told you, but you were not here. "Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam" in the Bhagavad Gītā. If we do seva, this is the best yoga. Service, this seva, is very important. In Christianity, they often do seva. Through their seva, they promote a kind of religion. Christians perform seva but they change people's religion. They give money, clothes, many things, but they convert them to Christianity. This is... if people are not happy with changing religion, that is not true seva. That is acting in the wrong direction. That is why I am here. In many countries, I teach yoga, but I do not change anyone. I never tell anyone to become this religion or not that religion. For me, every god is a good god. You may call it God, or the Holy Saint, etc. We do all good for good. I did not want to talk about this this morning, but it came out this way. There are beautiful bhajans and songs everywhere, from many religions, countries, and languages. This is something good. We must not convert; I do not convert—I convince. There is a difference between convert and convince. That is spirituality, that is reality, and it does not create something wrong inside. If you take milk and warm it, then put a drop of lemon, the milk curdles. But if you take milk and put a little honey or sugar, it becomes sweet and good. Or you add other things. What do we call this? The yellow one, haldi, and the other is saffron. When you take milk and put honey or sugar, it becomes sweeter. When you put saffron, it is very good for the heart. A little is enough. It has a nice fragrance and is good for all the joints and the body, and very good for the heart. Then the yellow one, curcuma—what you call turmeric—is also yellow. It is one of the best things for joints and bones. The milk remains milk, but we add something beneficial. In India, I would say 80% or 90% use haldi. Even at the birth of a child, the mother takes a little in her food, and it passes to the child through her milk. You can see that Indians' bones do not break easily. They are strong. Haldi is one of the best remedies for the whole body. Similarly, these are called spices. Spices are for different parts of our body: bones, lungs, heart, and many others. Many other spices can be harmful to parts of our body. Without spices, food is nothing. Here, mostly we use only salt. I do not know what spices they have. Salt, made from the leaves of some trees. Salt, again salt. They never eat black pepper? Oh, very salty. Black pepper comes from India. Chile comes from another country, which I always forget—on the other side of France, still in Europe. Spain is good, but other countries are also good. From Portugal. Chilies come from Portugal. Other things come from India. Different things come from many countries. What we call corn (kukurica?) comes from Mexico, and wheat comes from America. Europe has very good, nice food and many good herbs. But they lost it, perhaps because they turned to meat—boiling bones, and so on. I do not even want to see a cooking pot. I can tell you, I have lived in Europe for 52 years, and I was not in Europe for 24 years. I have not been in India for so long; otherwise, I would be 104 years old. I know and feel that here, there is nothing wrong; everything is very good. But this matter of eating—this is called Āyurveda. Āyurveda is mostly from India. I do not want to single out India, but I must tell you directly: unfortunately, more Indians now eat meat than Europeans. And fish, and fish. When I was small in India, I only saw chicken eggs. They were eggs, but they could not show what was hidden. A great master, a disciple of Swāmī Śrī Yukteśwarjī—who was a Kriyā yogī, Yogānandjī's Gurujī—wrote in his book that if you eat one cake or one egg, you cannot meditate for ten days, because he is a saint. He understood what meditation is. If meditation does not have very good nourishment—that is, sāttvic—and meat, eggs, and fish are not sāttvic, they are not for humans. I have said many times in my lectures that this Swāmījī said, "One egg, ten days you cannot meditate." Of course, you can close your eyes and do something; that is okay. But meditation in the great sense is not just seeing good clouds, a beautiful sky, a beautiful ocean, flowers, sunrise, sunset, relaxing, and looking. That is only, again, our meditation. I was also teaching, and I do the same thing sometimes; we need to... So, people who have some kind of depression, we should give them that kind of meditation. No, Śānti. That is why Śānti has so much depression. She concentrates outside, makes many books, writes, and is very nice. She is a great... I will not say anything, just a joke. So it is like this, and other things. When we are eating, the Indians, you know how many spices they use. Now Indians have also lost these spices. The real spices—maybe an Āyurvedic person can cook with them. Otherwise, we use only chili, salt, haldi, that is all. A lot of oil, this and that. But we should know which spices should be used. When Indians come as guests, they bring many good things. Everyone in the house eats that. Any kind of rice, chapati, etc., but there are spices, then sweet, and then what you call this? Pickle. Pickle is great, but not too much—just one little spoon. And then another one, and again some other. So, eating sometimes requires tasting in this way. The first time I went with people in India, we had mango pickles and other pickles. With me was a lady I always called Matajī. We put food on each side, and she thought I should eat everything. There was pickle, so she ate everything and said, "Put it around, otherwise they will give you more inside. Other spices, also eat it." Then, chapati with vegetable, only vegetable. Oh God, so hot. Chili and then chapatis. She said, "I cannot do this." I said, "Matajī, you should have a little taste." But I like the taste very much, so I eat it all. Then why not? But it is too hot. It took me two days to drink water only. Yes, these are the spices. I do not think people use them here anymore. They call it something you get to bite on the street. I do not know if they call it dog, dog. What is that? Hot dog. Hot dog or something. So why are they getting these sources? My dear, today I think this is not a good voice, but I am taking you. You will say, "This Swāmījī, you are not good." But sometimes it is. Oh my God, my lecture was going in one direction, and I went in another. But this is also a good lecture. Long ago, in 1975, and from 1975 to 1973, I was in Austria, in a city called Graz. Near Graz there is another village. There are people from king's families. He had many horses, ponies. He was a very spiritual person, reading many things. Then he got a mantra from me, and truly he was great until his last life; I used to come to him and see him. He had a friend who was not Christian, but from another faith—what they call, from the Lamb, not Jewish, the other one. No, no, it is very nice. Anyway, he has a church and everything, very good. Obviously, they are... he is like a British, but it does not matter. That prince—not a prince, he was Hoyos, what was he? He was a count. Anyway, he had one friend. He was elderly, already about 60 or 70, 75 years. From Graz, he used to come by bike. A little bit, heels up and down. We three talked a lot. He was a complete vegetarian, very vegetarian. His name was... who is the worst? He said that after the Second World War, and even now, the government in these countries requires every young man to do one or two months of military service. But one can say, "I will go to the kitchen," or "I can go to the hospital," something like that. He was in a factory where they made sausages. He was also eating them, but then he went to the factory and saw what it was all from: all meat. Throwing things here and there, bringing it out and making choices. His name is also something, but then he said, "I will never, never eat meat." So he never ate any meat. He became a vegetarian. He was a very old person to me—not so old to me, but let us say he was twenty, thirty-five years older than me or more. So he was, from that day, he said, "Swāmījī, please do not go to this dog pet or what it is." So, what you get from all this eating, you do not know. Even in a vegetarian restaurant, you do not know. How is the hand raw? King? This, that... Once they brought a plate, and there was something dirty. One of us said, "Please, can you clean this?" He said, "No, I am sorry." He went outside, inside there, and he made and licked it. So, even, you know. So please cook at home. You will cook nicely. Your children, your wife, your husband, your parents—what they cook, at least they should know they cook clean, not dirty. But now in this world, there are more restaurants, and that is why. I do not know, but someone told me—and the person sitting here can say yes or no, and I will ask her—it is said that now they are making buildings with no kitchen in the house. You have a bathroom, a very good bed, everything as it should be, but they do not want any cooking there. Why? Because everyone cooks differently in high buildings, and there is so much spice. One is eating this, one is eating that, one is eating Indian food, one is having spices, Indian incense, Agarbatti, etc. But they make restaurants two floors down. So people come home, go to eat there, and then go into the house. Part 2: A Conversation on Modern Life and Sacred Spaces What they are eating or not, I do not know. They only said it was because of the smell. But then, why does the smell not come from the floor, from those spices? The point is, they have made it so that people do not want to cook and so on, so they have nothing more to do at home. Therefore, they have to eat here. I heard this from someone in San Francisco, please. Maybe our... is sitting there. Where are you? Please, can you come here closely? She is American. But please, talk in Czech. Yes, because otherwise you will see that Swāmījī is making a real joke. So what Swāmījī was... what Swāmījī was saying, yes, it is right. Yes, I live in San Francisco, in the Bay Area. The population there is about 15 million people. And yes, the situation is changing very rapidly. In the last 10 years, they are building high-rises with flats that are very small and have no kitchens. So, as Viśwa Gurujī was describing, yes, you have many flats and then there are restaurants underneath on the bottom. When I see people, they come down for their breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and there is a long queue outside. They can stand an hour in the queue just to wait for their meal. When I watch it, I think, "Why don’t you stay at home in peace, cook your own meal, and enjoy it at home with your family?" But simply, as Viśwa Gurujī said, they really do not know how to cook. I like to go to the farmer’s market where I get my fruits and vegetables. I see many people there with their iPhones, looking at the fruits and vegetables, and they do not know what they are. It is a very basic vegetable, and they are searching on their iPhones to find out what they are looking at. I have also been teaching yoga for children, and part of the program was a cooking class. I brought many vegetables and was teaching them how to wash the vegetables and make different things from them. It was really surprising. I had carrots there and asked the children if they knew where carrots come from and how they grow. The answer was, "It grows in the supermarket." So yes, Viśwagurujī, such is life. Maybe they will have cooking. There is so much traffic, so they are cooking between one person, and they eat, but they can’t know. Also, at the restaurants, there is a lot of traffic and pollution. They have seating outside, just by the road, so they are eating their meal with all the noise and pollution they have to endure, but I don’t think they even realize it. Eating in the cars—that’s another chapter. Eating in the cars, microwaves. As I look at a lot of the younger, educated people—they call them the professional successors—when we follow these young professionals, they wake up, go to Starbucks for breakfast, work 10 to 12 hours under a lot of stress, and come home very exhausted with very little energy and a lot of tamas. They sit in air-conditioned offices with screens in front of them all day, come home tired, and go to a restaurant for dinner. That is really every day. They just don’t cook. They don’t cook at home. They come home, go to bed, and do it all over again. This is the cycle of their lives. It is sad to watch sometimes. Thank you very much. But, wait a moment. We don’t want to think negatively. In America, there are many, many good things. They are very good people. But there is someone always working and going and working. This is a different thing. Everywhere they have beautiful trees on the streets, and everything is very clean. Of course, it is a big city and you don’t know who is who, but if you have friends, they will always be very good to you. They were learning only one subject, and that’s all. After that, they will do something, they can think something, but not as we do. But it is very good. San Francisco has a good climate; I was there many times. That time she was not there; I didn’t see her. She was here studying in her school. Yes, it is so, but it is very nice now. She has a beautiful place, and she has many places. We need many places, but she has one beautiful mountain, and that is really like our beautiful Kailāśa mountain. You can tell about that. It’s really very, very... Yes, Viśwagurujī is talking. As Viśwa Gurujī said, people are beautiful and wonderful wherever you go in the world. With the blessing of Gurudev, I found myself again about three years ago. I used to go to that mountain often before I moved there—a mountain about 300 kilometers north of San Francisco. Now there is a house right under the mountain, and if you see the mountain, it looks like Mount Kailāśa. The people in the mountain town form a very spiritual community. When I was moving there and a new chapter was opening, I was worried about how it would look and what to do there. Viśwa Gurujī told me, "Just go, and the ashram is going to happen around you." In that community, I really feel like I am in an ashram, as if I have been with these people for many, many lives. They are very kind; they embraced me when I moved in and help with shoveling snow and moving wood. It is a very high elevation, about 3,500 meters. On one side of the ashram is the mountain, and on the other side are cows and fields. I like to spend time there with the farmers and people who tend to the cows; it is a very beautiful experience. This year in March, when little calves were born, a farmer invited me to watch. There were 13 little calves. What an experience to watch the process of a calf being born and how the cow tends to her calf. It reminded me of how Gurudev speaks about a mother’s love for her children. I also see great respect for nature there from the local people and farmers. They worship and protect nature; they worship the mountain. It is also an area where many Native Americans live, and their culture is felt all around. I came there three years ago knowing no one, and now I know everyone; I cannot hide there. It is a beautiful place, and I again wish that Viśwagurujī visits that beautiful, sacred mountain, and I hope many of you can come with him. The water is very nice. Drink it. The water, you can’t imagine. There is very good, fresh water. You can’t imagine that. Actually, since Viśwa Gurujī came to the house—there is a well on the property, and the water is very good. When Viśwa Gurujī came, he said the water was a little hard. Yes, it is hard because there are a lot of minerals. I use the water but do not like to put any chemicals into it. When Viśwagurujī was there, I was going to a sacred stream to get water for him to drink. This water comes from melting snow from the mountain; it is the start of the large Sacramento River in California. Supposedly, it takes about 50 years for the ice and snow to melt and travel through minerals to reach the stream. Since Viśwa Gurujī left, it has become my ritual to go early in the mornings to the sacred stream, make my prayers to Gaṅgā and Mahāprabhujī, bring the water, and drink it. The water is so nourishing with prāṇa; you could live on it. I sometimes drink it all day long. It is indescribable. Now there are businesses bottling this water; you can probably buy it in Europe. The mountain is called Mount Shasta, and I think they call it Sacred Springs or Geyser. You see the mountain on the bottles. There are many legends and histories behind the mountain. One very dear to me is that it is said to be the seed of Śiva in California. Sometimes the locals liken the mountain to the Divine Mother and to Mother Gaṅgā. Many times, clouds and such phenomena happen around the mountain. It is a beautiful drive from San Francisco to the mountain. Thank you very much. Thank you. When you come next time, bring water. Thank you. Our water is everywhere in the world. There is very much nice, good water always, with different kinds of minerals. In Czech and Slovakia, it is very plentiful. Where there are mountains, there is holy water everywhere. That is also very, very nice water, as she said. So what I want to say is that now, at this time, we humans are only studying, studying... and going nowhere and achieving nothing, and immediately working like this. There are definitely some things somewhere: no good water and no good air. But in America also, there are forests, long, very nice and very good. But I can tell you that the best is the best—she should bring from San Francisco here, and then we have a retreat here. Yes, bring the Americans here. And water, then you will see how nice it is. We have nice, good water also. The water is because, even in the air and in America, you know, there is very, very much pollution. Europe is still very clean and nice, and the pollution is still little. These are little countries, so we can take care of our country. It’s very good. Thank you very much. You see how people are in San Francisco and many other places. Now it is called the alcohol, the alcohol or wine—the wine yoga. That is also there. They made a yoga center, and when they come in, there is a boy or girl standing with a plate and a little alcohol. They will drink, then go in, dress, and so on. Then again, sit on their yoga place and again get one glass and relax. Like everywhere, people are doing many things. There is also called naked yoga, where everyone... doesn’t matter who is who. What we call kaka, kaka? What is it? F kaka. So they have fake yoga. So it’s okay, let them enjoy how they are. Thank you very much. But we should do our sādhanā, and I tell you that again. I think any one of you going to America, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, etc., or London, you can bring a group—group 115—and as many as you can. The walking is very nice; there are beautiful parks, many vegetarians, and it is very peaceful. There is something called Tilak, and Tilak is very good. You can have this, then you will see. Look, which kind of pizza? Pizza here and pizza in America—you will say, "Oh my god, day and night different." So all I tell you, from any country, it is not a joke. Come for a holiday—one week, two weeks, or one month. Your life will be completely different. There is cooking, cooking training, teacher trainings, yogas, meditations. We have a whole program; we make it. So, my dear, all of you sitting here, you know what I am telling is good for you. We have places in India and also in Australia—very, very nice. It is about six or seven hectares of land, seven hundred, yeah, and then the government forest. So we don’t know where our border is. It is so big, here and there. In the night and day, there is no sound except the animals. That is something. That’s also very good. Everywhere there are nice things. We have in Hungary, yes. It is very flat, and you can ride horses. If you are a good rider, you can ride with two horses at once. But you should have your treasure very strong, your treasure, because when the horse may go that side, maybe your legs do not have power. But your jeans are very good; they poke it out. And Croatia, Slovenia has some of the best swimming. People are coming there, so everywhere is nice. But this sattvic quality we have here is great. What I told you now is not only... you might think Swāmījī did not give a lecture. But I give you all trainings and everywhere, what it is. So I will tell you one more thing, and it is truth. It’s not wrong, nothing. But this I will tell you only. You, otherwise all will come to me and say, "Please, can you take us with you? Can you take us with you?" Because otherwise, everyone would follow me and ask me to take them with me. Namah Śivāy, Om Har Har, Namah Śivāy, Om Har Har, Namah Śivāy, Om Om Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Om Namah Śrī Prabhu Dīp Nārāyaṇ, Om Namah Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāya, Haṁsabhādās Prabhu Śaraṇaparāya... Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpanārāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Siddhi Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇa. Oṁ Śabdhas Prabhu Śaraṇa Parāyaṇa. Oṁ Namaḥ Siddhi Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇa. Oṁ Namaḥ Siddhi Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇa. Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān. Devadhī Dev, Deva Īśvara Mahādev Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandī Bhagavān Alak Purījī Mahādev.