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Oṃ gaṇānāṁ tvāṁ gaṇapatiguṁ havāmahe kaviṁ kavīnām upamastravastamam jeṣṭa rājaṁ brahmaṇāṁ brahmaṇas pātānaṁ śṛṇvantūti viśi daśadanaṁ. Oṁ Āhagaṇapatha yena mahā nāhaṁ karatā prabhudīpa karatā mahā prabhudīpa kartāhi kevalam. Oṁ Śāntiḥ. Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. This is a nice, green place. We don't feel the hot weather when we are in Strelka. Just two days ago was Guru Pūrṇimā, and we are still under its impression. For spiritual seekers, Guru Pūrṇimā is the most important day of the year. We have many different festivals, but those are often related to climate seasons or harvesting. Guru Pūrṇimā is a real spiritual festival. We could say we have two such festivals: Guru Pūrṇimā and Mahāśivarātri. Also, for every spiritual seeker, the day of the Master's birth and Mahāsamādhi is a real spiritual festival. Guru Pūrṇimā is something like a new year—our spiritual new year. On this day, we say that light, sunlight, touched the earth for the first time. It is always good to understand things in a symbolic way, and for us, it is very important to understand the symbols. We started with the mantra for Gaṇeśjī, and we know it is always good to remember Gaṇeśjī first. But what is important in spirituality? What is the difference between religion and spirituality? In religion, you just believe. In spirituality, it is good to understand. In spirituality, you ask "Why?" and you want to understand why you are doing something. In religion, if you ask "why," it is not good because you are not believing, and you must believe. In spirituality, you ask "Why?" We start with Gaṇeśjī, and it is always good to start with Gaṇeśjī. Why? Because Gaṇeśjī is also a symbol of our brain, of intellect. First, we start with thinking, with being aware, and with knowledge. We do not start just from an impulse through emotion, but we come down and start with the brain. However, a brain without a heart is a very dangerous thing, and a heart without a brain is also very dangerous. Because of that, there should always be a connection between the brain and the heart. Only when our heart and our brain are in harmony will our life be successful. It is mostly very easy to start with some emotion, so we always start with Gaṇeśjī, but with love. I state that it is very important to understand the symbols. As I said, it is very important to understand what those symbols mean: that light touched the earth. We may also say that the light of wisdom, the light of cosmic knowledge, that conscience touched the earth, and that is Guru Pūrṇimā. For Guru Pūrṇimā, we also said it is the birthday of Vedavyāsa, the great ṛṣi who put the Vedas on paper. Guru Pūrṇimā is also important for us to understand the Guru Tattva. Especially here in Western countries, we have some complexes. We have something deep, deep in the collective unconscious: we all the time want to know who is right and who is not right, who is the real guru and who is the fake one. We are raised and grow with the idea that only one is real and all others are fake. Deep in our bones, deep in our guts, is that complex. I think the first thing that is important when we start with yoga is to release ourselves from that complex. We have many such complexes. We think we are open, that we are not narrow-minded, but if you really look deep inside and are open with ourselves, in that moment we will realize we have many such things. One of the duties of our guru—not just ours, but all gurus—is to break and break all these complexes and narrow-mindedness. Especially on the day of Guru Pūrṇimā and all this week, try to understand what the guru is. Try to remember what we listen to in the Guru Gītā and try to understand what is in it. The Guru Gītā is not only a nice song we sit and repeat or sing. Try to make the Guru Gītā a real svādhyāya. This means that every time you are listening, every time you are singing the Guru Gītā, you understand a little deeper what the guru is. But first, we must understand what the guru tattva is. If we have ten different fires—one from wood, one from fuel, a candle, oil, different fires, one big, one not so big—we would never say this fire is the real element of fire and all the others are fake. We would never say this is the only real element of fire and the others are false. We understand it is the element of fire. It is not important in which form that fire is, nor by which name you call it. That is the fire. Each of those fires has the same quality, the same principle. That is the tattva of fire, and that is also the guru tattva. Guru Tattva is, I always joke, something like an "aha!" phenomenon. In one moment, when you realize something—"ah, yes, I understand now"—those who explain to you, who give you knowledge about this, that is the guru who makes the darkness of ignorance disappear and makes the light shine. That is that. Because of that, Swāmījī often said that all of us have so many gurus. He often explains that we all have many gurus. Everyone from whom you get knowledge—but not just intellectual knowledge, but that knowledge where you have the light of "ah, yes, now I understand," where you know the principle and decide to act on it—that is the guru. Everyone, even animals and nature, everything that makes you gain knowledge and the light of consciousness, is a guru. Because of that, in India you will hear, "That is my gurujī of some instrument." But when we talk about guru, we think about the spiritual guru, who really changes our life, who is the captain of the boat, the big ship who will make it so we pass through this ocean of māyā, of ignorance. Many times we hear from Viśva Gurujī that the body is not a guru. But you know that picture Viśwa Gurujī gave us: when we have a few identical boxes, but in one box is something very, very precious. The box is the same, but because something very precious is inside, we will take more care of that box. We will put it somewhere a little higher, not down on the ground, and we will take care of it. That is the body in which that guru-tattva is awakened. We will have more respect, and that is why we come and greet and touch the feet of our guru-deva. We are not talking about the body; we are understanding the Guru Tattva. That is the Tattva, that light of conscience, which is radiating and changing everything. Guru Pūrṇimā is such a festival where we understand Guru Tattva, and we adore that Guru Tattva. We also pay respect to all masters from the past, present, and future. On that day, it is very important to be with our guru. But now again, we are Western people, and we feel guilt: "I am at home, and I am not with my guru. I am guilty." Try to understand: to be with your guru does not mean you must be physically present. You may be with your guru physically, but in the mind, you are miles away. And maybe you are miles away physically, but in your heart, you are with your Master, with your Guru. That is also important to understand: in spirituality, physical distance is not important. Only what we have in our heart is important—our feelings. Because of that, if you are watching the webcast on Swamijī TV and you say, "Oh, I am not a lucky one, I have bad karma," or something like this—which is very easy for us Western people—no. I know; I am also from that. One of our problems is that we always feel guilty, or we are never guilty; both are problems. The middle is okay. It is good to be honest with ourselves. To be with a guru is very important in our mind, in our feeling. Maybe you are buying fruit or vegetables, and in that moment you realize, "Oh, it would be so nice to give this to my guru." You have already given it to him because your feelings, your thoughts, your inner being give this to the Guru. You are somewhere in a very nice place and you think, "Oh, it would be so nice that Viśwa Gurujī were here to see this." Yes, you give this. When we realize this, we will see that it is possible to give and to be with the guru very, very often. Also, when we meditate, why not do Mānasik Pūjā? You are far away, but you sit, repeat your mantra, and you are with your Guru. That is important. For Guru Pūrṇimā, it is said it is our new year. It is said it is good to offer to our Gurudev all fruits of our sādhanā, like a flower. We ask for blessing. We ask for strength to remain on the path. Everything that was not so nice—because we feel guilt all the time, "I am not so good"—it's no problem. Also give that to your Master, but with the prayer, "Please purify." Because it is like a fire; you put it inside, and it will purify you. Ask for energy, for blessing, to remain, to stay on the path. It is very easy to start something. Nothing is easier than to start. Somebody said the easiest thing is to quit smoking... you've already started a thousand times. You know that saying. That is the easy thing: to start. "From today, I practice every day. I do this and that every day." Easy. But to endure, that is the problem. Ten days is okay, but to endure not one year, two years, ten years, but a whole life—that is the problem. This ashram is so nice, and I think to buy an ashram, to start an ashram, is very easy. But Střílecký ashram has been here for how much? Twenty-seven years? To endure 27 years, that is something. And it's not only Strelka; the idea is that the ashram will continue as long as the Earth continues. That is something: to maintain all this, the garden, the rooms. In the beginning, it is a romantic idea, but after a few years, it's hard work. The same thing is with marriage, with any relationship. To start a relationship, the honeymoon, yes. But what is the name of one book? After Ecstasy, the Laundry. After the honeymoon, after ecstasy, after a nice big ashram, comes the laundry. That book is very nice. Swami Madhura was forcing me to read it. Finally, in New Zealand, he gave me that book as a present. It is a nice book with little short stories, short interviews with people who lead spiritual programs, meditations. Inside is one very nice thing that has also happened to us: on the anuṣṭhāna, it's so nice. You are practicing anuṣṭhāna, you are leading anuṣṭhāna, you are a little high. But when you come home, same boss, same work, same bills. In that moment, it happens. In that book, they also talk with people living with these spiritual people, and they said, "You are an even worse person after that program than before." Yes, because they said—I don't know how to tell this in English—but they said it was one Jewish curse, a kletva. I know of the creation: what does it mean that God gives to you and then takes away from you? No, God gives you, you have this, and after some time, it is taken from you, and you suffer more than before. That is when we are on the seminars, when we are nice on Guru Pūrṇimā, on Anuṣṭhān, on everything; we are on the honeymoon. And we come home, and it is not so easy. That is also very important: to preserve this energy we gained from Vishwagurujī, to preserve those feelings we have now, and when we are at home, to just continue. That is not easy, but it is much easier when we are aware of that. When we greet our master, our guru, on Guru Pūrṇimā, in that moment we are also asking, "Please give me energy, give me strength to endure, to continue." We never know what will happen in the future, what stupid thoughts, what stupid society may attack us. Always ask the same thing: what Gurujī said to Mahāprabhujī, "May I be with you in all lives." Maybe we will be a little more humble: "Yes, thank you." And he said, "Please give me strength to continue in this life, not for five years, ten years, or twenty years, but until my last breath." It's not important how it looks, that we are spiritually developed. We always know the story about the rabbit and the turtle. Try to be not like a rabbit on steroids, but continue, continue, endure, endure. Maybe not so quick, jumping here and there, but just continue. That is very important. We have a really great opportunity to be with our Master, with Viśvagurujī. Just to be in the presence of such energy, of Guru Tattva, changes all of us. You know the story about two spoons: one metal and one wooden. You put both spoons in honey. After a few weeks, you take the metal spoon out. In the beginning, it is nice and sweet, but afterward, it has a metal taste. But the wooden spoon is always nice and sweet because the sweetness of the honey has completely entered into that spoon; that spoon is completely intoxicated with the honey. For that, it is also very important to pray: "Please make me that wooden spoon—not a bamboo, but a wooden spoon—so that I am able to preserve that energy which I gained on this seminar, on this festival like Guru Pūrṇimā." Because it is very easy to lose all this. First, we must know and be aware of the value of the honey. When we know that for honey we need so many bees, that for maybe a teaspoon of honey is almost the whole life of a bee, we will have respect. We will value honey, and we will gain from that honey. If we don't have value and think, "Oh, that is some sugar, it is not healthy," we will not get the value of the honey. The same thing: be aware of the value of spirituality and what we gain from Viśvagurujī. I remember one Guru Pūrṇimā in Austria. I forgot where. We all came on buses. It was Guru Pūrṇimā, and we were sitting in a hall. Swamiji was not talking. There were some bhajans, some movements, something very, very strange. I was feeling, "What is this?" Because at that time, I was expecting Swamiji would talk and there would be some lecture. What are we thinking in the beginning? I was a little disappointed—not a little. I was sitting in the bus afterward, and we started back. In that moment, I realized it was really something. From that moment, I realized it is not necessary to have some big lecture or talks. Just to have darśan is everything that we need. Nowadays, you have so many coaches giving so many lectures. Also, now I am giving a lecture, but that was just a lecture. But to be with the guru, to be in the presence of such energy, is something that will completely change our being. For that, there is a necessity of a guru. A few days ago, Swāmījī talked about sannyāsīs, about Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras, and a little fight and all this, about Kumbh Melā. When you are at the Kumbh Melā, in different camps, when you see different Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras, you see that very, very rarely does a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara have a picture of his guru. They have a picture of Durgā, Śiva, something. That is also like a yoga teacher who says, "We are in the tradition of Patañjali." That is easy. Everything you say is okay because Patañjali will not come to you and say, "You stupid one"—not physically, but mentally: "What nonsense you are talking." You are in the safe zone. You don't have a guru, and your ego is blaspheming. With Swāmījī, with Gurujī, he is always in the first place, the paramparā. What is the peak point of this Guru Pūrṇimā? Not Swamiji as a guru, but he talks and gives us Alak Purvījī all the time. He talks about paramparā all the time. Swamiji talks about family and about blood, about this connection, and how important it is. But also, take this in a symbolic way. The most important thing we set here in the normal world is this blood connection. But in spirituality—and we are spiritual—the most important thing is this paramparā, this lineage: how this knowledge is spread from guru to disciple. Also, all of us have a weakness. Swamijī is all the time, not only talking but working for our paramparā. All jādan is in paramparā. All jādam is in the name of Holy Gurujī. Everything Swamiji is doing is for his Guru. That is the great lecture for all of us. Also, for this Guru Pūrṇimā, feel that we are part of that family. That is our real family. When we sing "Tvameva Māta," we are really thinking, "You are my father, you are my mother," or "You are all that I have." We are singing to God. But a few days ago I said, "God, yes, okay." Understand that God is the Guru Tattva. If you carefully listen to Guru Gītā, you will hear almost the whole Guru Gītā saying that the Guru Tattva is God. When we sing, "Oṁ Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Maheśvara," we are saying that this Guru Tattva is the highest principle in the whole universe. That, I think, is the main thing for Guru Pūrṇimā: to realize Guru Tattva in our life. And when we sing "Naham Karata," just be aware and try to make it so that our ego is not dominant in our life, but give it the chance to be a tool. That is important for every one of us, especially if you have a yoga class or anything that we do. Just be aware of that principle, and not of "I." Always be aware of what Vishwagurujī is talking about and doing: that is the paramparā. We have a few days more, or I will say a few months more, in Strelka. How long will this all-summer seminar be? Really try to utilize that time for ourselves, for our development, and just be. Just be here, enjoy, and be in this divine energy. Allow that divine energy to start to change us. Śrī Dīpna Bhagavān, Anākīdyā, Śrī Alakurjī Siddhāpīt Paramparākīdyā.