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The Foundation of Daily Spiritual Practice: Nitya Karma and Prayer

Spiritual development is founded upon daily practice, known as Nitya Karma. This encompasses specific spiritual actions performed each day. Upon waking, one greets the altar and offers a prayer for guidance. The daily routine, including personal care, work, yoga practices, and mantra repetition, constitutes this essential discipline. It protects from negative energies and supports spiritual growth. Life is an ocean of worldly illusion. Returning home, evening prayers cleanse the karmic dust accumulated from the day's thoughts, words, and actions, offering relief and surrender. To progress, one should become initiated, Gurumukhī, following a master's guidance which emphasizes non-violence, or ahimsā. Non-violence is the yogī's path, extending beyond physical action to include thoughts and emotions; a negative thought is itself a form of violence. Spiritual development cannot flourish where violence exists. Prayer is a direct anti-stress technique, fostering confidence in the morning and peace in the evening. True prayer seeks the well-being of all beings. Mantra is the scientific practice of repeating the divine name. This vibration awakens energy within the body, purifies consciousness, and is the essence of spirituality. When practicing mantra or yoga, proper, modest attire helps retain one's spiritual energy. Presence is key; where your attention rests, there you truly are.

"Prayer is, first of all, an anti-stress technique."

"Mantra is essence, like the cream of the milk. Similarly, the mantra is the essence of spirituality."

Filming location: Vienna, Austria

Part 1: The Foundation of Daily Spiritual Practice: Nitya Karma and Prayer Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī, Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī, Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī. Good morning to everybody, our dear brothers and sisters around the world. Regarding spiritual development and the highest achievement of Self-Realization: in recent days, we have spoken of how a spiritual person should lead everyday life and what small things we can do to remain spiritual and continue our development. Beyond this, there are many further principles without which one cannot achieve what one seeks. Spiritual life and development are for everyday practice; this is called Nitya Karma. Nitya means everyday, and Karma means action or doing. These are particular things we should do every day. You wake up and greet your altar. You open your eyes, look towards Mahāprabhujī, towards Gurujī, and say, "Lord, bless my day. Whatever I will do should be in your name. Please guide my each and every step, my thoughts, and my actions toward positive things." You rise, attend to your morning routine—washing, brushing your teeth—this too belongs to Nitya Karma. After that, you light a small agarbattī or a ghee lamp and offer a prayer, short or long. Then you have breakfast, dress, and go to work. You also do your āsanas, your prāṇāyāmas, your mantras. All this is Nitya Karma. This is what one must do. It will make you happy, protect you from negative energies, and support your spirituality. When you leave your house, you jump into the endless ocean of Māyā. You swim in this ocean with all its small and big fish, sharks, and so on. That is life. You return home and again perform your Nitya Karma, thanking God for His divine protection throughout the day. You pray: whatever you did, knowingly or unknowingly, may the Lord forgive and give the fruits of your actions as He sees fit, if He finds you worthy. Evening prayers wash away all the pollution from the various actions of the day—the karmic pollution of what you thought, where and how you looked, what you worked on, what you spoke, what you promised, how many times you may have lied. A businessman might lie at least 900 times a day. That is everyday action. If you don't work for profit, then you should be a prophet. Therefore, it is hard work to earn one's bread, but there is a limit. So whatever we do, we come home in the evening, greet the altar again—the Gurudev, your iṣṭa-devatā, whichever form you believe in, be it Durgā, Sarasvatī, Kālī, Hanumānjī, Gaṇeśjī, Jesus, or Allah—wherever your heart surrenders, for all is one, one in all, and all in one. When you pray, the whole day's dust, the karmic dust, is washed away. Ab saap diyā is jīvan kā sab bhār tumhāre hāthoṁ meṁ, Lord. I give all the responsibilities into your hands. One feels light; your soul feels released. You experience a beautiful relief from the day's tiredness, weakness, burdens, fear, and dangers. It is good that we came home and are comfortable. This is Nitya Karma. It is very important to do every day; it is the minimum you should do. Now, further, there are two terms: Guru Mukhī and Man Mukhī. Guru Mukhī refers to one who is initiated by a master, who has a Guru Mantra and follows the rules and instructions of the Gurudev. Manmukhī is one who does what one likes and is not initiated. The latter is then responsible for any troubles faced. Therefore, the first step for us is to be Gurumukhī, to be initiated. When you receive initiation, the master will ask you questions: How do you live your life? How do you earn your bread? What do you eat? How do you nourish yourself? When you take mantra dīkṣā and ask for the master's blessing, it means you place the burden of your karmas upon the master's shoulders. Naturally, he would prefer a lighter burden, so he will ask you not to eat this, not to drink that, to avoid certain things. This means no abuse of drugs or alcohol, and following the path of non-violence—physically, mentally, socially, intellectually, and verbally. Do not consume meat, fish, or anything that is killed. There is no ahiṃsā, no non-violence, in such consumption. Our spiritual development depends on non-violence. We can commit violence not only through action but also through thought. When you suddenly think aggressively, when you are disappointed or offended and harbor a negative thought, you have committed hiṃsā. When you think it, you have already done it. First comes thought, then feeling, then physical action. When the body begins to act, it is too late. Therefore, control the vṛttis. Atha yogānuśāsanam—discipline. Yoga begins with discipline. Yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. Through the practice of yoga, you should control your mental fluctuations. If you think negatively, you can also think positively. If you cannot think positively, then at least do not think negatively. Every minute you get angry, and when angry, you violate yourself and others. So non-violence means not only physical non-violence but emotional, mental, and social non-violence as well. When you insist to your parents or your husband about your desires, you are committing a gentle violence. A minor crack is more dangerous than a major one. A major crack can be repaired, but a minor one is very hard to mend. The thread of love is so tender; do not break it with misunderstandings. Once broken, it cannot be properly rejoined; a knot will remain. That is violence, and where there is violence, spiritual development suffers. Violence is like a termite that eats all the roots of a healthy tree. A huge tree can be destroyed by tiny termites. That is the danger of a minor crack. Therefore, non-violence—ahiṃsā—is the path of a yogī. Much is spoken about it in the Upaniṣads, the Vedas, the Gītā, the Rāmāyaṇa, and many other texts. Spiritual development begins there. Thus, being Gurumukhī means one who does not support or follow violence, because you cause pain. I have spoken about vegetarianism constantly for the last 40 years. In some places, people resisted, but now globally, a consciousness is awakened to save our planet from climate change and global warming. There is only one solution: become vegetarian. Many conferences are happening now. It is thanks to Mahāprabhujī that I planted these seeds in their consciousness 40 years ago; slowly, they are growing. In Nitya Karma, we must observe our life. Do not say it does not matter; it does matter. To be near your Gurudev, your master, will always remind you. Sometimes the master says no, and it is painful. When the master says no, your ego may rear up like a snake, but it remains confined. The ego must be trained. Therefore, the presence of wise and holy persons, holy books, uplifting thoughts, and the physical presence of the Gurudev is very important for your spiritual development and Self-Realization. Some compare this to religion, but every religion has the same principles as yoga. I would say every religion has its roots in yoga, for nothing is older than yoga. Every religion speaks of truth, beauty, love, and mercy, which is what yogīs also say. So, Nitya Karma and Din Charya. Nitya Karma is what you should do; your Din Charya is what you are doing—where you go and what you work on. That is your daily schedule. In the evening, write down what you must do tomorrow if you might forget. Modern technology supports this; you can program reminders. But then you may face a conflict: you are at the doctor's, but your reminder says you have a lawyer's appointment. You must decide what is more important. If you miss the lawyer, you may lose a crucial case. If you miss the doctor, it could be your last breath. This is called dharma saṅkathā, a moral dilemma. Or you go to the Gurudev, and he says, "Don't worry, turn off your phone." These are man-made complications. In this troublesome world, what can we do? We must move forward with mantra and prayer. Psychologically, simply saying prayers influences your body and mind, relieving stress. Once, Holy Gurujī asked me why sleep comes during prayer. I suggested perhaps one is tired or it is due to tamas guṇa, but he was not satisfied. He said it should not happen. I suggested first taking a bath with cold water. Then Gurujī gave his answer: when one begins to pray, one develops such deep confidence and love for God that one feels completely secure, free from stress, pain, or danger. At that moment, the jīvātmā finds peace and rest, which manifests as a sleepy feeling. Like a child who is scared until the mother takes it in her lap, then it sleeps. God is our mother or father; in that presence, we feel sure, protected, confident, loved, and a sense of belonging. So when we pray to Mahāprabhujī, Devpurījī, Gurujī, or any holy saint, we feel surrendered and in complete safety. Prayer is, first of all, an anti-stress technique. Why do people pray mostly in the evening? Because after a whole day's work, coming home and praying makes their sorrows and stress disappear. Why pray in the morning? To gain confidence, blessing, and strength to survive the day. Prayer is healthy physically, socially, and mentally; it is the best remedy for stress. When you pray, you talk directly to God. There are two kinds of prayers. One is always asking God for something: "Mahāprabhujī, please help me find a job, pass my exam, become healthy, pay my rent, find a husband..." I receive people's thoughts when they pray. Only about 1.5% of men pray to find a good wife. The rest are women praying for a husband. This indicates a clear reality. Prayer should be for the well-being of the entire planet. Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ—may all be happy. God Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad Gītā that you should love your enemy and friends equally. Such a devotee is very dear to Him. Read the 12th chapter, Bhakti Yoga. Then the world will be good. Pray for the health of the entire planet, its vegetation, and all creatures, that they should not suffer. This is why the thought of Ahiṃsā arose. "Thou shalt not kill" is another form of Ahiṃsā, applying not only to humans but to all creatures. Our planet is a living entity. Mercy resides in the heart of the merciful. Only God, or a holy saint comparable to God, can have such mercy. You too can have it, but the ego is often too big. Where there is ego, there is no mercy. If God had ego, towards whom would He have it? Everything is His. Kṛṣṇa said, "Arjuna, in the entire universe, nothing is impossible for me. I can have anything I wish, yet I still perform karma, I still act." God incarnates to serve us, to be an example so we may follow the divine path. Therefore, prayer is a very strong support for your spiritual development. In many nations and religions, people pray several times a day. Do you have time to pray? A month ago, I was in Dubai. At midday in the airport, a prayer from the Qur’ān was broadcast over the loudspeaker. Do we have that in Vienna airport? No Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit? Nothing. You can buy "spirit" in the duty-free shop. This shows we do not value God's mercy and love. How many times a day will you pray? If you begin to pray regularly, some may call you a fanatic. When one engages in spiritual practice, it is often labeled fanaticism. We sometimes close windows and screens so nobody sees us pray. If something is wrong, you don't trust yourself, thinking, "My God, what will people say?" Let them say what they will. Perhaps they will say to themselves, "What a shame that I don't pray." You can be a guiding force, an inspiration. If you are ashamed to pray to God, why are you in this world? Go sit on a dry, barren island with no access to anything. Prayer is part of being human, part of human life. Mahātmā Gandhījī said, "Physically I can fast, but mentally I cannot fast. My mental tonic is my nitya karma, my daily prayers." Jab jab man gabarāye tum prathānā karo—whenever you feel scared and uncertain, pray. Jab raha nazar nahi aaye, tum prathana karo—when you don't see a way out, pray. Prayer will definitely be heard. Do not think it is fanaticism or dogma; prayer is reality. Fix specific times. Even for half a minute at a set hour, close your eyes and think of prayer. Prayer need not be an hour long. You can simply say, "My Lord, I surrender to Thee. I pray for Thy mercy." That is enough. Plant these thoughts in your consciousness, and be sure His mercy will be upon you. Spiritual development lies in prayer. Part 2: The Science of Mantra and Spiritual Practice After a short break, we will now discuss mantra. We have just spoken about prayer and Nitya Karma. If you cannot perform your Nitya Karma, what kind of person are you? A deer stands up, makes some small balls, and goes to eat the grass. But a human stands up and thinks of the divine forces. We continue our subject: spiritual development, higher achievement, and self-realization. Yoga is one of the best paths for this. All the techniques—prayers, helping others, social work, kindness, reading, meditations, and ceremonies—are included in yoga. Yoga is the most ancient path of spirituality, the path to self-realization, or the path to God-realization, or the path to Brahman, which is super-consciousness. We just heard about prayers, very briefly. Humans have lost their faith; they have lost their confidence in themselves and also in God. That is why humans have taken distance from God and prayers. The result is that humans are suffering. Humans are the most ill physically and mentally in this creation. The most ill creature is the human. Very unhappy is the human. Very troublesome is the human. Very much suffering is the human. Though humans are very highly developed creatures with the capacity to develop from the human to God, still there is something which doesn’t let the human come through. That is, they lost their spiritual relation and confidence in themselves and in God. Humans think they can do it alone, themselves, without God, and that’s the problem. Like many disciples, they think they can do everything without the Master now. Many yoga teachers think they know yoga now and can achieve everything without a master. But that is one of the biggest mistakes. As far as you develop spiritually, you must feel yourself small, surrendered. Like an apple tree: when there are a lot of apples and fruits, the apple tree has achieved its goal. Every branch is surrendering and ready to give to us. But when in the winter all fruits and leaves are gone away, then they again stand naked, branches standing up—that’s ego. True? The beauty and decoration of the tree are the fruits, blossoms, leaves, surrender, and humbleness. And when the ego comes up, then it is completely naked. It looks like it burned. So man thinks, "I can do all myself, there is no God," and this was the biggest mistake which humans did. And not only this, the human begins to abuse nature, damage nature, and the consequences are already there. Therefore, the first step to save our planet, to save it from climate change and global warming and so on, is to take a spiritual step. The spiritual step means to develop mercy, to let God be in your heart, because God is mercy, and mercy is God. And mercy towards everything—then our planet will recover quickly. A few years ago, there was a civil war in the former Yugoslavia. In the part of Yugoslavia they call Serbia, some factories were destroyed. Many, many things happened. The bridges were destroyed, so for about 100 to 200 kilometers there was no flowing canalization from factories, so the river Danube regenerated very much. The quality of the water was nearly drinking quality. So many water creatures were there, so many cells were there, which this generation never saw, that in a droplet can be such nice creatures. But of course, I don’t mean that war should come again. But this pollution was stopped. Similarly, the mental pollution which humans have—if they will clear it up, develop humbleness and mercy, and not produce so many chemical things and let the canalization go into the water or the earth—again our planet will become beautiful and good. And so, that’s also a question that we should turn to the vegetarian life. Vegetarian life is very, very important for us, for our health and for our planet. So prayer is for forgiveness, prayer is to feel the closeness to God, and prayer is to remove the obstacles on our path. That you have the one-way street, or you have the highway. And if you don’t pray, then you will have a lot of obstacles. Now comes the mantra. Mantra is a science of yoga too. Name of God. So, in any religion, if you believe in one God, maybe form or formless God, but the word "God" in your language, any language, you have a word "God," and that word is the mantra. And that is declared by Yoga long ago. Individual, creature, body, mind, emotion, memory, intellect, consciousness, soul, the self, ātmā, and the Paramātmā, the Supreme. This is the researched work of the yogīs. There is an individual soul, there is an individual consciousness, there is a universal consciousness, and there is a universal soul. The ātmā is universal, and the jīvātmā is individual. The individual consciousness and the universal consciousness, there is. So when the question comes, the individual self and the higher self, God, and the individual are the one self, the jīvātmā. So, the mantra is there. To which God you pray, it doesn’t matter. That is the mantra. So, what do you have against mantra? Even someone who doesn’t believe in God, when an accident happens, they say, "Oh God," no? Who told the person to say immediately, "Oh God"? So, God is very near to the human heart, very near to the human memories, but the ego of the human doesn’t let surrender happen. Mantra. When you remember God, God’s name, and the glory of God, then each cell of the body, every blood cell, is awakened, and energies awaken. Let’s say there is a sleeping snake from far away; don’t go near. From far away, very gently, you touch it with a stick, and it will awake. Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam, Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam, Purījī, Purījī... Abha Maṇḍal, Abha Maṇḍal means the aura, a shape of aura like a balloon, and that energy is transmitting through and through the whole body. Now, every energy chakra, what you call the kuṇḍalinī and the chakras, they begin to produce more positive energy; that’s called awakening. So, every time you take your mālā and repeat your mantra, your kuṇḍalinī is awakened. If you do it with hard feelings, but if you do only that, "Oh God, I have to do my mantra," you must not. You are not forced to do it, but if you do, then you have to do it with great devotion. As soon as you begin to repeat your mantra, every gland of the body begins to function normally. And then automatically your consciousness is purified, which means the negative thoughts and negative energy go away. Now you can close this window, please. So during the practice of your yoga exercises, or those physical exercises and prāṇāyāmas, the breathing technique, it awakens in your body a beautiful, nice prāṇa śakti. Therefore, when you practice yoga, you should have a dress that is a little loose and covers the whole body, so that your prāṇa, that śakti, doesn’t just flow away in the air. It supports, it’s like feedback, it’s a bio-feedback. The energy again circulates in your body. In your body, and therefore, it’s wrong when you see the many people practicing yoga without any dress. Yeah, maybe it sometimes looks nice and sometimes not. But you know, it looks nice or not nice, but it is not nice. Because you lose the energy. And because of your camera, you want to see someone’s anatomy. It means you are blackmailing the people to be like that and lose the reality. So that’s why the uniform, what we have in yoga and daily life, is that they have a nice loose dress, and they feel within this their own energy. Sometimes, it’s such good energy that they become crazy. Very high, I mean, you know, very high. And people said, "What happened?" They said, "Oh, I was just in yoga class." Come, so happy at home. Yes, you can see the result immediately. And who have only till here, cloth, and then down only, like Nāgā Bābā Laṅgoṭā. And then you tell them to relax. They lie down for three minutes. And the teacher says, "Relax, relax. There is no yoga." Therefore, you should have proper dress. Let’s say it’s a hot climate. What do you do? Especially in hot climates, you should have a loose and long dress. When you go to the Arabian countries or Rajasthan, in the hot climate, the native people have a nice, loose dress. Because again, this humidity in the body circulating is an automatic, natural air conditioner. So, it’s a wrong trend that people, during yoga practice, have a dress which is not acceptable for yoga. A real yogī will tell you not to dress like this. But the guys who are running here and there on the corner everywhere, they don’t know what yoga is. Just to commercialize, they pick up one young girl and then they dress her in such a way that everybody looks at the picture again and again. That’s not yoga. So that is not a spiritual development. That is just nothing, just fun. Mantra. So when you practice mantra, let’s say "Oṃ," and you concentrate on your body and spinal column, you will feel a different energy. Close your eyes and silently say Oṃ, and observe what happens to your body. And when the vibration of chanting is felt in your body, how do you feel? So close your eyes, take a deep inhale, and chant only once, Oṁ. This nāda, this sound is penetrating, cleaning the energy through and through. If you chant every day loudly 108 times in one mālā, you will feel a completely different energy. There will be different vibrations in the body. It is a science. Don’t say it is a religion or this and that. And if it is a religion, why not? What have you against religion? Religion does not have anything against you, so you should not have anything against it. Accept every religion. Respect every religion. Religion is there where the human is. So if you hate some religion, you hate the humans. And if you love humans, then you love religions too. So you cannot separate humans from religion, and religion cannot be separated from humans. Mantra. Mantra is essence, like the cream of the milk. Similarly, the mantra is the essence of spirituality. The essence is the name of God. So when there is God, there are no titles. Do we say Mr. God, Dr. God, Dr. Engineer, Professor God? No. Only God. You see, no problem with grammar. There is no problem about which title we should write: Excellency, or Her Highness, or Her Holiness, or just God. That’s beautiful. So yoga is just yoga. Religion is just religion. Dharma is just dharma. So these are the doors of the universe. These are the dwarves of human wisdom. So the mantra is just that cream, the essence of that divine name of God. Mantra, different kinds of mantra for different occasions, and the king of all mantras, again, the soul of all mantras, is your Guru Mantra. And so is the Guru Mukhī, which means one who has received the mantra from the Gurudev. And then you have to be there with your heart. There were two friends, and they decided, since Gurudev came to their village and gave a lecture, to go to the satsaṅg. On the way, they saw an advertisement for a film at the cinema. So one person said, "No, yeah, Swāmījī speaks every time in the satsaṅg, same thing. I think today we will go to see this film, because the last, last play was written there." Swamiji, another one said, "Well, it doesn’t matter if Swamiji speaks the same thing or not, but you know, after how long a time Gurudev has come for the satsaṅg, I would like to be there. I don’t want to miss it." He said, "Why? Because Mahāprabhujī said, ’Gurudev darśana dhan ho.’ If you don’t understand, then you can go to the cinema; I will go to the satsaṅg." Others said, "Yes, I do understand, but I think I would like to go to the cinema." So one went to the satsaṅg, and one went to the cinema. The person who was sitting in the cinema hall and looking at the film said, "What rubbish! It’s all this confusion. I see all this complication every day. Maybe Swamījī told some new story or something." So while looking at the cinema, the film, he was feeling it in the satsaṅg. The other one who was sitting with Swāmījī said, "No, he is still here tomorrow. I could have come tomorrow. It is too late to go to the cinema hall because the film must be nearly finished. The new title was good. The pictures on the board were interesting." So with his thoughts, he was in the cinema hall, and who was in the cinema hall? With the thoughts, he was in satsaṅg. Anyhow, when the cinema finished, it was a dark evening, and the fellow went home. On the way, he found one very big, beautiful coin, a golden coin, which had a value of around 1000-2000 euros. He said, "Oh, today I have good luck." He went home and was looking to God and put it down there. The person who was in satsaṅg, after satsaṅg went home, and on the way, he got such a big thorn in his foot, and it was painful. He could hardly walk at home, and then he took the thorn out. Next day, they both came together again. They were good friends. And one told that he got this golden coin, and the other got a thorn. So now they both had difficulty understanding. He went to Kushaṅga and got a golden coin. And he went to the satsaṅg and got a big thorn. How to understand? So they went to some wise person like Muktānand. And they told Muktānand their dilemma. Muktanand said, "Everything is clear." He said, "What?" He said, "Yes, that’s it." No explanation. He said, "We know that also, but why did we come to you? Can you give some explanation, please?" He said, "Yes, it’s very clear." We know it’s very clear, but can you tell us what is clear? He said, "It’s not clear because you don’t understand. That’s not clear. And it’s very clear to me that you don’t understand. It’s very clear. Yes, please, don’t philosophize." He said, "Yes." He asked the man who found the golden coin, "What did you think while sitting in the cinema hall?" He said, "Yes, I was sorry that I couldn’t be with Swamiji. I missed the chance in satsaṅg and so on." He said that’s it. Your little thinking gave you the benefit of this golden coin. If you had been in satsaṅg today, you would have received a kingdom. But you lost the whole kingdom because you were completely in satsaṅg, ku-saṅg. But your feeling was there; you got a golden coin. He said, "Yes, that makes sense." What about him? He was there and got such a big thorn. He said it very clearly. What did you think, guy? Yes, sir. I was thinking, ah, perhaps in film there are some new actors and something, this and that. I was sitting there in satsaṅg, but actually I was in the cinema hall. So you see, you were thinking there. Today, you should have had an accident; you should have died. But because you were in the satsaṅg, sitting there, all karma is gone. Only that must remain a little bit; you have to suffer the thorns. So, this story means where you are has influence, but what you are thinking also has influence. You are sitting here and thinking about something different; it means you are not present here. And when you are somewhere else but thinking about here, then you have influence, because your half-self is here and the other is there. Therefore, be there and come and listen. So, Guru Mukhī means the words of the Gurudev, to follow Gurudev Darśan Dharo. Then your mantra will function. To have a mantra means not everything. Mantra should be practiced on five different levels. Likhit means write your mantra every day in one notebook. How long? It depends on your time. One minute, two minutes, ten minutes, one hour, two hours, as long a time as you have. Likhit mantra, when you write it peacefully, is like anti-stress meditation. Meditation. The nervousness disappears, the stress disappears, and your concentration is on writing. You feel relaxed. Many writers, for them, writing is like a meditation, relaxing. They can put their thoughts nicely. It’s not easy to write. It’s not easy to write a poem. You need awakening of your Anāhata Cakra. Vākharī Mantra means chanting, nāda. That nāda will create a resonance in your body. It will make your body cells very healthy again. Your all glands will begin to produce the good hormones, and in the whole body there will be a kind of tranquilizing. Upāṁśu chanting within: when you are chanting, repeating your mantra, you listen to the sound. Though you are saying it very silently, you listen to the sound. What does it mean? Mentally, now think of your father and repeat his name. Or think of your father. Do you know what it means? Now you have the sound, the name of your father. And if someone tells wrong, then you say, "No, no, he is wrong." How do you know? Because the resonance is there inside, the name of your father. And it’s not only humans, animals also know. When you give them a name, then that animal will come to you. When you have five dogs, and every dog has a different name, and you call one name of the dog, that one will come. Or the birds, all house pets, or the cow, or the horse, everyone, they recognize their name, the sound. So, similarly, when you repeat mantra, that divine energy of God will come to you. Mānasik means just repeat your mantra. That is called a prayer, a constant prayer. There is a prayer which you repeat in the morning, before noon, at noon, in the afternoon, in the evening, and before going to sleep. But there is a mantra, a prayer which you can repeat at all sad times, and that is why the mantra is very short. And mantra is the essence of prayers, the concentrated essence of those prayers. Then it comes automatically; it remains a japa. It doesn’t matter where you are. Even in the dream, when you dream of your father, you know it is your father. Purījī, Purījī... Yourself. This is a problem. Develop Ātambal means develop the willpower to say to yourself, "No." Then your spiritual energy will grow more and more. So that’s all for this weekend. Further, in next weekend’s program, wherever it will be, we will continue. Wish you a very nice afternoon, a Sunday afternoon. Bless you, and those who have already. Good evening. I wish you a very pleasant evening and good night. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Jaya, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Sanātana Dharma Kī Jaya.

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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