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Om Saha Nāvavatu, Saha Nau Bhunaktu, Saha Vīryaṃ Karavāvahai, Tejasvi Nāvadhītamastu Mā Vidviṣāvahai, Om Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ,... Śrī Alakaparījī Siddhāpit Paramparākījā. Hari Om. We begin with this mantra, a Śānti mantra, which is very important to chant before a lecture or satsaṅg. It is a prayer: "O Paramatmā, divine energy, conscience, God…" When it says "both of us," it means the guru and you. We pray: "Give us strength to continue on our path, grant protection and power so that this connection never breaks, and let us walk together on that path for eternity." This is crucial. It is very easy for people to start thinking, in one moment, that they are so clever, so wise, so developed, that they no longer need any Gurudev. That is the biggest mistake. Another great mistake is when people think, "I don’t need to listen to the lecture anymore; I have heard everything already." The moment you think you know everything, very soon you will find yourself asking, "Where are the bricks? Where is the parachute?" You know what happens in the end. That is the worst mistake a disciple can make. One great lesson from Viśva Gurujī is that he always says, "I am just a disciple." We also hear from him so many times: "I am just a postman. I am delivering the message from Mahāprabhujī." That is the most important thing. Always keep in mind that we are disciples. Always remember that we are learning all the time and we are disciples. Never think, "I have learned enough; I already know everything." This is not only a problem of our time; ego has always been strong. Then people say, "You must find your inner guru," and when you find your inner guru, you think you don’t need the external guru. I spoke with some people, and I asked, "Do you have a guru? Do you have a mantra?" They said, "No, no… we have all mantras." But yesterday you heard the story of the son of Vedavyāsa who went for darśana of Viṣṇu but could not reach Him because he did not have a guru. You should observe and understand this in a symbolic way. Truly, for everything in our life, we need a guru. You have learned many times from Viśva Gurujī: for driving, you need a driving guru. To drive a car, you need a guru who teaches you how to drive. We say your mother and father are your gurus because you learn so many things from them—how to walk, how to eat ice cream (not in the eye!). For every little thing, we need a guru. But what does "guru" mean? It is one who leads us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. In India, when someone learns music or dancing or singing or literature, they say, "That is my guru." But when we talk, we always mean our spiritual master. Always keep in mind one picture that Viśva Gurujī gave us: if you have three matchboxes, and in two matchboxes there are only matches for making a fire, but in one there is a diamond, all three boxes look the same. Which one will you respect, take seriously, protect, and value? The matchbox with the diamond. Understand from this that the guru is not the physical body. It is most important to understand that the guru is that Guru Tattva, the element of the guru. That is the diamond. Of course, when that diamond is in a body, we will give respect and love also to that physical form. When you listen to or chant the Guru Gītā, you need to understand that Guru Tattva. For people new to yoga, not yet disciples, hearing the Guru Gītā for the first time can be confusing because it constantly speaks of the "Guru’s lotus feet." In the beginning, you need time to digest this. For many, this formulation is taboo; they have a problem with "Guru’s lotus feet." We don’t want to think about it; we want to delete it and sweep it under the carpet. But everything you put under the carpet, in the end—if you put something big under it and walk—you will fall down. The best thing is to always be clean. When we talk about the lotus feet of the Guru, what does "feet" mean? This formulation means the physical form, the physical form of that Guru Tattva, the energy of knowledge. How do I imagine Guru Tattva to myself? I always joke that Guru Tattva is that "aha!" effect. When you don’t understand something and somebody explains it, you solve a problem, and in that moment, like in a cartoon, a light bulb turns on. There is a "pling!" and you think, "Aha, yes, now I understand." That is moving from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. That is important. Also, from the Guru Gītā, we learn the Guru is not only the one who leads from darkness to light. The Guru is also beyond the guṇas and beyond form (Guṇa and Rūpa). That cosmic light, that cosmic knowledge, that cosmic Self, God, is manifest. There is a joke about two friends in a house when heavy rain starts, like a few days ago. The water rises and floods. The two friends climb onto the roof. One is very religious and begins to pray: "Please, God, save me." The other friend finds a boat and says, "Come with me." But the religious man says, "No, no, God will protect and save me." The friend rows away but, concerned, returns. Five times he comes back, and five times the man refuses, insisting God will save him. In the end, the man on the roof drowns. He goes before God, very angry. "I prayed to you, I had faith, I had bhakti, I gave you my whole life, and I died!" When the door opens, he jumps on God. "What kind of God are you?" One secret we learned from Viśva Gurujī is that when somebody jumps on you like that, the best thing is to say, "Yes, you are right. But I sent your friend with the boat five times. Why did you not enter the boat?" Because of this, we chant and read in the Guru Gītā that the Guru is higher than God. How will God protect you? He will send the friend with the boat. And the Guru is here. As Swāmījī also said: if you have a picture of the most beautiful, strongest, best horse on the wall, and you have a horse in your stable, which horse will you ride? The one in the picture cannot help you reach the next village. Only the horse in the stable can. Or consider a medical book versus a real doctor. That is the guru. That is the Guru Tattva, which is embodied. That light is in the body, and through that body, through teachings and support, we are able to proceed on our path to self-realization. Therefore, we pray: "O Paramātmā, please protect us both and keep us forever walking on the same path," so that we may finish our journey. It is so important to understand that not only is "Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Maheśvara," but who will help you? Only here, in this physical form. That Guru Tattva in physical form will teach us and lead us to the light. Next time you listen to the Guru Gītā, try a little more to understand this Guru Tattva. That light is the Paramātmā, that is God, and that is embodied here in this Mṛti Loka to lead us from ignorance to knowledge. When we speak of moving from mortality to immortality, we know this is Mṛti Loka. What does it mean on this Loka? Everyone who comes will also go; that is true. We will not be here physically immortal. But when we say "immortality," it means we will no longer enter this circle of rebirth. We will enter and come into our real, original ocean. We say the river slowly goes to the ocean. I think Kabīrdās or some other Sufī said that rivers have fear in the few meters or kilometers before the ocean, because the river fears: "I will lose myself. I will no longer be this river." That is also the fear of death—the fear of losing oneself. But when you lose yourself, when the river loses its small ego—as we say in the West—and when the river enters the ocean, in that moment, the river becomes everything. That is also our fear. It is not easy to merge into that cosmic Self. Each of us has the same fear as the river: we fear we will lose ourselves. "What will become of me?" That is the first question people ask: "I don’t want to lose myself." But as Swāmījī nicely said: "When you take a little water from the ocean in your palm, that water is jīva, and the ocean is Śiva. The difference between jīva and Śiva is only in the distance." And what is your palm? Your palm is all these qualities that we have. But the moment that water falls back into the ocean, you can no longer see the difference between jīva and Śiva. That is the aim. That is the aim of yoga: that immortality, that merging into the cosmic Self. That is the difference between Advaita and Dvaita. We hear about Ādi Śaṅkarācārya and all other Advaita philosophy. A few days ago we heard about Aṣṭāvakra. If you have the opportunity, time, will, or curiosity, read the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā. It is a dialogue between King Janaka and Aṣṭāvakra. There is an anecdote from the life of Swami Vivekananda. When he was young, he was not as we know him later. He was more oriented toward mūrti, statues, and such things, and more toward Dvaita philosophy. In Dvaita, as in many religions, you can be good, perfect, love God, be a great bhakta, and you will finish in heaven, in Vaikuṇṭha, or some other realm. There you might have, I don’t know, a thousand virgins, or a feast all the time, or you will always observe the glory and beauty of God. But there is always a difference between you and God. In Advaita philosophy, it is like the water in the palm merging into the ocean. The river merges into the ocean, and there is no more difference between jīva and Śiva. That is our part: to merge with the Cosmic Self and become the Cosmic Self, because we are the Cosmic Self. Viśva Gurujī also explained it nicely: if you take 50 cups of water, coffee, tea—any liquid—and place them in the moonlight, you will see a full moon reflected in every cup. But there are not 51 moons; there is only one moon, and in each cup is the reflection of that one moon. What does this mean? What is in us is not different; it is the one Paramātmā, and the reflection of this Paramātmā is in us. We are that cup. That is Advaita philosophy. Vivekānandajī, when he was young, always visited the āśram of his guru, Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna would always ask Vivekānanda, "Read me this book." That book was the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā. They say that every time, after a few pages of the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā, Vivekānanda would run away from the āśram. He needed a few weeks or months to come back, and then the same story would repeat. Once Vivekānanda asked his master, "Why do you force me to read this book?" Ramakrishna replied, "You are not reading for you; you are reading for me." After reading the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā a few times, and of course with the blessing of Gurudeva, Vivekānanda became one of the great representatives of Advaita philosophy. Advaita philosophy is not so easy. As Swāmījī said, it is rich food. You need to digest it. But slowly, slowly, with the help and blessing of Gurudev, we will digest it, and we will merge into that divine light. That is the aim of yoga—not just stretching and torturing the body, not to attain siddhis, not to become famous, but to merge and be in that river. Sometimes people talk about nothingness, about being in nothing. They always try to explain nothing. But when you go to sleep, in that moment before dreams, you are in that nothing, okay? You have no pain, no problems, nothing, but you are alive—or you are not existing. And because of that, we say our life is normal. Also, Viśva Gurujī said: no ocean, no waves; no waves, no ocean. What does this mean? The ocean is the cosmic Self, divine conscience. Without waves, we would not be able to understand or see the ocean. And if waves did not exist, what would that mean? The vṛttis would also not exist, and thus the ocean would not be perceived. Therefore, in Advaita philosophy, never fight with your vṛttis. Your vṛttis are okay. The only problem is identifying yourself with the vṛttis. They explain meditation in Advaita philosophy nicely: if you have light, everything is just light. But if there is nothing, from where will that light reflect and come to your eye? The same is true for the cosmic Self, for that awareness—how will you be aware of that consciousness? Only through your vṛttis. When you sit in meditation and a vṛtti comes, that vṛtti is understood as an object. But you do not focus on the object; rather, light—consciousness—comes to it, and the reflection of that comes to you. Because of that object, you are able to see and understand that consciousness. The same principle applies to perceiving the cosmic Self. To act in this world also requires a body. Therefore, that body is so important, and we have so much respect for the physical form of Gurū Dev. Never think that the body is the Guru. But, as Swāmījī said, without the body, we are nobody. To work in this Mṛti Loka, we can do so only through this body. Therefore, we need to preserve it in good condition, but also not be overly focused only on the body. Understand that the real aim of yoga is reunion with our real Self, the reunion of that drop of water with the ocean. For that, it is only possible to reach through Gurudev, through real teachings and the guidance of Gurudev. What is also very important, and we always talk about this, is darśana—that kind of energy. Because through that physical form, we can say that divine light, that divine conscience, is concentrated in one spot. That Guru Tattva is concentrated in one spot through the form of the Guru. When we have darśana, it is not only seeing. It is like having salt in the ocean, but when you concentrate it, you get a rock of salt. The physical form of the guru and darśana is not just going to the salty ocean; it is really having the concentration of that, having the salt in hard form. Having darśana means to be in the presence, to concentrate on that energy, and that Guru Tattva changes us. Thank God, today, very soon—in a few hours—Viśva Gurujī will be here, and we will have that energy concentrated on us. Śrīdīpna Bhagavān, we have more time. Do you have any questions? (Question about the three guṇas: What is the feeling, or how would you describe those three guṇas?) Now I have two answers. One answer will be very… How do you explain a banana if you have never tried a banana? What does it mean that I know but I can’t explain it to you? Because that is above this tribunal. A better answer? The answer of a disciple. He will not explain, because through words he cannot explain this. But through the grace of Gurudev, we will have such an experience. The question is so good, but the answer is impossible. When we are sitting in this position (chin mudrā), why are we sitting like this? Because we don’t know what to do with our hands, and it is better to have this position than some other. But it means absolute, and this is individual. These three fingers represent the three guṇas: tamas, rajas, and sattva. Yoga is reunion with our real Self, ātmā and Paramātmā. It is above all these three guṇas. All this universe is within these three guṇas. What does that mean? Everything we see, everything we can talk about, is only through these three guṇas. What is above these three guṇas? That is the divine Self, God, and reunion with that God. What you asked—"How is it and what is it?"—means: explain God and explain this unity with the God-Self. For that, the only explanation is what it is not: Neti, neti. It is not this, it is not that. And I don’t know. And that is Gurudev. Do you have something else? You know, I always say—I am boring myself—but I always say there is no such thing as a stupid question. I know it sounds boring, but I always say there are no stupid questions. Only stupid answers exist. What that means is: any question is an excellent question. And you are in the safe zone. I am not in the safe zone, but with the mercy of Gurudev, I know there will be no question, or no question that will be possible to answer. And because of that, I am also in the safe zone.