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Om Śālāmpurjī Mahādevakī Jai, Devādhe Devaśvar Mahādevakī Jai, Śādīp Nānak Śālāmpurjī Mahādevakī Jai. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śrī Alakpurījī Siddha Pīṭhparamparā. My daṇḍavat praṇām to our beloved Guru Dev, His Holiness, Veśa Guru Mahāmudrā, Śrī Maheśvarānand Purī Jī. The money is converted into stones, so now the stones will be coming and dumped around soon. I will have my lecture first, and then the bhajans can happen while the stones are falling. Āśrams, and we are best at converting money into stones, so I want you to build a whole Aumāśram with that. Bhakti Yog, Jñāna Yog, and Karma Yog. It doesn't matter where we start; it all leads to the same thing. In Europe, it's more common to have love marriages, but in India, it's more common to have arranged marriages. In an arranged marriage, you would first get to know a person, then you fall in love with them, and then you are for that person. Because of that love, Seva comes automatically. So it doesn't matter which way you go. You can read the scriptures, read the books, gain some jñāna. That is us getting to know spirituality. Then we fall in love with spirituality, and we move to bhakti yoga. We do the bhajans, kīrtans, prayers—all this bhakti. When we are in love with the Master, when we are in love with God, we become one with them. Then automatically the Seva Bhāva awakens within us. That's how love works. In a normal household, you want to serve your old parents, you want to serve your partner when they are sick or in desperate times. Normally also, when you're in love, seva automatically comes. Sometimes you want to give your partner breakfast in bed. So Karma Yoga is there. All paths lead to the same path. As we know, when we come to ashrams—jadens, srilkis, any ashram—we are not forced, but we are encouraged to do karma yoga. Normally, in any ashram around India or anywhere in the world, in the beginning, it always starts with the lowest of the low works. It starts with cleaning the toilets, mopping the floor, and washing the dishes. It's not because we don't like you, or we can't hire people. It is because all of us have this in our minds: that we are higher than what we do. That ego is within all of us. To address that, the Guru always sends us to the karma yogas which start from the bottom. We are doing something lower than our expected work, which we want to do. When the ego is gone, then spirituality can start. But until we have ego, jealousy, or envy towards anything or anyone, it is hard to progress on the spiritual path. So it's all connected. It doesn't matter which path you choose; you will end up doing all of them. We do our mālā, our anuṣṭhān, our kriyās. We also do bhajans, kīrtans, satsaṅgs—that's bhakti yoga. We also put water on the concrete, I think. That's also karma yoga, or working in the garden, in the kitchen. And we read Hidden Powers in Human Beings, or Yoga in Daily Life, or Mahābhārata, or Rāmāyaṇa, or any of the scriptures—and that's Jñāna Yoga. But that's all connected to the Master, because He helps us to become one with the Supreme Self. How beautiful Seva Bhāva is, and what all you can get by doing just Seva. It is very interesting to see. There was one businessman, and his son went into Kusaṅga. This is again our individual wishes or urges; we want to get attracted or we don't want to, but we do get attracted more towards Kusaṅga than to Satsaṅg. Because that sounds more fun. It looks more fun. But inside, that fun is destroying us. That's just worldly enjoyment, worldly pleasures. The inner pleasure we get is what we get from satsaṅg, from Guru Bhakti, from Guru Seva. The rest, the enjoyments—I think all of you have already gone through them, except the yoga kids. So, experiencing that life and now experiencing yourself here, which one do you like more? So whatever gives you more pleasure or more enjoyment, go for that. So that son of the businessman went into Kusaṅga. Because of his spoiling attitude, his father kicked him out of the house and out of the village. He went to a different city. Who am I? No one. Who are you all? No one. But when we are walking in the yellow dress or in the orange dress, people know us because of who? Because of Swāmījī. So it's not who I am or what we all are. The world knows us because of Swāmījī. If I mess up, if I do something stupid, it's not that Avatārpuri did something. It will be Vishwagurujī's disciple, Avatārapurī, who did something wrong. It is he who's training me, so it's his fault, not my fault. It's my fault, I did the mistake, I should be punished, but no, the world will not see me, because I'm no one, I'm nothing. We all are known for what we are because of Him. In the same way, the father, the businessman, did all the hard work in his life. When the son went to another city, he said, "Oh, I am the son of this businessman, and I'm out of money, so please lend me some money." He didn't get money because of who he is. He got money because of his father's name. People slowly, slowly started lending him money. After a certain period of time, they found out that the whole village lent him money at once, all at one time. You know how fast gossip spreads. I think we know it very well here in Yoga in Daily Life. It goes faster than Facebook or anything. Here, you talk about something at Tilak, and by the time I reach the castle, they already know about it. So gossip is the fastest mode of transport. The news spread that he is the son of this and that person, and he already kicked him out and disowned him. So, why are we lending him money if he's not even living with his father anymore? How will he give us back the money? They all decided to catch him and say, "Give us back our money." And he said, "Sorry, me no money." When we take from someone, we don't think of the consequences. We don't think about how we are going to return it or how we are going to give it back. This is how karma works. You get something; you will have to pay back in the same way or in another way eventually in life. The only one who can accept and give without any expectations is the Guru. Because that's Guru Dakṣiṇā, which you are giving him. But for us human beings, if we take something from someone, we will have to pay back in some way. But while taking the money, that thought didn't hit his mind. He said, "Okay, right now I do not have any money to pay back, but soon I will give you." He decided that taking money is not going to work for a long time, so he started working somewhere. But he didn't get much; he got like a thousand rupees. In that thousand rupees, he's not going to get much, or he won't be able to give much to the people. This is the beauty of life. Sometimes you will have thunder and rain, sometimes you will have sun, and sometimes you will have rocks falling. But what do we do? We just stay calm, be present in the moment, and enjoy the time, enjoy the satsaṅg, and be focused on that. Whatever is happening around us will happen; let it happen. We stay calm, we concentrate, we experience every moment, we are in satsaṅg, and what is happening around us, let it happen. Same as our minds. We are doing our mālās, and in our heads, we are already flying to India. So the mind will travel here and there, everywhere. There will always be some distractions around us. But by the Guru's teachings, by the sādhanā which he gives us, it helps us to bring the mind back into center and to focus it on the right path. Let things happen around you. Do not try to control your thoughts. Do not try to hold them. If they are coming, let them come. If they are going, let them go. But we try to stay focused on what we are focused on. Afterwards, he started earning a thousand rupees, but that wasn't enough to pay back any of them. Whenever he got his salary, immediately all the people who were asking stood in a line already in front of where he was working, to distribute that thousand rupees between each other. Then one satsaṅgī came. Someone who is involved in spirituality is someone who knows somewhat of spiritualism. He said, "By earning a thousand rupees, you are not going to be able to do anything in life. I will give you a better idea: do seva. Because the result of seva is the highest, but it is niṣkāma seva, without any expectations. Just do Seva, and automatically you will get what you want." Same as what we were discussing. If you do niṣkām sevā to Guru Dev, you will get anything you want. The boy went and started. He went to a rich businessman again. He said, "I am that same spoiled son of that businessman, but now I want to fix myself. It's never too late for us to change." The realization when that happens—that's the most important thing in life, that realization when we change, that, "Okay, this is enough. I did enough. Now I want to start on my spiritual journey." It's never too late for it; sooner is better. But when you realize it, then you start. He said, "Now I did what I did, but now I'm more spiritually driven, and I want to do your Seva." The businessman said, "I already have enough servants. I don't need any more. But if you really want to work here, sure, work. How much do you want a month?" He said, "Nothing. I don't want anything. I just want to do your seva." He said, "Okay, as you wish." Then he was doing such good seva. He was doing so deeply, devotionally, seva every day. Taking care of the whole family and never wanting anything from him. If the businessman gave him something, good and fine; if not, then also fine. One day, when the businessman sent him to the market to get some vegetables, all the people found him and started beating him up. He ran back home crying, and the businessman asked, "What happened?" He said, "Nothing. I took money in the past, and now I need to return it." The businessman said, "Don't worry about anything while I am alive. Everything is sorted." So then he paid off all his debts, and he saw that, really, the person had changed. He had a daughter, and he called the father and said, "Your son is now a good man. He is doing good. He has cleared all his debts, and I want him to marry my daughter." The father, seeing that his son is now more spiritually driven and not in Kusaṅga, decided, "I will go for the wedding and see my son." He went there, and he immediately hugged his son. They got married, and he again took back his son, and he again got everything in life. So this is the result of Seva. If problems come in our life, we don't give up, because no lockmaker made a lock without a key. The lockmaker wasn't like, "Okay, I'll make a lock without a key, it's going to be fun." If there is a lock, there is a key, but by giving up, you're not going to find it. That key, if you look in the right direction without giving up, then we will know that the key is right next to us. Just the process of starting to go towards searching, that is already almost that you found the key. And when we give up and say, "There is no key for this lock," finished, then it's done. We have to start making efforts towards it to even start finding the key, and then you are already on the right path because of our karma, past karmas, because of anything that we have done. If God gave us a hard time here, then he also will give you the key, and also good times will come. So just not giving up in life is the most important thing. Everything will come and go. We will come and go. But we want to stop this coming and going and be in mokṣa and be out of this cycle of death and birth. I think we have had enough of it, and that's why now we have the human life: to work on ourselves, to go on the right path, and hopefully to achieve mokṣa. And that's why we are all blessed to be in the lotus feet of Gurū Dev, who guides us to that ultimate goal. And that's why the Guru is very important in everyone's life. Now we continue with the Guru Pādukās Stotra. Again? Okay. So, repeating yesterday, first let's chant it, and then we will do the translation. One night, and it's gone. Practice, practice... practice makes a man a master now. We already did sannyāsa supta, then we did the pūjā mantras, now we start with this one. Until I come back next time to Europe, I need to know that all of you know it by heart without the papers. So, repeat, repeat, repeat. Sanskrit is something that helps us break our mind. And we have enough things to deal with in our mind. So Sanskrit will then twist everything more. And then it will be more fun in your brains, and that's what I love to do. I learned it from the best. When needed, stir the pot. So I stir the pot, and then you try to resolve it, and then we come to Gurujī and he resolves it for us. So let's start the pot. The first śloka was: Salutations to the sandals of my Guru, which are a boat that helps me to cross the endless ocean of life, which endow me with the sense of devotion to my Guru, and by worship of which I attain the level of renunciation. I attain renunciation. So the first one is all clear. Okay, second one: Salutations to the sandals of my guru, which is the ocean of knowledge, resembling the full moon, which is the water which puts out the fire of misfortunes and which removes distress of those who prostrate before Him. Okay? Yes? No? Something? Yes. Okay, thank you. This is not chī, the long, but it's chī, the short. It's not long, it's short. Dharedra varyaha, dharedra varyaha,... Kadācid apy āśu-dhāridra-varyāha nātāya yo śrīpati tāṁ samiyu, kadācid apy āśu-dhāridra-varyāha nātāya yo śrīpati tāṁ samiyu, kadācid apy āśu-dhāridra-varyāha nātāya yo śrīpati tāṁ samiyu, kadācid apy āśu-dhāridra-varyāha. Nātāya yo śrī-patitāṁ samiyo kadācid apyāśudharidra varīyāḥ. ... It's mu long, not mu short, but mu long. So when you hear like "short," like "patitam," I didn't say "patitam," I said "patitām," and not "he," but "he," so that's short, but the "u" in the "m" is long. And similarly, the "u" after "m" is long. Namo namaḥ śrī-gurupādukābhyām. Natāya yo śrī-patitāṁ samiyo kadācid apyāśudharidra-varyāha mukāśca vāca-spatitāṁ hitābhyām. Namo namaḥ śrī-gurupādukābhyām. So for those of you who are writing, please write, others listen. Salutations to the sandals of my guru, which makes those who prostrate before it possessors of great wealth, even if they are very poor, and which makes even dumb people into great scholars. Salutations to the sandals of my guru, which makes those who prostrate before it possessors of great wealth, even if they are very poor, and which makes even dumb people into great scholars. Clear? Good, now you can chant all three mantras without me once. Ānanda, son, congratulations, you managed. As we were talking for the past two days, somehow Rāmaṇ comes in between. And today we were talking about love. We all, did you ever hear anyone's name being Kaikeyī? No, not in the Rāmāyaṇa, I mean in... No. So why is that? Because she? Because she was mean. The thing is that no one loved Lord Rāma more than Kaikeyī. And you know why? Because we all know the part where, because of Kaikeyī, Rāma had to go, and the father died, and everything like that. But Kaikeyī, when Lord Rāma was in the bālya kāl, which means in the young age, Lord Rāma told Kaikeyī, "Do you love me?" She said, "Yes, I love you more than anyone in this world." "Will you do something for me?" "I will do anything for you." Then Lord Rāma said, "But by you doing this, the whole universe forever will not like you. You will lose your husband, you will lose your son, and you will be the worst person in the universe." She said, "No problem. If you want me to do something, and because I love you so much, I will do anything you wish me to do." And she said, "Okay, it is no problem if you wish it." A z té velké lásky, kterou k tobě mám, to udělám. Ale až zemřeš, tak přijdeš do Vaikuṇṭha za mnou. (From the great love I have for you, I will do it. But after you die, you will come to Vaikuṇṭha to me.) She did not suffer in hell, but ended up in Vaikuṇṭha with Lord Viṣṇu. The wish of Lord Rāma, when he was young, was, "I incarnated to this universe for a specific reason, and there are people in the forest like Śabarī, who I need to free. There are many Rākṣasas who I have to get rid of, and there is a great Rākṣasa called Rāvaṇa, who I also need to free. And if I'm stuck here in Ayodhya, I won't have an excuse to go. So when the time comes, you would be the cause of all this." That was the time when Lord Rāma was young, and she had to play along with the līlā of Lord Rāma and try not to get too attached to him and distance herself from him. But this was because of the love towards him, and because what he wanted as a child, she wanted to fulfill his wish. And that's why she did all that she did, and no one now names anyone Kaikeyī. But she ended up in a good place, and she did it all because of Rāma's Līlā, and because of what Lord Rāma wanted her to do. Do you know why in India, bhabhī, bhabhī means your brother's wife? Why is she also considered as a second mother or as a form of a mother? Because when Rāvaṇa took Sītā Mātā away, Sītā started throwing her jewelry off for Lord Rāma to find her. When they were searching for it, Lakṣmaṇa couldn't notice any other jewelry, but only the bangles of her feet, because Lakṣmaṇa never saw her face and never saw her anywhere above her lotus feet. That's the respect people give to their brother's wife and consider her as a mother. He never saw the mother's face, and he was always looking only to the lotus feet, and that's it. So we talked about Kṛṣṇa, we talked about Lakṣmaṇa, and why Bhabhīs are mothers. Now, do you know why Hanumanjī is always orange or sindūr red? You know? Okay. So the reason was because Hanumānjī is like a child. And the child has the freedom to ask anything of the mother. Hanumanjī once asked Sītā Mātā, "Why do you put sindūr here on your forehead?" Sindur is not a tilak which you put here, but it's what the ladies put in the parting of their hair when they get married, for the livelihood and the long life of their husband. Hanumanjī was like me. He always was, "Why, why, why?" Sītā Mātā was not in the mood to answer all the questions that day. So she said, "Because your Lord Rāma, he likes me when I wear the sindūr." When I say Lord Hanumanjī was like a child, it doesn't mean his physical body was like a child, but his attitude and his love towards Lord Rām and Mātā Sītā was like a child. He said, "Okay, if only by this little line which you put, Lord Rāma likes you." Then he went and painted his whole body in sindūr and went to Lord Rāma, "You like your wife because of this. Now you have to like me more, because I'm covered in all sindūr, and you're a favorite." Since that day onwards, whenever we go to a Hanumanjī temple, we put sindūr on his body. Because he wants Lord Rāma to like him more than he likes his own wife. Om Śānti Śānti... Om Śālapurjī Mahādeva Kī Jai, Devāditya Devaśvara Mahādeva Kī Jai, Śādīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Maheśvara Ānandapurjī Satgurudeva Bhagavān Kī Jai, Viśva Guru Muḥammad Alīśā Paramahaṁsa Maheśvara Ānandapurjī Gurudeva Kī Jai, Sat Sanātana Dharma Haraṇāmava Pārvati Pataye. Har Har Mahādeva Śambho. Oh yeah, one more joke I would like to share. In India, you know, when someone passes away, it's commonly said they expired. So in India, if you hear someone saying that, "Oh, my friend expired," that means he passed away. There was one man from America, and he went to Banaras. (America is an example; he can also be from Střílky.) He went to a shop and asked for bhasma. Bhasma is this white tilaka which I put, and then I put red over it for Lakṣmī, but bhasma. It is for Lord Shiva—that will come in the joke. You can't spoil the joke. He took the packet of bhasma and started looking up, down, left, right, the whole packet. The shopkeeper asked, "What are you looking for?" He said, "For the expiry date." The shopkeeper said, "Don't worry, this is made out of expired people. And this helps you not to get expired quickly, so it gives you long life. But this product itself does not have an expiry date." Another funny joke I remember: don't be scared of death. Come on, it will come one day. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Have fun. Adieu.