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I recall so many times Viśva Gurujī said, "I gave you everything, and I wait every morning that somebody will come and say, 'I am self-realized.'" I am not joking about this, nor am I trying to make an advertisement. Why would I advertise to you? That would be stupid. You buy the product, and I sell that same product. Why? We need to be aware, truly aware, that what we have here, what we received from Viśva Gurujī, is really, really pure knowledge. As Swāmījī joked a few times, it is not fast food. It is slow food. You need to digest and to understand. For me, it is so interesting when I look at all the VHS tapes, DVDs, or whatever form they are in now. I saw myself at that seminar in VEP. I was in a slightly different position, but everything is the same. I heard the lecture. I saw myself in the lecture, but it was the first time I had heard that lecture. Do you have the same feelings and experience? Yes. What does that mean? We need to again slowly go and listen to the lectures. Because inside, we will hear completely new things. Why? Because we are practicing, because we are changing ourselves, and we are able to hear and to understand. In the beginning, we hear and understand something completely different. Because of that, it is not good to make lines in the book with a marker. First, because now when I took some old books from the previous century and read again what I marked, I thought, "Oh my God, how stupid I was." Of course, I know that I am still stupid, but I was more stupid, completely stuffed with what is not interesting. But at that time, it was very interesting for me. Marking in the book is, because of that, not necessary. It is better to take a notebook and write a little more. You will memorize much more. If you know how it is writing, how it is written, you know how to write. Not just capital letters—writing is so important. Really, it is so important. I realized a few years ago that I almost never had nice handwriting. I realized that my handwriting was loose. Slowly, I try again to write a little and come back to it. And when you go to the mantra, you remember what the instruction is also. There are five stages. I will not set the stages because when you say it is one class and another, no—we try to do all this at the same time. But one stage is: you take a notebook and try to write your mantra, not quickly. Strive with a nice hand, write slowly, write your mantra. It will go much deeper inside. Also, when you feel that you are very disturbed, start to write. Very soon, you will see that your mind is coming down. You will see that even Swami Sivananda from Rishikesh, in his old age, was also writing the mantra. In one picture, you will see that he writes "Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya" in the shape of a Śiva Liṅgam. You do not need to do this, but just write the mantra and you will see, really. I made an experiment. After how many years after I got mantra initiation, I again started to write the mantra, and I realized it is really good stuff. It is really something. Do not think that it is only for beginners. Also, in that moment, you will realize how much humanity loses by stopping writing. Everything is not just, "Well, now we talk, and it is right," as they also said. You will learn much quicker and deeper if you take notes in your notebook. There is one story about one paṇḍita. That paṇḍita was reading the holy books and Upaniṣads and all this every day. He also read every day the Goyogītā. He sometimes put a line under some sentences with a pen because for him, that sentence was very important. One day in the evening, somebody was knocking on the door. It was a person who was traveling, and that person asked for food and for shelter. He immediately gave it. During supper, he realized that the man had scars on his face. He asked because he realized that person was not an ordinary person. He realized there is a divine presence in his room. He asked, "What is this scar on your face?" That person, who was God in physical form, said to him, "Oh yes, every day when you read, you put some mark." On the other hand, they said that the holy books are like the body of God, because a truly holy book is the way to God, and the way and the aim are the same. He realized that this book is really something to keep and to have respect for. In Strelka, I talk about this. How is it also important to keep this real book for Svādhyāya? I will tell also, on the other hand, to keep holy books in some particular place. Why? Many times we hear from Swāmījī that you will get from something as much as you give respect and value to something. If you value some book, value some knowledge, value something, from that you will get. If you do not value it, if for you it is something that is not important, you cannot get anything from that. Swāmījī often said that you get as much out of certain things as you value them. If you value a book very much, then you really get something out of it. But if you say, "Well, this is a book," and you just throw it away, then you do not get anything out of it. Not because that book, those teachings, are without value, but because we do not understand the value of that. Because of that, I am telling at the beginning that we need to be aware that in Yoga and Daily Life, in the teaching of Swāmījī Mahāprabhujī, we know, we hear. Swāmījī's teaching and Gurujī's teaching is so much knowledge, and really amazing stuff is inside. Only this problem: the problem is in us, because we are not ready for such knowledge. We need to work a lot to understand a little of what we got from Swāmījī. Now, when I listen to all the lectures, when I think a little about this, a glimpse of an idea comes to me. You know, yesterday there was also a question about young people, et cetera. I started very young, and you know, when you start very young, of course, you know everything. Yes. Like a young person, you know everything. And you think that you understand, oh my God. My first book on yoga was Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra. Without commentary, translated by a good Sanskrit scholar into old Croatian language. And I understood everything inside. Today, I will tell—maybe I understand the first three to four verses, ślokas, maybe. And I will not be so sure about this. But 40 years ago, completely, everything, I understood. And that is the good in the young age, but be also careful about this. All of you here who are young, you are too old to be young anymore. Yes. I know, I started leading yoga at 16 or 17 years old. You yesterday asked about Kriyā, yes, but I have eighteen. Oh my God, with 18, you are old already. Do not think about youth; you do not have time. You are already old. You must practice normally, like everybody. There is one story in the Mahābhārata about one yogī. He was meditating near a tree, usually, and he was in mauna. He was a muni, in mauna. Not like us, really, in Mauna. One night, he finished his meditation and slept, and a thief came to the castle to steal something. He stole some gold, something, pressure, pressure, yes. The young prince saw that and started to fight with that thief. The thief made some movements and accidentally killed the prince. Now, in the panic, what to do? He ran away, but on the way he saw a man who was sleeping near the tree. He changed the shoes and ran away. In the morning, the king realized that his son, his only child, was killed. You do not need to explain. He took out the whole kingdom to find the person who killed the prince. They were looking for footprints and very easily found the man under the tree. They asked, "Did you kill the prince?" That man was in Mauna. Trial and everything, but that man was in Mauna. If you are not talking, they said, "If you are not talking, that means you agree with this," and they put him on the... this stick, no, no... No hanging, but from buttock till up on the stick, and he was standing in this position for one week. Usually people die very soon, in two weeks, but only yogīs were coming near him and meditating near his body, and the king realized that something was wrong. He asked the other sādhus, "Who is that?" He realized that it was one really great yogī who was in Mauna. He took him down. But to take out this stick from the body would mean that you will kill him, and cause more suffering. They cut what was going out of the body, and that yogī gets the name. I do not know who is a spinal column like a stick, something like this. He lived many, many years after this. When he passed away, he came to the Dharma Rāja. He said to Dharmarāja, "Look, tell me why I was on the stick and why I passed all this suffering. In all my life, I was meditating and tried to develop to come to God. How is this situation possible?" Dharmarāja took his computer to see what, when. "Oh yes, yes... I found here something. You put one end of this straw and put him to run, to live with this straw through his body. Because of that, you get this." That yogī was thinking, "I cannot remember, when was this?" "Yes, you were two and a half, three years old." He was a really great yogī, and he said, "From now till 14, you are a child. Above 14, you are an adult, and you are really responsible for your deeds, responsible for your deeds." What does all this mean? What is it telling about young age? You are more than 14; you are an adult. Until age 14, it is also said that some āsanas in which you influence the glands are not good to practice. But after 14, you are normal. Look what was with Ādi Śaṅkarācārya. He was, I do not know how much, six, seven years old. He wanted to become a sannyāsī. But his mother was not pleased with that. He played, or God played, one drama. He went to the lake, or the river, I do not know. A crocodile caught his leg, and people saw this. They made a big panic, and mother came to the river and cried and cried. Ādi Śaṅkarācārya said, "Mother, do not cry. Allow me to become a sannyāsī." As any mother would, she only cried and cried. Ādi Śaṅkarācārya said, "Mother, do not cry, just allow me to become a sannyāsī, and the crocodile will release me." And she said, "Yes, yes, you may become a sannyāsī." In that moment, the crocodile just released him. They said that he was walking on the lake, and everywhere he put his step, a new lotus came. And really, like a child, we will say. He traveled through India to find a guru, and so on and so forth. But that means you do not need to wait. Before Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, they were also losing the real knowledge of Sanātana Dharma. In that time, they said you may become a sannyāsī after 75 years, and if you know all four Vedas. Mostly in these times, now with 75 years, hardly you know a telephone number. With the 60s, it is already a problem. They were losing complete knowledge of Sanātana Dharma. In the moment when the knowledge comes down, when losing everything, in the last moment, you are coming. What means this light on the earth? Ādi Śaṅkarācārya came, and he again, in his very short life—only thirty-something years—he made so much. What does it mean? Do not think, "Oh, I am still young." No, no. You are completely responsible for your actions, also for your practice. There is one so nice bhajan of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya. I like this bhajan very much. It is not romantic, because nothing in real life is romantic. Nature is not romantic. When you live in the city, when you with the car go somewhere in the park, "Oh, so romantic snow, oh, so romantic." But in the previous time, or now, if you will need to live in the nature without all this stuff that we have, you will see that nothing is romantic. I hope that Madhu Rāmjī knows this bhajan. Maybe we will hear this bhajan later. This is so nice, because they said, you know, when he was traveling through India, you know, we watch many times this Sanskrit movie about his life in Sanskrit. You know this? How many times you watch this, like Rāmāyaṇa, like Mahāśivapurāṇa, etc. That movie is really nice to see, because you will hear the spoken Sanskrit. And also, just looking at that movie, that Sanskrit, and also inside bhajans and spiritual talk, will have influence on us. You know, in that time when Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was starting, if you want to make something, to establish something, to be recognized, you were needed to come to Varanasi and to beat in the discussion some of the great philosophers. He went with his disciple, and on the bank of the river, this ghāṭ where you are also bathing, he saw one old man who was learning the Sanskrit grammar. He turned to him, but mostly he talked to his disciples. "O mūrakha, what does this mean? Not wise, this stupid one. Why are you losing your time in learning grammar? Better will be that you put the name of God, the name of your Master, on your lips: Rājagovindam. Do not be blinded by the material stuff. Do not try to collect the material stuff. Fame, and that you are mighty. One should not try to accumulate material goods or become famous, to be mighty. All this game of pleasure and will pass very, very soon. Everything will pass very soon, and you will lose all this. Still, when you are alive, when you are alive, your family takes care of you. But as they say in our language here, people are not loving your skin, they are loving your wallet, which means they love your money. And if you ask, 'How are you, my dear grandma, grandpa?' you think, 'Okay, you will leave me a flat,' you know how it is today, very popular. You need to find some old grandma, because grandpa is already dead. And you will take care about the babichka, grandma. And after that, you will get a flat. Very easy. But in reality, you do not care about them, Grandma." They also said in the bhajan, even your wife, when you die, wants the corpse to leave the house very soon because she will be in fear of the body. If you are looking at the woman's body, you must know that it is only a different shape of meat. I told you that there is nothing romantic in this bhajan. You must know that all of this is illusion. This meat will change. Every one of us knows that if you try to make anything with your body—muscles, plastic surgery, anything, so many supplements—but we will lose this game. If you try to base your life on a physical body, what is in the end always was meant for the people. But especially now, because when you have a lot of children, little food, and a lot of work, you do not think so much about the physical body. But we must be aware that now Western people live in the richest society. We have so much food, and because of that, we are sick and ill. We have everything, like what was in the Roman Empire, only this high society, and we are doing the same stuff, which is perverse. They also said you completely lose your understanding of the beauty of not only women, but also men. Everybody has his own alcohol. Be free of this illusion and start to sing, repeat the name of God. He said, "Live under the tree in the temple, sleep on the earth, be dressed simply, and renounce all material stuff." That will give happiness, real happiness. But we need to understand this, which does not mean that tomorrow you dress only in kurta-pyjama and go under the tree. Very soon, you will finish in the prison or in the hospital. But it means not to be obsessed with the material stuff. We need to have everything. Be aware of puruṣārtha. What does that mean? You need to have it for your needs, for your family, for your friends who come to visit you. Also, you need to have this because only when the individual is rich will society be rich. But when you have, it is very important to understand: you have, but the happiness is not to have more and more and more. Because this demon is so hungry. He is never full, never enough. For this demon, I need to have more. It is not material stuff only. You need more emotion. Anything, you need more. Even in spirituality, you need more holy pictures. Sometimes in spirituality, it is the same as children who are collecting the pictures of the footballers. Your status will go up if you have more. But we learned from Viśva Gurujī that you have pictures, you have all this, and to give somebody pictures is the same as you give a mantra. Also, many years ago, Swāmījī said not to print so many pictures. When you die, what will be with you? Your pictures go to... the garbage, yes. Once I saw one so nice thing in, I think, Kāṭu. One old lady came to Swāmījī, and you know how it is with this sari and a shawl and everything. Usually when they keep something, they put it in the shawl and make it tight. That is like some socket. Once I saw a very nice thing in Kāṭu. A lady went to Viśva Gurujī, and you know what these ladies are like in a sari, with a shawl, and if they want to take something, they tie a bunch to the tip of the shawl. That older lady little opened this. I was sitting near, and I saw something like two or three diamonds. I do not know Hindi, and she talked something to Swāmījī. Swāmījī was serious, with little tears, and okay, okay, go. I was a little surprised. He got these three diamonds, and he said, "Okay, okay, go." After that, Swāmījī explained that the old lady came to him with the three nails of Mahāprabhujī. She told him, "I am old. I do not know when I will die. In my family, it is not so much spirituality, and I give to you." You know when Swāmījī is a little emotional, he is okay, okay, no emotion, no emotion, you know this. In that moment, I realized, ah yes, because of that he was... For me, it was so nice that I was not knowing that these are the nails in the beginning, because I saw reality, that is the real diamond. Because if I will know and I saw something like this, I am not trusting my mind. Oh yes, I imagine this. We need to understand that this material stuff, what we have, we need for our family. Because, also, you know this bhajan, which Swāmījī usually also said, śloka: "O Kṛṣṇa, I give you back my mālā. Hunger, when I am hungry, I am not able to meditate." We need certain things for ourselves and for our family, because there is a śloka that Swāmījī used to say: "O Kṛṣṇa, I give back my mālā, because when I am hungry, I cannot meditate." Because when you sit in meditation, you think all the time about how you will pay the bills. And when your children are hungry, that is a different story. When a man is thinking on the real, that this life is very short and passing, in that moment he will not so much run for the adjournments that enjoy in this life, and he will understand that every one of us will die. And what will be after all this stuff? What we have, we will leave here, and what will we take with us? Because of that, they said, "I do not know how," Swāmījī said. "I was not there, but they said when Alexander Makedonski was dying, at his funeral, the doctor was first, and he said, 'And make that my hands are hanging beside my body,' and everybody... saw my hands." When Alexander the Great died, at his funeral, first the doctor went and said, "Place my hands like this so they can see that they are empty." They asked him why. They asked why. "Because for people to know that no doctor will save you. When the time of death comes, no doctor will help you. People know that when the hour of your death arrives, no doctor can help you, no doctor will help. And also show that my palms are open because everything we will leave here." And that is important to know, that we will not be happier if we have more. You know how it is during Christmas time. You are enjoying finding the present for your friends, beloved ones, master, everybody. You are enjoying finding the present. And also, you are enjoying giving the present more than getting something. When you are enjoying the giving of this present, or just giving love and understanding, you will feel the expansion of your heart. You know this story, and with this we will finish, when wise people were quarreling about what is the difference between hell and heaven. They said, "Okay, we will go to visit heaven and hell." First they went to hell. The climate was good. They came in the time of lunch—a so nice long table, so much good food—but people were suffering from hunger. How is it possible? They looked, observed a little deeper, and realized that people did not have elbows, and they could not put just their head in the food. Imagine that is hell: you have everything, but you are not able to take it. It is really hell. The next day they went to heaven. Everything same: same climate, same decoration of the room, completely same, same table. But people were enjoying. They looked a little deeper and observed, and they also realized that people do not have elbows. But they are feeding each other, and as much as you feed others, you will also get. There is the difference between hell and heaven. It is only in the state of our mind. Lord of the Rings. "My precious." Yes. If you are in that stage of the mind, what happens? It is such a nice story. You do not need to read any other books. You have this movie. In the beginning, Gollum. Gollum, yes. He was here. This is our friend from New Zealand. When I was visiting New Zealand, at that time, everything was about Lord of the Rings. In the beginning, he was such a nice, pretty young guy. But because of "my precious," it is only mine, he changed even physical form. That is what I talked about yesterday. Until 30 years, you are beautiful by nature. And after, you are beautiful or ugly because your inner self has come to the outside. As I said yesterday, until you are 30 you are naturally beautiful, and after that you are beautiful or ugly based on how your inner nature reveals itself. And now, yoga teachers, listen carefully. I will tell only once. You know this. Instead of plastic surgery, tell your students they need to practice yoga in daily life and practice prāṇāyāma. They will become more and more beautiful, and changing our inner self in the good way will change us, and we will become shiny like a diamond. I know that people have said the diamond is not shining, it is only reflecting. Yes, because of that, I said this: you will reflect this divine light today, Mother Amjé. I was a little talkative, and we think maybe we will have some kīrtan. Kīrtan... theater we already have. Because we also need this kind of energy. Only, it is not good when these kīrtans start to have too much emotion, that you lose everything, and you are like in a trance. We do not like this. You need to have pure bhakti. And your awareness, your consciousness is rising with this. As they said, in the Kali Yuga, the best way is bhakti. But also, you need to have knowledge. When there is a little quarreling between knowledge and bhakti, which is higher? Why is bhakti yoga higher than anything else? Because bhakti yoga is not only emotion. You are not like this Latin American soap opera: in one moment you are crying, in another moment you are killing, in another moment you are suffering. No, that emotion up and down. First, you must have knowledge. When you have knowledge and you try to utilize that knowledge—because when you have only knowledge, sometimes you are very dangerous for everybody, including yourself. Knowledge without heart is so dangerous. Because of that, you will see in our book, Hidden Power in Human, one nice picture that Kuṇḍalinī is going up to the Ājñā Cakra and again goes down to the heart. You know, in the Guru Gītā, about this cave in your heart. Inside is the hidden blue pearl. You know this? Next time, we will listen, not here, but you will listen. That pure, this blue light pearl is slowly again going up, and now it is going up to the Sahasrāra. When you have knowledge and you utilize that knowledge, then you become wise. When you are wise with love, that is bhakti. Because of that, we said that bhakti is the highest part, because it is not just emotion. You go to the Ājñā Cakra, you have knowledge, you become a wise one, and you have that love. You know that light is in everybody, in everything, and you see that your light is in everybody. Everybody is in you, and you have this love and compassion. That becomes real bhakti. When you chant the kīrtans, you try to feel bhakti, but not this emotion. Sometimes when I observe people in some other groups singing the kīrtans, I am not sure, maybe I am in some pub. There is so much red here. And energy is something below Maṇipūra, which means Svādhiṣṭhāna or a little down. You know what I think? That way is not good. You go up, and the perfect one for that is our dear Madhudāmjī. Now he has stage fear, yes. I just remembered a short story about the kīrtans. It was during the time when we were in the Himalayas with Viśva Gurujī. I think the first few days we were not allowed to go in the cave of Śrī Alakpurījī, only to greet from outside and then move away. Then one day we were sitting outside the cave, and Swāmījī said to me, "You go in and meditate; you will get good inspiration." I felt very special in that moment, that nobody can go, but I can go. It was quite warm, so I had just a t-shirt, I think, and I went into the cave. Five minutes passed. I sat in meditation, feeling special. Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, and then after twenty minutes, I was so cold because it was cold inside the cave that my specialness froze very much, and I started to pray how to get out of that cave. After about 45 minutes, when I thought I am leaving this place, someone came in with something, some rearrangement, and basically delivered the message that I am allowed to go out. But anyhow, so some kīrtans after that did arrive. As a cool blessing of Śrī Alakpurījī. This one is one of them. You may know this sentence that the Holy Gurujī apparently very much liked to say: "Guru Kṛpā Hi Kevalaṁ Śiṣyake Ānandamaṅgalam." When Viśva Gurujī was in New Zealand, he told us, "Print out this sentence with big letters, and stick it on the place where you go the most, and read it every day." You know what it means? "Guru Kṛpā Hi Kevalam" is, as far as I know, that all you need is the Guru's grace. And that is what makes the disciple in bliss and joy. So one day I just sat down and thought, "Make an experiment to put this into some melody, and then something more with it." So you can hear and see what you think. Jai jai... Kṛpāhi kevalaṁ śiṣyake ānandamaṅgalaṁ. Kṛpāhi kevalaṁ śiṣyake ānandamaṅgalaṁ.... Jai Guru. Jai Jai. Kṛpāhi Kevalaṁ Śiṣyake Ānandamaṅgalaṁ Kṛpāhi Kevalaṁ Śiṣyake Ānandamaṅgalaṁ... Kṛpā Aiśya Ke Ānand Mañjai...