Podcast details
Be always alert (from Upanishads)
Awakening means moving beyond passive ritual to conscious, alert duty. A master's questions and assignments always have a purpose, requiring you to discern the essence behind the words. A story illustrates this: a master, testing his devoted disciple, falsely claimed to need a new heart. The disciple frantically ran to find one, and a beggar instantly offered his own. When the disciple presented the beggar's heart, the master asked, "But you also have one heart." The disciple, who had not thought of this, then eagerly offered his own. The master revealed his heart was fine; the lie was a necessary tool to awaken the disciple to his own latent willingness for total self-sacrifice. The lesson is to concentrate fully on fulfilling the duty given by the teacher, trusting its purpose.
"To bring the disciple to think and to impart a lesson he would remember for life, the master had to lie."
"Therefore, when Gurudev has given you a duty, then your main concentration and your primary duty is to fulfill what he or she said."
Filming location: Vép, Hungary
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:
- Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3 - The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0 - Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4
