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  • Recorded on: 29 Jul 2002
  • Language: English
  • Length: 0h 03m

Real relation

A spiritual talk on the nature of devotion and relationships.

"Therefore, if you make happy your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your colleagues, your friends, or your house pet, that is your real relation."

"If we do not have this in the world, then life is nothing but fighting, anger, jealousy, criticizing, screaming, sadness, offense, greed, ego, hatred, and complexes."

The speaker recounts an anecdote about a disciple who found a heart-shaped potato in a monastery kitchen and ensured it was sent to her guru. Using this story, he illustrates that true relationship is found in the intention to bring happiness to others, from family to gurus. He contrasts this with a life dominated by negative emotions, concluding that life should be joyful.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

There was a disciple who went to a Christian monastery. She was given a duty in the kitchen; I had told her she would be cleaning potatoes, and it was true that was her task, but it was not only that. One day, she found a potato that was exactly in the form of a heart. She kept it—I do not know for how long—and then she smuggled the potato out of the monastery, passing it through many hands. She made sure that this potato would come to Swāmījī. So, it is not about the potato. That is called a relation—an eternal relation. That is how you think. And so I think of you, too. Wherever I go, if I see something beautiful in the shops or anywhere, I always think, "Oh, if I bring this to Gurujī, Gurujī will be very happy." It means my intention is that my Gurū is happy, so that through this, he may give his kṛpā. Therefore, if you make happy your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your colleagues, your friends, or your house pet, that is your real relation. If we do not have this in the world, then life is nothing but fighting, anger, jealousy, criticizing, screaming, sadness, offense, greed, ego, hatred, and complexes. This is not a life; it means you are torturing yourself. That is not life. Therefore, it should always be happy—Mastānā. As Mahāprabhujī said in the Vajra: "I am Mahābhārata Yudhiṣṭhira."

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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