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Be like a tree

A teacher must embody detachment, like a tree offering shelter without attachment to the birds that come and go. People often approach spirituality as a transactional remedy, seeking help only in distress and then forgetting the source. This creates a fragile dynamic where the teacher must remain free from expectation. True teaching requires a relaxed relationship, allowing students to come and go by their own choice. The teacher's role is to provide a welcoming space without personal suffering over others' departures. Spiritual growth is avoided by many who fear confronting their own reality. The essence is to be an unwavering presence, undisturbed by the comings and goings of students.

"Like this should be the master or the teacher. If disciples or students come, most welcome. When they go, let them go. Be like a tree."

"Come, welcome. Go, your choice. This house is your house; anytime you are welcome."

Filming location: Sydney, Australia

People come to yoga, to a yoga teacher, and to a master. Many people approach it like going to a doctor: when you are helped, you forget the doctor. When you are in trouble again, you search for the telephone number and ask, "Doctor, can I have an appointment?" The doctor will say "No" or "Yes." So, be there. A small baby is running and playing, but the mother is sitting in the park, peacefully observing. The child runs away; let him run. He will automatically come back. That's it. So, don't be attached. But sometimes it's the opposite: the teacher is suffering more than the person. Then I say, "Oh, moment, moment, what are you doing? You are attached now." A very relaxed, very free relation should be there. Spirituality is a very fragile belief; it is very fragile. Nowadays, humans are afraid of spirituality. They don't want it because, in reality, they will discover their own reality. Then they will have trouble, so they don't want to see. We don't want to see how much dust is on our back; we just want to see the front very nice. That's all. So, the best is to be free. Come, welcome. Go, your choice. This house is your house; anytime you are welcome. Once I had this problem. There was a group of 70 people, and I was new from India, coming and teaching them everything in one weekend—many, many kriyās and this and that. They were all coming at once. It happened that they suddenly all disappeared, and I was unhappy, very unhappy. I said, "What mistake did I make? What was wrong? And why don't they come?" and so on. I was sitting in meditation early morning, about 5:30, between 4 and 5, 5 and 4:30, 5:30. Mahāprabhujī appeared in my meditation. Of course, when such a great master appears in meditation... I was so deep, I thought, "I think I was sleeping." I was meditating; that's why I was doing like this. Many people are sitting in the beginning like this, and also in the prāṇāyāma I see, because I sit in the front and I do the prāṇāyāma; it means they go very deep, and there is no restless thought. There is a beautiful state that's called laya samādhi, also samādhi. So, Mahāprabhujī appeared, and Mahāprabhujī asked me, "I want to ask you one question." Oh, God, what will happen now? When the master will ask you a question, there must be something wrong. So, I was in the meditation; I was standing, I greeted him like this, and he said, "What do you see in the desert when there is a large, beautiful, big, huge banyan tree? What do you see in the evening at sunset time?" So, I said, "There are hundreds of birds coming and sitting on the tree. Is the tree happy? Overjoyed? That I don't know, but the tree gives a place to all." And what do you see in the morning when the sun rises? All birds fly away. Is the tree crying, weeping that they all went away? I said, "No." Like this should be the master or the teacher. If disciples or students come, most welcome. When they go, let them go. Be like a tree. And that is in my mind all the time. When someone tells me that I don't like this and that, immediately Mahāprabhujī's picture comes. This Līlā Amṛt, what we read, who have this book, all okay, many of you have it. So, who doesn't have it, this is what you should read. Then you will see from where Swāmījī's knowledge is coming. Unbelievable. You will think it is a fairy tale, but luckily, it is not a fairy tale. The persons whom he gave life, dead bodies, are still alive. Mahāprabhujī left this world in 1963. Great. There is a lot of teaching inside, written by Holy Gurujī. So, let them come and let them go.

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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