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Guruvakya, Guruseva, Gurukripa

Divine incarnation occurs for all beings, restoring original harmony. All creatures pray, silently and loudly; the cry of a suffering animal is a prayer. Great saints possess knowledge of all three times; their words are unchanging truth. Understanding these sacred words requires association with truth. Without this understanding, service is impossible and confusion becomes an inner prison. The master's transformative power surpasses even the philosopher's stone, for a master can create another master. True service transforms the master's word into grace, which is the sole root of liberation. Consuming meat makes one the killer, for the animal dies for that desire. Human intellect is not meant for this; doing so knowingly compounds the karma. Mercy is the root of righteousness; ego is the root of sin. Do not claim humanitarian values while partaking in animal behavior.

"Mokṣamūlam Guru Kṛpā—the root of liberation is the Guru's grace."

"When you eat meat, you are the killer, because the animal is killed because you want to eat it."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

God incarnates on this planet for the sake of the entire planet—not only for humans but also for animals, for the trees, for the rivers and oceans, and the lakes, because God does not make any distinctions. He comes to restore everything to its original form. To bring about this original form, there are two kinds of prayers: the silent and the loud. This prayer is offered by all creatures, not only humans. The screaming of an animal when you are torturing it, when it is suffering or in pain, is a prayer in its language. They call upon God for help. They also pray silently when they are in trouble. Therefore, it is said, ahiṁsā paramo dharma. In the time approximately between the Satya Yuga and the Dvāpara Yuga, there lived a great saint named Dadhīci Ṛṣi. Dadhīci Ṛṣi said, "Do not do to others what you do not like to be done to you." This same truth was later repeated by the great saint Vālmīki, who wrote the life story of God Rāma before Rāma had even incarnated. He described when He would incarnate, where He would incarnate, in which family, what the names of His father and mother would be—everything. He described nearly the everyday life of God Rāma. And it happened that Rāma incarnated exactly as described, and Vālmīki even gave the name that would be His. He knew in which constellation He would be incarnating. Such a great saint is known as a Trikāla Darśī. Trikāla Darśī means a knower of the three times: past, present, and future. They know everything from the past, meaning from the very beginning of this universe. Their vision is crystal clear and transparent; they cannot make mistakes, they cannot be mistaken. Similarly, in the present time, they are alert, aware, conscious, and have self-control—control over the indriyas, the guṇas, the words (vāk), and so on. At the same time, they know what will happen. Therefore, it is said, Kabī na ṭaly. Even the moon and sun may change their path, but the words of the great holy saints will not change. That is called Guruvākya. Those who understand Guruvākya will be successful. Therefore, in order to understand Guruvākya, we must go to satsaṅg. Sat śuddhare satsaṅg pahī—even an ignorant person can become wise in the satsaṅg. Through the satsaṅg, you will understand what the guru or the saint means, and what the words of the master mean. Who is the guru? Who is the saint? And what does the word of the master mean? Do not take it otherwise. If you understand the Guruvākya, you will be able to perform Guru-sevā. There was a great holy saint named Śukadeva Muni. From his very young age, from childhood, he knew all the śāstras, Vedas, and all scriptures. He was one of the greatest preachers ever to incarnate in this world. If we see a small child who speaks beautifully and nicely, he must be an incarnation of Śukadeva Muni. Śukadeva Muni was the son of Vedavyāsa, the same Vedavyāsa who dictated the Vedas, which before were not in written form. It is said that sixteen years of service to God is less than one minute of service to the Master. Śukadeva Muni said that he experienced service to the Guru as greater than what you call service to God. To do Guru Sevā means you are serving a living being, but again, you will not understand this because you are not that fortunate one, not that blessed one, that you can understand Guruvākya. If you do not understand Guruvākya, you will not understand the Sevā. Then, questions will constantly arise in your mind: "Why? What should I do? Why did it happen? What should I think?" and so on—you become completely confused. This is called jañjal. This is an inner prison. You are caught by a net, like a fish is caught in a net. We are caught by such misunderstandings, and there is no way out. There is only one key, and that is the key to understanding Guruvākya. Whatever the guru says to you will come true, and it is true. You know, there are two transformative powers in this world. One is called Pāras Stone, the philosopher's stone. When you touch iron to the philosopher's stone, or the philosopher's stone to iron, then that philosopher's stone, through its power, changes the iron into gold. The second is the master. But what is the difference between a master and Pāras? Pāras can change iron into gold, but Pāras cannot make the iron into another Pāras. But the master can make a disciple a master. That is the difference. A professor makes you a professor. During your studies, you had a very hard time. Often, you were angry at your professor at university. You did not like him or her, but on your face you were smiling, "Yes, sir," while inside saying, "My God, this is terrible. Only two years more." The day will come when you become a professor, and then the work of your professor is completed. So, a master makes another master. Pāras can only make iron into gold, but only if you understand the Guruvākya and serve the Guru unconditionally. That is called Sevā. When the Sevā is completed, then, through the sevā, the Guruvākya changes into kṛpā (grace). Mokṣamūlam Guru Kṛpā—the root of liberation is the Guru's grace. Only through the Guru's kṛpā is mokṣa attained; otherwise, there is no mokṣa. Therefore, serving the master is a sanātana value, which means serving the living God. So the prayers animals are also doing, silently and loudly, but we do not understand their language, and therefore we misuse them, we abuse them. When you eat meat, you are the killer, because the animal is killed because you want to eat it. The human mouth is not made for eating dead bodies. In the Śāstras, it is said that dead bodies should be eaten by the rākṣasas, dānavas, and those animals who do not have the consciousness of purity and impurity. Humans are not meant to put dead bodies in the stomach. Therefore, a great philosopher from England said, "Why should I make my stomach the graveyard for slaughtered animals?" A human who uses this part which God has given, between the two ears, and thinks logically, will not put a piece of meat in his mouth. For that person who does, naraka is ready, not svarga or mokṣaloka. This is an eternal and bitter truth. Therefore, if you have done it innocently, in ignorance, you have done it. That is why we said, "Pray to God." But now you have heard this truth. Now, if you do it again, this karma will be doubly strong. Before, you were innocent, but the law says if you drink poison consciously or unconsciously, the poison will affect the body. The same thing was said in the Rāmāyaṇa: the root of dharma is dayā (mercy). And the root of sin is your ego. "I do what I like," people say. What they want to say is, "We must do like this. We must eat animals. If we do not eat them, the whole world will be full of animals. Then where will we live?" Therefore, it is said that animals will eat animals. Yes, I agree with that. But are you in the category of animals or humans? The statement did not say humans will eat animals. It said animals will eat animals. On one side, you speak of being human, humanitarian, human service, and human society—now you are making a distinction, a discrimination. But when the question of eating comes, then you join the animals. This means we do not use this part of the body, the intellect.

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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