Swamiji TV

Other links



Podcast details

What is the Greatest Dan?

The greatest dāna is the gift of the divine name. Dāna is a spiritual donation, given without personal relation, directed toward temples, the needy, or noble causes. The highest form is nāma dāna, giving the name of God, a mantra, or prayers. This is the greatest wealth, which cannot be stolen or diminished. A teacher leads others from darkness to light, offering wisdom and changing the mental environment by removing pollution. This role is a great opportunity and a result of good past karma. Yet, personal development is endless, though one's capacity to retain knowledge is limited. The mind becomes overfilled, requiring the guidance of a master to cleanse it and provide a divine mantra. Therefore, as a teacher, your primary duty is to inspire and guide souls toward this light, not to give mantras or kriyās yourself. Your merit is measured by how many you can inspire toward liberation.

"I received the wealth of God’s name. I can utilize as much as I can; it will not get less, and no thief can take it from me."

"Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. Through the practice of yoga, you shall calm down all the vṛttis in your citta."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

What is the greatest dāna? Dāna means donation, or gift. A gift is exchanged with friends. Gifts are given to family members. But dāna is given without any such relation. Therefore, dāna is what we give to a temple, an ashram, a church, to a priest or a sādhu, to needy people, or for a humanitarian or environmental protection project, and so on. That is called help. So donation, dāna, goes directly to spirituality. The question is: which kind of dāna is the greatest? Yajña or Havana? Giving food, money, or clothes? What is the greatest? It is said the greatest is nāma dāna. The highest is this nāma dāna. Nāma means the name—the name of God. Name means mantra; it means prayers. So when you give someone the name of God or prayers, you have given the greatest thing, the biggest wealth. Mīrābāī says: "I received the wealth of God’s name. din din badat savajo. I can utilize as much as I can; it will not get less, and no thief can take it from me." That is nāma dāna. This is directly connected to teachers. To be a teacher is a great thing. Because you are leading one from darkness to light. Therefore, you should always be aware that you are a teacher. With love and understanding, you give this wisdom to your disciples. This is the biggest, greatest opportunity you have in your life. Therefore, the teacher of Yoga in Daily Life is not a physical instructor. Our Yoga in Daily Life teacher is not only a social worker or an environmental worker, but you are a spiritual leader. You are changing the mental environment. The most dangerous environment is mental pollution. If you can remove that mental pollution—meaning, lead them to a positive and spiritual way of life, make them aware of the name of God and mantra, give them motivation to live healthy and long, and give them a clear understanding of human dharma—all this is what Yoga in Daily Life teaches. So you are a blessed one, a fortunate one. You have merited good karma from past lives. You will inspire and offer them salvation under the shelter of Mahāprabhujī’s light. Therefore, you are a teacher of Yoga in Daily Life. And still, you have to develop yourself also. Knowledge is never old. Knowledge is never limited, and where there is knowledge, there is no darkness. Knowledge is everlasting, so there is no end to knowledge. But there is a limit in life to your capacity to observe and preserve everything. After 25 years, your memory becomes tired. You have fed in whatever you could. Now the computer has no capacity and is rejecting everything; you can’t put more in. That is why, when you telephone, you ask, "Please, your number, yes, 8-9-6-7-4, 8-9-6-7-4,... 8-9-6-7-4. Can you repeat if I wrote correctly?" This is our condition. Our memory is completely overfilled. Therefore, Maharishi Patañjali said, "Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." Through the practice of yoga, you shall calm down all the vṛttis in your citta. You have overloaded your computer. You don't even know what is inside. And you are surprised when you dive within yourself and find certain things which you think are rabies. So there is a limitation to how much you can learn and develop your spirituality, your knowledge, your buddhi. But then afterwards, you need again the Satguru Deva, the Master, who will try to clean all the unnecessary thoughts and desires from your citta and give you that divine mantra. So there is a very important necessity of guidance. Thus, you as a yoga instructor, a yoga teacher in Yoga in Daily Life—that awakening is not yet in you. Therefore, you are not entitled to give mantra. You are not entitled to give kriyās. But you are entitled to inspire and bring them here. That is what you can do. And doing this is a great karma for you. So, how many souls can you inspire? How many souls can you liberate? It depends on you. How big is your ship?

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:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel