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This blessing is coming to you all, dear bhaktas, spiritual seekers, practitioners of yoga and daily life, or practitioners of different spiritual divine systems. Blessings to all of you. Today was a great day. You had so many beautiful things today. The most beautiful thing was that you woke up this morning. Yes? What can be greater than this? I was happy when I saw that you are awakened. The second beautiful thing was the walk through these beautiful hills of the Adriatic coast. We saw many, many beautiful lakes, many different creatures, and evergreen olive trees. The air in this part of the world has a beautiful fragrance. It means there are a lot of herbs growing according to Āyurveda or naturopathy. Here you find the herbs, really organic, not polluted. Two hours, two and a half hours of walking gave us a lot of energy. It was so much energy that you had to go in the water to cool down. And so again, the sea is beautiful. The water element is the life of this planet, and we are a part of this planet too, physically. This water is blessed by Lord Śiva when Lord Śiva said to Viṣṇu, "Now you go and make tapasyā," and out of his tapasyā, the sweating came from Vishnu's body, it covered his entire body, and that became the ocean. So that life is Vishnu's life, the life of God, and we are existing in him, and he is existing in us. About this we will speak sometimes in the next program. The great saint Patañjali spent his time mostly in the forest. Patañjali speaks about Ahiṃsā, about compassion or mercy towards every creature. Well, it is not so easy to realize as we hear, read, or speak. It is said that different creatures used to come and sit in his satsaṅg. Lions, tigers, cows, ghosts, birds, and all different creatures were sitting around him, and no creature had aggression, anger, or bad feelings toward others. No one had a fear. The presence of the great saint Patañjali created such an atmosphere that's called fearless, nirbhaya. Nirbhaya, bhaya is fear, and there are many different kinds of fear. Now, people have fear about the global economy, fear from illnesses, fear from family problems, from companies, but the biggest fear that every creature has is death. And death means here not only that you have to leave this body, but how it will be, through which pain, through which suffering, which situation, and how long that pain you have to endure till this soul will depart from this body. We pray to God that when the time comes, we may smoothly leave this body. And therefore, it is said in the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya Mantra: "Oṃ Tryambakaṃ Yajāmahe Sugandhiṃ Puṣṭi Vardhanam; Urvārukam Iva Bandhanān Mṛtyor Mukṣīya Mā'mṛtāt." This is prayed to the Lord Śiva, the third-eyed Lord, to bless us with good health, always healthy, complete. But the sense of this mantra is: "Urva rukamyeva vandanat." Urva is what we call cucumber. Cucumber is a fruit, big, like what you call here, gorkhan, but this fruit looks like... big papita have different forms, cucumber, and when you leave this fruit on its vine, or time comes, automatically this fruit separates from the plant without suffering, without anything. It is a ripe fruit, smells beautiful, you know, where this... The cucumber is lying where it is. A ripe smell, 100 meters, 200 meters, it depends on your nose that doesn't suffer. It means the time has come. The life is ripe, and now it is separated from the mother's body. This navel of the... This fruit is automatically without pain, without suffering, separated. Therefore, O Lord, when the mṛtyu comes, death, that should lead us to the immortality. That mṛtyu should lead us to the mokṣa of immortality. Fearless, therefore, Holy Gurujī is singing in one bhajan, "Your true guru is the king of love, don't be afraid of him, don't be afraid of him." Tum nirvaira ho nishankakabhi, Teri sattāgururake lāj chintakakabhi. Nirvaira ho nishankakabhi, matadarna. Tum nirvaira ho nishankakabhi, matadarna. Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī jai. The Gurudev definitely will take care of you. Don't worry. Nirbhay raho. Nirbhay. Without fear. Nirbhay raho nishank. Without any doubt, no śaṅkā. So the whole purpose of the prayers, meditations, mantras, spiritual life, and everything is that they lead us from unreality to reality, lead us from darkness to the light, and lead us from mortality to immortality. It means that we will not come again and again in this cycle of 28.4 million creatures; it means we are free. It is said, many said the baby is very happy and comfortable in the mother's womb, but according to the śāstras, it is said, for this soul, it is not easy to be in the mother's womb. There are rivers of hormones, the blood, and this is flowing through and through. And this is one of the most important parts of your life on this planet, that when you are born, if everything is okay, that nothing is missing. That you are not born with one eye, or you are not born as blind, or many, many mistakes can be in the body—a disabled body. So we can thank God that we are born happy, healthy, no? Yes. It's not easy. This is the first challenge. This is the first introduction of your destiny, that you had a comfortable life in your mother's body and a comfortable birth, and that now, finally, you have come to this freedom. So first, liberation is that you are liberated from the body of the mother. But at the same time, the jñānī, the wise one, knows that life in this world will be more difficult than in the mother's body. Now we are in the womb of the world, and that's why great Śukadeva Muni didn't want to come out of his mother's body. For how many long months or years he was in the body? So Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva, all three, had to come to request. "Come, please. There will be no māyā in this world. There will be no temptations." So then he said, "Okay, I will come." And after some years, they said, "Okay, now we can leave māyā free," and that's it. So the purpose of practicing... All spiritual sādhanā is to become free from the pain of birth and death, and also the pain, disappointment, and suffering in this world. What we are doing normally is not that. It will not solve our purpose of being human. We have to come to that point that we do something which will lead us to immortality. So Patañjali is teaching. Patañjali, who was leading his disciples in the forest where we are sitting, one day, here was also once, long ago, here was also only forest and water. But slowly, slowly, people like us, who didn't like the big earth, so... Try to run to the small island. Can you imagine suddenly there's no, any, no any transport or any possibilities to come to the mainland? So we always try to separate. Humans are always searching for something to separate. Don't separate, try to be with well. After this, different kinds of feelings, pains, vikṣepas, external, internal, and also from ādhibhautik, ādhidaivik, adhyātmik, tṛitāpas, pāpa and puṇya. Sin and pews are good things explained by Patañjali. Now he is saying. Now, those vṛttis which again and again go toward viṣaya, which means poison and which means the desires. So, viṣaya vṛtti is that kind of desire that again and again you want to have or do this and do that and this. This vṛtti is always that which draws us out. Vṛtti is vṛtti. You know, though you have come to a higher level, still vṛtti will be cañcal, restless. One had a dog, one man, and the tail of the dog was always like this, nicely rolled back. And he didn't like the tail that always is like this. Some people have like this mustache, you know? Some people like the... Mustache like this, but some people don't like to see like this because the person is with the ego perhaps. So holy Gurujī said, "The tail of the dog and moustache of a man is always curved, so that he wants to make it straight." Holding long time didn't function. He put one bamboo inside, and after one or two years, he opened it again. The tail went back. Similarly, vṛttis, our habits, our desires, our thoughts, again and again, again... Goes there, and also many problems. Attachment always reminds you, "You are mine, you are mine. We are yours, we are yours." And this, and do this, and do this. This is a mohaka bandhan. Mohaka bandhan is so strong, very hard to break through. Those who have cut off the mohaka... Bandhan, it is easy to come to liberation, but if you are not able to cut off this bandhan, bandhan means the knot, or bandhan means that you are tied, so like Brahmaṇandjī said in one bhajan, "That was the blessing, the mercy of my Gurudev," that he broke the bandhan of my moha, my attachment. Mary, chanchal chitta ko mordiya. Chanchal means restless. Chitta means your chitta vṛttis. He turned in that direction that always goes to the Brahman, to the Supreme, towards liberation. So after this, all practicing again comes someone, and your moha awakes: your mother, your father, your brother, your sisters, your wife, your children, your friend, this, your house, your property, your money. This is a bandhan. Bandhan se nirbandhan honā baḍā kaṭhin hai. To become nirbandhan is very hard. There is one story. One man came. He is called a pandit or a priest who reads a holy book for a certain time as a saṅkalpa. So the Pandit came to one king and said, "Your Highness, I have one wish and request." King said, "Yes, Panditjī, what do you wish?" "I would like to make Kathā." Katha means reading a holy book for certain days. That is Saṅkalpa: Bhagavad Kathā, Śiva Purāṇa Kathā, Devī Bhagavad Kathā, and so on. This is what we are doing from Patañjali, and it is also Katha. Katha means Kathan, that what is told, you are going to retell, you are going to again explain, Kathan, that you are going to again make it clear to you. The king asked the pandit, "What will happen through your reading of the holy book or this kathā?" He said, "King, you will get Moksha." The king said, "Very beautiful, wonderful." You know, Holy Gurujī used to say always, "Wonderful. In 15 days, Mokṣa." "Oh, Panditji, welcome, please. What do I need to do?" He said, "Nothing. Always, when I read this holy book, you should be present there and listen." He said, "I will do." So the king made arrangements for Paṇḍājī to stay, eat, drink, sleep, and everything. And when the Kathā began, the king was there listening with folded hands, sitting there. Each and every word that he spoke, he heard. After 15 days, the Kathā was completed. Pūrṇā Ahoti. Paṇḍājī asked the king, "King, today my kathā is completed, and whatever you want to give me, some donation or anything, please, I am going." King said, "Pandājī, your kathā is not completed." Said yes, sir, it is. Said no. "What do you mean, king?" "You told me that I would get mokṣa, but still I haven't gotten mokṣa. So, those things I don't like. Stay here in my palace day and night. Your duty is to read the book. On the day when I get mokṣa, you will get even my kingdom." So he told his soldiers, "Close him in one room, give him all the comfort, and let him read his book." Panditjī said, "Oh God, I think when I left home, a black cat was crossing my way. Something was not a good constellation." After a few months, one Mahātamā came, an Ātmagyānī Mahātamā, a knower. Name was Swāmī Gyāneśwar Purī. What do you think? Gyāneśwar Purī. My God. Gyāṅkeśvar, the lord of the wisdom, the city Purī, the city of the wisdom, he came to the king's palace, and the king was very happy, welcomed him, and asked him, "Your holiness, what made you come here to my house? I would have come to you if you would have sent a message. What can I do for you? Do you need anything?" This Gyaneshwar Purī said, "No, I have no wish, no desire. I was just passing and came to bless you, that's all." The king was thinking, "This swāmī must have something." Well, the king asked, "Please, can you... Stay one night here." Ganeshwar Puri said, "Yes, I can stay here, but I don't like to. I don't stay in someone's house. I stay either in the temple, or I stay in some public place, or in the hut, or in the forest." Well, the king had a beautiful park. In the park, there was this beautiful hut, and Gyaneshwar Purī stayed in the hut. Because a sanyāsī should not go to her parents' house to sleep, and not go to some other gṛhasthī's house to sleep, she should sleep in a neutral place. The next day, Mahatma said, "I want to go." The king asked him, "Swamiji, I have one question." "What?" "I am in trouble." "See, King, you are in trouble?" "Yes, sir." "What kind of trouble have you?" He told the story of the Paṇḍitjī. Swāmījī said, "Do you want to have an answer in practical, or shall I just tell you like this?" Said Swamījī, "Jāneśwar Purījī, it would be best if you can tell practical." Then he said, "Okay, call Paṇḍitjī." Paṇḍitjī came. Paṇḍitjī greeted the Swamījī. The king was sitting. Swamījī said, "King, for some time you have to... surrender, let me do whatever I want to do. Don't be angry," said the Master. "Even if you chip off my head, I will not be angry. Please do it, then. Bring two ropes." So two ropes were brought. With one rope, Swāmījī said, "Tie it to this pillar," the paṇḍit. Hands and everything, so they tied him with the rope, tied to this pillar. They tied the king, so both were bound, hands, legs, everything. Now Swāmī Jñāneśwar Purī said to the king, to the Paṇḍitjī, "Paṇḍitjī, please, can you free the king?" Panditjī says, "Swāmijī, my self is in bondage. How can I liberate him?" He says, "Thank you, very good answer. King, you are a king. You are strong. You have power. Can you free this innocent Paṇḍitjī?" The king said, "Yes, Swāmī Gyāneśvapurījī, I can do it with my words. I tell my soldiers, and they will do it." "Say no, no... Soldiers, I am telling you, only said, 'Though I am a king, but myself is tied to this pillar. I cannot free myself to free him.'" So this story means that our soul is that king, our mind is that Pandit or intellect, our vṛttis, but ātmā rūpī gurudev, the Jñāneśvar Purī, have to come. This knowledge have to come to liberate us. Therefore, thinking that, "I am great, I study so much, I have, uh, three, four university degrees," that... And that will not help you at all. Therefore, some philosophers said, tons of theory is nothing compared with a gram of practice. Therefore, viṣaya vṛtti, viṣaya vāti yā pravartī upāna manasa stiti nibandhanī. That vṛtti which is constantly creating the viṣaya is still active. But because you have cleaned and purified your antaḥkaraṇa, you have purified all your desires, you achieve that level of knowledge. Now, whatever you think, whatever vṛtti is coming, they become pure vṛttis as a helper to your sādhanā. It will liberate you; it will support you. A good person always has good thinking. And a negative person always has negative thinking. So when you achieve the good vṛttis there, then you have all the good things. Therefore, viṣayavatī, viṣayāvalī pravṛtti, that your vṛttis, your nature, utpanna, which awakes, that all your minds clean up and make the clarity, the clearness in that. That time your abhyāsa becomes solid, your abhyāsa becomes steady, your abhyāsa becomes speedy. And your abhyāsa, i.e., Practice leads you there. "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtam gamaya." Amṛta tattva, that vṛttis will lead us to the amṛta tattva. Different kinds of tattvas, so amṛta tattva, and we are all searching, all longing for that amṛta tattva. But where is your Vrittis going now. What are you thinking while I'm talking? Someone is looking to the olive tree. Have you never seen the olive tree? Someone is looking to the olive fruit. Have you never ate the leaves? Someone is looking to the water. That means... This is an obstacle. Suddenly, it turns your intention in a different direction, and good things come, but you miss it. Like a story: a blind man was in a big hall, and now he wants to come out. He was alone. He had a stick in his hand and one hand on the wall. And walking till the door, will come when the door was half a meter far, he begins to scratch his head but kept on walking. Again, put the hand on the wall; the door was behind. After long walking again, we came near the door. It was itching here. Like this itching here, here, many where. This itching is a desire. This is a desire. All the time, people used to marry only once, that's all, because they said, "We know what we want. We have experience. We have our children now. We don't want." And now, even 85. A 98-year-old lady just married a 98-year-old man. So, what do you marry now? That is, psychologically, a certification that yes, you marry again. That is a sign of viṣaya vṛtti. So, mana, oh my mind, khaṃ haṭa choḍa manacala saṅga, mere toye ātama veda batāvata. Hath sodh manav saṅgh merī toh yathāṁ veda ātmā bhed batāvat hai. Hath chod manā chal saṅgh mere toh e ātmā bedā matāvate. Hath chod manā chal saṅgh mere. Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī jai. Hath chod manā. O my mind, now give up this your innocent, your again and again crying, longing towards the viṣaya vṛtti. Hath chhoda mana chal sanga mere, come with me. Who said your intellect, your ātmā, your buddhi, your inner vṛttis tell you? O my mind, come with me. I am going to tell you what is Ātmā, what is that Ātmā. So God is within everyone, that Ātmā. The Ātmā is highest; nothing is higher than the Ātmā. Even what you call God, Brahma, Viṣṇu, Śiva, they are also only Ātmā. So when you become one with Brahman, you are equal to it. They are your part, and you are part of them. One drop falls into the ocean. There is no difference between the ocean and one drop. The drop becomes part of the ocean, and the ocean becomes part of the drop. It is the unity, eternal peace, light, and unity. The same drop, you cannot take anymore out. You can try as much as you like. Take a bucket full of water, but that drop is gone. You have a bucket of water. Similarly, when this individual soul merges into the ātmā, into the cosmic self, then the individual existence is gone. As long as the soul is there, you are existing in one. That level of consciousness you get through what? Abhyāsa, prayer, practicing mantra, bhakti, the devotion, positive thinking, positive way of life, and capable to say to thyself, "No." Is there someone here who can say no to your desires? Yeah, one day, yes, five days, yes, and then... Maybe, and then he said, "Ah, Swāmījī is always telling this: 'Let's go and have to eat this and that. This is your desires; this is my desires.' It's very hard to say no. If you cannot say no to yourself, what can you say to the Lord? With which authentic power?" You can say to the Lord, "Yes," because your "yes" is "no" to others. That's why your "no," saying "no" to yourself, is "yes" to Him. When this comes, then vishokāva jyotiṣmati. That time, the śokha—śokha means unhappiness, śokha means the sadness, śokha means when someone died and we pay our condolence, that's called śokha. Shokha, ashokha. Ashokha means without sadness, and shokha means the sadness. When the yogī, through the practice of abhyāsa, mantra, and Īśvara praṇidhāna, is solid in oneness with the Self, then sukha and duḥkha, both, cannot touch him. He is above, more above, the sukha and duḥkha, happiness and unhappiness. Mahāprabhujī said this in his bhajan. Jeevatahi murdasamare Nahi Siddh, Nahi Pir, Ramjī Jeevat, Nahi Siddh, Nahi Pir, Swāmī Deepa Avadhūta, Vīra, Dīvānā, Satguru, Nakamas, Beparavā, Dīvānā, Satguru, Namah. Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavānakī. That time, abhyāsa karte karte, while practicing, practicing, sādhak, the practitioner, becomes free from all the sadness, all the troubles, and akhaṇḍa ānanda, everlasting bliss, awakes in the consciousness. At that time, all his prakṛti, all his or her feelings and vṛttis, become prakāśamaya. They become like a light. "Nāhaṁ kartā"—you are doing, but you are not doing. All vṛttis become calm, peaceful. Then you come near this Nirvija Samadhi. You are solid with thyself. So, to think today when you are meditating, how many thoughts are coming? How many thoughts are coming? And how long will you repeat these thoughts? While doing, doing, one day Yama Rāja will come and throw the rope in your neck and pull it. Like a cowboy catches a horse, a wild horse. So we are wild horses, you know, but don't worry. Sooner or later, the cowboy of the Yamas will throw the rope in such a way that it's around your neck. You said no or yes, it will pull you. That's a death. For death, it doesn't matter how you will die, happy or unhappy, suffering or no suffering, painful or pleasant. For death, it doesn't matter how you die, but death only wants that you die. That's it. It is so, viśoka vā jyotiṣmati. All the śoka disappears, happiness appears, and all your vṛttis and everything become like a light, supporting.