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Be worthy of the blessing

Wisdom is transmitted through śruti, the master's spoken word, and smṛti, the disciple's remembered word. This oral tradition required perfect memory and consensus among disciples to preserve authenticity. The master's blessing gives this knowledge life and authority; without it, the knowledge dries out. The blessing requires a worthy vessel, a supatra, a disciple purified of negative thoughts and emotions. One must have a clean inner pot to receive wisdom. Reality and truth are unchanging; only human attitudes and opinions change. Spiritual seeking requires universal love, not worldly attachment. Teaching is a divine duty, requiring self-purification to be a clear channel.

"Therefore, blessing is paramount. Without it, the knowledge a disciple receives will dry out like a tree without water."

"Nothing is changed. The truth, the reality, remains reality... What has changed is your attitude."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

DVD 262

In ancient times, wisdom was transmitted from master to disciple through preaching and blessing. What the master spoke and the disciple heard is called śruti. What the disciple remembered and later spoke is called smṛti. In those ancient times, there were no writing systems; thus, this was the method of transmission through śruti and smṛti. The preservation of this wisdom depended on the disciple's memory. Those disciples who learned possessed perfect memory. Their recollections were compared with those of several other disciples. The final understanding was not based on one disciple's word alone, but on the consensus of many who came to the same conclusion: "Yes, the Master spoke this." Through the master's blessing, the wisdom they received became authentic, appreciable, and a leading stream of knowledge. The blessing is like a stamp on a document from a person in high authority; it gives the words weight and authenticity. Therefore, blessing is paramount. Without it, the knowledge a disciple receives will dry out like a tree without water, or a tree attacked by insects. These insects are ku-saṅga (bad company), doubts, and negative thinking. A single negative thought can infect the entire intellect. Modern psychology might call this a darkening of consciousness. One who has heard wisdom but lacks the blessing cannot preserve it. Yet, the blessing does not depend solely on the master. It is not that the master gives a blessing and that is the end. We must be worthy of the blessing. To be worthy of the master's blessing, we must be very pure. This is the distinction between Supatra and Kupatra. Supatra means the best disciple, the worthy vessel. Kupatra means a bad disciple. Patra means a pot. This pot must be clean to receive anything inside. In an operating theatre, every instrument is sterilized. Similarly, the master searches for a disciple who is not infected—free from negative thinking, jealousy, anger, greed, quarreling, doubts, and criticism. You can judge yourself: How is your pot? According to its cleanliness, wisdom will flow in. Imagine a large hall filled with beautiful, shining flowers. Some are real, and some are perfect plastic replicas. From a distance, your eyes cannot distinguish the real from the artificial. But if you release a butterfly into the room, it will fly directly to the real flowers, not the plastic ones. In the same way, the mercy and love of a teacher, parent, or friend flow to those who are pure inside. Such a person becomes the master's true successor—one who understands the master, works for the master, and exercises self-discipline. All the ancient scriptures, transmitted as memory, date back perhaps 10,000 or 15,000 years. We know the time of the Rāmāyaṇa. God Rāma incarnated about 10,000 years ago, and at that time, literatures already existed. Āyurveda was already written. This means the written Śāstras have existed for longer than 25,000 or 30,000 years. This is why India is known as the home country of all cultures and religions, the cradle of culture, capable of maintaining a harmonious multi-culture at home. As we came nearer to Kali Yuga, its influence awakened materialism and individual greed in people. The fight for position and money led to manipulation, making realization less easy. But reality itself has not changed. Once, a man came to Mahāprabhujī and asked, "What should we do? In this Kali Yuga, nothing remains real. Everything has changed." Mahāprabhujī said, "Nothing is changed. The truth, the reality, remains reality." She asked, "How?" Mahāprabhujī replied: "Look. Is it the same sun, moon, and stars? Did they change? No. Is the same sky? Did it change? The same elements—water, fire, air, and earth—did they change? The sun rises in the east and sets in the west; the moon comes and goes. Has it changed? The body functions: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils. Has it changed? Do people have two hands, two legs? No, sir. The way of breathing, sleeping, speaking—nothing has changed. What has changed is your attitude. Your opinions, your behaviors have changed, and that is why you are suffering. In God’s creation, nothing has changed. Truth is unchangeable. Go for that truth, not for these material opinions." Therefore, the same truth remains, and we must go for it. To achieve something in life, to have constant motivation, requires satsaṅg and positive thinking. The great are those who can love the enemy. The worst are those who can only love the dearest one. You should have the heart of a saint and the intellect of a saint. Even towards someone guilty or mistaken, you shall help and correct, not with anger. I am surprised that for many long years, disciples and practitioners write to me criticizing others. I am very sorry for that. It is because they are unable to digest; their stomach has no space. Their consciousness, their pot, is dirty. Whatever goes in also becomes dirty. Many people constantly telephone others, asking questions, and then tell me, "Someone told me, but I don’t want to tell you who." This criticizing, telephoning, and seeking information is like pouring petrol on a fire, within you and in others. It means you still have not understood what you are searching for. Have you ever asked yourself what you are looking for in life? If you are looking for God and truth, why are you bothered if someone is doing something wrong? It has nothing to do with you. If they are wrong, forgive them, understand them, and support them to return to the right path. But you are not a psychiatric doctor to hang on the telephone talking and talking, making a story from an ant into an elephant. You inflate a story. Therefore, spirituality is something very peculiar. It is not everyone’s subject. There are people selected by destiny. In politics, we ask, are you selected or elected? You are not an elected one; you are a selected one. Your destiny has selected you to come here. But still, many of you do not know why or what you are looking for. That is why all this does not help you. That is why you have no peace of mind. That is why you do not have clear vṛttis (mental modifications). One word, and you will be so offended that you will have two years of diarrhea. Who has constipation? Come to me. Only one word, and you will have it. So now you can judge: where are you? Without understanding Gurudeva, without understanding that blessing, all is meaningless. Sve je beznačajno, bezmisleno. Mnoge godine su prošle u čitanju knjiga, i tako niko nije postao mudar. (Everything is insignificant, meaningless. Many years have passed in reading books, and yet no one has become wise.) Wise is the one who has read: "Love is one of the highest diplomas you can have in your life." When that love awakens in your heart, you are the supreme one. But not the love you think of in the world—you love your car, you love your house, you love your dog. You don’t love your husband. That is why when there is disharmony in a couple's life, one of them buys a dog. I am very happy for that dog; it gets the best treatment in that house. Thanks to that dog, it makes both husband and wife smile. Someone told me that in Hamburg, if you want people to smile, bring a dog. I do not know how far this truth is, but I tell you what I heard. This worldly love will make you unhappy. But when you have universal love, you are for all—all trees, flowers, birds, dogs, husband, wife, friends, everyone. That is universal love, and that is the way to understand Gurudeva. Therefore, Mahāprabhujī said in one bhajan: "Therefore, blessed are they who receive the Guru’s kṛpā (blessing)." They become the channel of that spiritual energy, the cosmic light, universal love. The teaching becomes for them a teaching for themselves. It is not easy to become the instrument of His love. As the holy friend from Assisi said: "Father, let me be the instrument of your love to help others. Where there is misery, may I bring happiness. Let me be the bridge to unite all together." That bridge over which love, understanding, and divine light can cross over. So, the teaching of Yoga in Daily Life is not only physical instruction. It is not only how to do some āsanas and prāṇāyāmas, but it is much more. It means that spiritual light, spiritual energy, is given into your hands. Now it is like you have received a flame, and you must go through a storm. Whether the flame remains or blows out is now in your hands. Or, you have a ball in your hand, completely filled with oil or water, and you must go through hilly areas without spilling a single drop. That depends on you, and that is the job of the Yoga in Daily Life teachers. This is the task of the instructor of yoga in every life. So teaching is divine. When you teach, you have to think: "Nahaṃ kartā prabhudip kartā mahā prabhudip kartā hi kevalam." When you teach, you have to think the "Nahaṃ kartā" mantra. Then you will see within you the ocean of wisdom appear, and the waves of joy and fountains of happiness and peace. Every word you speak will be like a remedy for the practitioner. That is a real yoga teacher. But this cannot happen unless you purify yourself from jealousy, anger, hate, greediness, complexes, doubts, and many other things. So purify yourself. That is very important. Otherwise, it cannot function. You are lost, and the one who comes to you is also lost. Therefore, to those who received today the Diploma in Yoga and Daily Life, I bless them in the name of Śrī Mahāprabhujī and wish them all the best. May all those who come to them for learning experience and receive the light and blessing of Mahāprabhujī. May you feel that joy and happiness in your heart. Finally, you have received the real karma yoga duty: to be a teacher of Yoga in Daily Life. When you feel like this, as a karma yogī, as a sevak (servant), and you feel you are only a medium through which this divine love flows, then you will experience, as Holy Gurujī said in one bhajan, Holy Gurujī Rekhā Ubaidjanā.

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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