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A Week's End at the Ashram: From Source to Practice

Purity flows from the source of wisdom through the Guru Parampara; only spiritual practice aligns theory and practice for liberation.

Mental pollution is the worst pollution. Nourishment on mental and spiritual levels requires clean water from the divine source. The Guru Parampara transmits this light. Be pure, be good, realize crystal-clear spirituality. Change yourself; you cannot change the world. Make a sankalpa to radiate love and peace. Yoga requires theory and practice in perfect alignment. Yama and Niyama are the foundational roots. Without them, yoga becomes mere physical exercise. Physical training alone does not bring liberation. The body is an instrument, not the goal. Torturing the body for ego is futile; the clay will one day torture the potter. Trust in God, the formless Brahman, whose energy incarnates. Success in yoga comes through good actions. Svādhyāya means studying your life chapter and spiritual texts. At death, karmic evidence cannot be deleted. You can change your chapter now through meditation and understanding. Theory inspires but requires practice under a master. A true guru never proclaims greatness; qualities speak.

"Mental pollution is the worst in the whole universe."

"The body is not everything, but everything is nothing without the body."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Today is the last day of the first week in the beautiful ashram Strilky in the Czech Republic. We had the great privilege to be with our master, Swamiji—on our physical level, but also on our mental and spiritual level. It is easy to be nourished on the physical level, but on the mental and spiritual level it is more difficult to be nourished, because often the spiritual and mental water we drink is polluted. And as Swamiji says, mental pollution is the worst in the whole universe. In these days here, we had the great privilege to be connected to the source of the water. This week we had the great honor of being connected directly to the source of clean water. The source of the universe, the source of wisdom, flows through the Guru Paramparā. And through this light of the Guru Paramparā—Śrī Alakhpurījī, Siddha Pīṭh Guru Paramparā—He sent the light to all of us. Be pure. Be good. And try to realize spirituality, which is crystal clear purity. We need this purification through the Guruvākyas. Because when we go out now, we will again be in a different universe, you could say. But we will take the light, the wisdom, and the love from our Master with us. If we cannot change the world, we can always change ourselves. And that is what Swāmījī tells us again and again. So if we want to say thank you and goodbye to Swāmījī for this time, and if we want to give him a present of thanks, it is not on the physical level, not on the material level, but inside. Let us make a saṅkalpa, a decision. Let us take a decision. Yes, Swamiji, we heard your divine words, and we will try with all our heart to do our best—to send light into the world, to be good, to think good, to act good, so that love and peace will radiate inside of us and outside. So let us close our eyes for one minute, and please, if you can, make a wish, a saṅkalpa, and give it as a present of thanks to Swāmījī. Oṃ Tryambakaṃ Yajāmahe Sugandhiṃ Puṣṭivardhanam Urvārukamiva Bandhanān Mṛtyormukṣīya Mā’mṛtāt Oṃ Tryambakaṃ Yajāmahe Sugandhiṃ Puṣṭivardhanam Urvārukamiva Bandhanān Mṛtyormukṣīya Mā’mṛtāt Oṃ Tryambakaṃ Yajāmahe Sugandhiṃ Puṣṭivardhanam Urvārukamiva Bandhanān Mṛtyormukṣīya Mā’mṛtāt Ahaṁ kārayitā prabhuḥ, kārayitā mahāprabhuḥ, kārayitā he kevalam. Good morning to everyone. I have one question: I never know what time it is, because every watch shows a different time. Here I have 11:22. From the Śrī Mahāprabhujī Satsaṅg Foundation, Āśram, Strilky, Czech Republic, many blessings to all our friends around the world. It was wonderful to be with you in person and through the webcast. Today’s program is the last lecture of this week’s seminar. But at 5:30 there will be a webcast with our dear Hemlata: “Yoga and Daily Life,” integrating yoga, physiotherapy, and what we can do best when we have knee problems. You know, where we need a needle, we don’t need an axe. Or they can place a curtain in front of you and you can read a newspaper—that is called technology: theory and practice together. We need perfect theory, and according to that, perfect technique. When theory and practice contradict each other, it is a problem. Similarly, in yoga there is both theory and practice. In yoga, in Rāja Yoga, Yama and Niyama are the first two steps; when you master these, you can proceed further. You see, this tree has beautiful and strong roots and a foundation. Now, you don’t want these roots and foundation. You chop the tree and hold it up. “I want to have a tree hanging in the sky!” Yes, it’s possible—you need a strong crane, and you have a dry log hanging. Similarly, people who only believe in physical exercise, only twisting and stretching the body, that is not everything. And you know, it is human psychology, human weakness, human feelings. We made an experiment with yoga teachers. A yoga teacher arrives in a beautiful car. We had a yoga teacher about thirty-five years old. From the beginning he was a kind of bodybuilder, a climber, a cyclist. He had good thigh muscles, calf muscles, buttocks, and shoulder muscles; his waist was very thin. And now he began to teach yoga. Of course, he did not want to wear loose yoga clothes—something tight on the body. And he had so much success, he had a waiting list, and mostly girls were there. Why not? Proč ne? They are also human. Those ladies or boys think, “Through yoga I will be like that.” Or take some girls who also swim, run, and do other exercises; and a yoga teacher, about twenty-seven, whose room is full of people. Of course, most of them were men. Why not? They are also human. They also would like to have salvation. Then we made a second experiment with an elderly person. Like our beloved Yogananda (who unfortunately passed away), or our Kriyananda, or our dear Gāyatrī, Eva, Andresik. They are a little old. Our Kriyānanda is eighty-five, but when he gives a class the hall is full. Why? Because people want to know how he reached eighty-five—why not four or two? So it means we should be an example. We can lie, but our body doesn’t lie. Unfortunately, it’s a pity, no? Our body tells you the answer. This is one part of yoga. Many people believe, “I will become very beautiful, nice, and a hundred percent healthy.” Yes, it is true, but that is not the aim. That is only physical training; we call it a physical instructor or trainer—P.T.I., physical training inspector. They are employed by the government in schools. What you call sport—lehrā, turn and lehrā. Now, these people who are only stretching the body, torturing the body, there is another thing: they declare themselves to be great gurus. In one way, yes—but only for the body. The Guru is something different. The second part is like many classical yoga schools: Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, Swami Kevalayananda of Lonavla, Yoga in Daily Life, and many other serious schools, and they are still very successful. When you are healthy, you say it’s chemical, it’s medicine, oh God, horror, antibiotics. Antibiotics, doctors—that is supplementary, psychologically. Better than nothing, it has a good effect. But now, suddenly you have a car accident, or they find a cancer. Now, what then? Which way? To the doctor. Yes, but who is searching for the path to the divine, the path to self-realization, the awakening of divine consciousness? They search for the Gurudeva, and they will find. So from the viewpoint of your exercises, it is okay. But what will you do with that? Okay, you will be able to move quickly. You will be able to eat two more pizzas per day or three ice creams. That’s all. But why are you torturing your body? There is a beautiful poem: “Māṭī kahe kumhār ko, to kyā ruṁde mohe? Ek din aisā āegā, maiṁ ruṁdūṁgī to.” “The clay says to the potter, ‘Why do you torture me? One day it will come when I will torture you.’” Clear? A saint, a wise person, was walking through a village and saw a man who was a potter making figures from clay. He brought the black clay, mixed it with powdered grass, put it in water, and squeezed it. Then he took the whole lump of earth and threw it on a stone, again rolled it together, and again threw it on the stone—like making a loaf of bread. The earth, the clay, was saying to the potter: “Tu kia runde moj, what are you torturing me? Ek din aisegā, it will come one day. Mě rundungi toj, I will torture you.” You understand? Similarly, why are you torturing your body? What are you doing, ego? Proudness? “I am young. I have big muscles. I am strong. I am beautiful.” How long? Wait a minute. You are that mouse. “Dosáhli božství. Bůh jest.” We attained divinity. God is. Yes, we trust that there is a God. And the Americans have a very nice message written on their money. Though we have money—you know, the Americans say—but when they get a dollar in their hand, they say, “Dollar, you are not so important. We don’t trust in you, money.” We trust in God. Right? Am I right or wrong? Otherwise, you can give me some dollars and I will show you. So, we trust in God. There is God. But they didn’t say which God. So this is the teaching of Vedānta. In Vedānta, in Hinduism, there is only one God—Brahman, Īśvara, the Almighty without any form. But from time to time, some part of Him, His energy, incarnates here. We respect and we shall protect His creation. But we should know what it means to be a human, and what I should do and what I should not do as a human. Therefore, Lord Kṛṣṇa said: “Yoga Karmaśukauśalam, O Arjuna. Your yoga exercises and your yoga will be successful while doing good things.” That yogī who will realize me, according to Kṛṣṇa’s teaching or the Bhagavad Gītā’s teaching—there are eighteen different kinds of yoga, not only the four we call Karma, Bhakti, Rāja, and Jñāna Yoga. There are many others. Therefore, maybe one believes God is omniscient; maybe someone believes in God as a personal God. And both are explained by Kṛṣṇa in the twelfth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā. There Arjuna asks, “Jīvaṁ sattvati uptāyī bhaktastvāṁ priupāshati.” In the twelfth chapter he says, “O Lord, some bhaktas adore and worship you as a personal God, and some as Nirakāra, beyond form, without form. What is the best way to worship, and which will realize you quickly?” The Lord says, “Arjuna, both are the best.” But for persons who dwell in this five-element body, Nirakāra—you can speak and speak, there is no answer. Only when you reach the Jñāna Yoga level will you see one in all and all in one. All are in one, Nirakāra, and Nirakāra is in all. “O Arjuna, I live in every entity, and all are my essence, myself,” throughout the fifteen chapters. Yama and Niyama are very clearly described. Svādhyāya: study. Now, Svādhyāya has two meanings. One: “Sva” means the self, oneself; “adhyāya” means chapter. So study what is your chapter—in this life. That is the inner mirror in your Cidākāśa that you can see. And you couldn’t finish your chapter because of your own mistake: ego, anger. Anger is that axe which can cut a chip from the mighty tree; ego is that solid iron; ambition is that blacksmith; and krodha, anger, is that fire. In that anger, the metal is burned and sharpened to cut off the mighty tree of your spirituality. Even sometimes one is ready to give up life, just crying for something. There is one story, but I will not tell you here; I will tell you when you sit alone with me. So, Svādhyāya—the history of your life. At the end of life, your chapters will be opened one after another. Yamadūta, the messenger of the dead, Yama, will come and take you. When I first saw a moped named “Yama,” I made a praṇām and said, “Yamadeva, please go to the showroom.” And that one says, you know, we prepare organ donating—they are donors of the organs. I said, “But please, keep this clean from me.” So Yama will come. Yama přijde. If you have bad karmas, the devils will come; if you have good karma, devas will come. The same is said in European culture: angels will come to take you, or the devils. Who decides that? No one. Your chapters—that is your permanent evidence. In the record of Dharma Rāja, Dharma Rāja means King of Justice, and Yama Rāja is King of the Dead, and both are very correct. Dharma Rāja opened the chapter and said, “Mr. Zed should be brought here immediately.” So King Yama said, “We have a majority. Should we send them?” And Lord Yama says, “We have to send for him.” And Yama says, “We have an eternity here, so we will send him.” But Yama says, “No, no, for him the devas will come.” So, good or bad karmas, the chapter will be opened at that time. Your evidence will never die. You cannot delete your evidence. Therefore, second: when you meditate and you realize, Svādhyāya—meditate, and what is your inner picture? From birth until now, here you have a chance. And here you have a chance to change the chapter, or to understand and close it, or delete it. Still in your hands, this is Svādhyāya. Second, Svādhyāya means study. There are two kinds of study. The study for this material world, the physical world, from nursery school until university, is very important too. And the second Svādhyāya is spiritual literature. In both, there are techniques clearly written. Take a medical book—brain surgery. A thick book. Many professors and very, very good surgeons have gained experience, held discussions, organized conferences. You read this book, theory with practice. You go and buy the instruments, and “Dear father, lie down. I will open your brain.” Will you allow it? And will your father allow it? No. Therefore, theory is not enough. That is why some Europeans say, “Tons of theory is nothing compared to a gram of practice.” So even though you understand the instruments, you understand the medicine, and you have studied medicine for six years, still the professor or your teacher, the doctor, will not allow you to perform an operation alone. Work under your professor—he is your surgery guru. That’s it. Similarly, theory cannot liberate you. All these śāstras inspire us; they show us the way. They awaken the feelings inside, and then you search for the masters who can guide you. Then practice. Therefore, Svādhyāya is very important. Whenever you have a problem—any kind of problem—take the holy book and read it: Vedas, Upaniṣads, Rāmāyaṇa, Gītā, Bible, Koran. Read without a narrow mind. Try to understand that Guru Vakya. Who was Jesus? Jesus was known as the Master, and he had twelve very close disciples. That is why it is called the Gospel of the Master, and “Gospel” means Upaniṣad. The word comes from Upaniṣad. Upaniṣad means the disciple sitting near the master and listening to wisdom. That is the Upaniṣad I am telling you: “Upa” means near, “ni” means with certainty, and “sad” means the truth, the real, and also the disciple. The good disciples, the uttama, sit near the master, and every instruction, every word, every look is inspiration—that is called Upaniṣad. And those who understood are still living. Who was Kṛṣṇa? One of the best, who understood: Kṛṣṇa is ātmā, and the gopīs are indriyas, and the gopīs are vṛttis; Arjuna is mind. So the entire thing is in our body. Therefore, only physical exercise—heart yoga only—will keep your body good, but it will not give you liberation. And that is not the guru through whose blessing we can be liberated. Many, many lives, then you come to that point where someone declares you a guru—not that you declare yourself. Great ones never speak greatly about themselves. A great one never says, “I am the president of the country.” What do you think? “Rahiman hīrā kab kahilak, ham āro mor?” The poet Rahim Das said: “When does a diamond tell us, ‘I am a diamond and my value is millions’?” A diamond never speaks. It is we who say, “Oh, this is diamond quality.” So develop your qualities. Then they will say, “Oh, this is a master,” or “This is a good teacher,” or “This is a good disciple.” Therefore, practice. I wish you all the best. Good journey. This evening at 8 o’clock, you will have a welcoming program for the new group. At 5:30, there will be a webcast with exercises for knee problems, hip joint problems, and ankle joint problems. Those who are interested should come to our dear Hemlata’s course; it will be very nice. I think it will be under the trees—the Hanumānjī Garden. Beautiful. So, I wish you a good journey. That is what I wanted to try: to make a distinction between theory and practice. And the body is not everything, but everything is nothing without the body. So the body is very important, but it is only an instrument. That’s it. Bless you. All the best. If anyone has questions, please write to the website. Oṁ Mahāprabhujī kī jaya, Mahāprabhujī kī jaya, he kevalaṁ. Oṁ śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Devpurījī Mahādeva kī, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān kī, Sanātana Dharma kī. Oṁ.

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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