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Part 1: The Precious Human Birth and the Path to Inner Peace Sadā Śiva Samarambhaṁ Śaṅkarācārya Madhyamām Asmadācārya Paryantam Vandhe Guru Paramparām. Gurur Brahma Gurur Viṣṇu Gurur Devo Maheśvarāḥ, Gurur Sākṣāt Parabrahma Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ. Mannātha Śrī Jagannātha Madguru Śrī Jagadguru. Māmatmā Sarva Bhūtātmā Tasmai Śrī Gurve Namaḥ. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śalāk Pūrujas of the Pitvārā Amparā. Māilānāth Pranāms to our beloved Gurudev, His Holiness Vishwaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Maheśvarānandapurījī. Good evening to all of you who are present here. Good morning, afternoon, or evening to all of you who are watching through the webcast. Beautiful time here, and the tradition goes forward. Madharam Jī, Om Namo Nārāyaṇa, everyone. Hari Om. This time we are focusing a lot on inner peace and happiness, because this is, I think, what we need now. Many say that when I open my lectures with this statement, some like it, some do not, but it’s said that the truth is bitter. So, as you know, there are four yugas. I like to start with the harsh part and get it done with, and then it gets better and better till the last. We keep the dessert for the end. The four yugas are: Satyuga, Tretā, Dvāpar, and we are living in Kali Yuga. When we think that we are living in very interesting times where many not-good things are going on around us, we should realize that this is just the beginning. Kali Yuga is still a baby. It is just 5,200 and some years past. We still have thousands of years to go. If we think these are bad times, trust me, they are not. That is why I always say we are very blessed to be born in the same era, in the same time and space as Gurudev, and to have found Gurudev as our master to guide us and lead us to our ultimate goal of self-realization and, hopefully, mokṣa. It is said in the Vedas and in the Purāṇas that, till the end of Kali Yuga—this is the harsh part I was talking about—we say "Jīva Jīva Bhakṣate," which means jīvas eat jīvas, or animals eat animals. It does not apply to human beings because we are not supposed to be eating other living organisms. But at the end of Kali Yuga, times will be so bad that humans will eat humans; there will be cannibalism. So at least we are not in that timeframe yet. And at that time, a whole village can come under one tree, meaning we will all be midgets. At the age of nine, a woman will already be a mother, a grandmother, which means the lifespan is approximately ten years. So we are very lucky; that is what I am trying to say. The positive part is that we are very fortunate to be in this timeframe. It is always the right time, the right space, the right time to be where we are. We all deal with our own problems; we all have individual things to handle. But we need to realize that the blue sky we see above is us, and the clouds are our problems. Some clouds are white, as sometimes the sky is clear blue—that is amazing. Sometimes there will be clouds, but they will be white clouds, still nice. Then come the slightly grayish ones, and then you have the heavy rain clouds. But did you notice one thing? The clouds do not stay there permanently. The blue sky is us, which is permanent. The clouds are what shall pass. Whatever comes in our life shall pass; it does not matter what it is. This body is also not permanent. That is why we say, "Ātmā is." The soul is ajar amar, which means it is forever, omnipresent, and everlasting. But this body is like clothes. In the morning, we open our closet and say, "Okay, which clothes shall I wear?" In the same way, this ātmā chooses the body. So this body is not permanent. We are not permanent; only the Ātmā is permanent. And when this Ātmā unites with the Paramātmā, that becomes the greatest union, and that is what we all are looking forward to. But the clouds, they pass. So that means if happiness comes, that shall also pass. If sadness comes, that shall also pass. Nothing remains permanently. But the problem is—guess what the problem is? This is interactive satsaṅg, so you can talk in between. It is not only me talking and all of you listening. Those of you who are with me already do not need to answer this question because you already know it. Any guesses what the problem with us is? Yes, that also. But what I wanted to say is that we are the problem because we are the ones who create the mess in our head. We are the ones who are creating the problems. In reality, there are not any problems. We are all looking for inner happiness. Outer happiness, outer joy, we get from many things. Some of us like to travel. I used to, and I still do. When I was young, Swāmījī used to travel, and I would ask, "Swāmījī, can I go with you?" He would say, "No, you need to stay and study." I was not so happy with that, but now I know it was the right decision. Now, when slowly Swāmījī is more in India and I started traveling, I realized how much work and effort he had to do in his entire life to create this beautiful family of mine. If I were in a normal family, I would have five or ten family members. Now I have millions all around the world. It is a beautiful, lovely family which he gave to all of us. We sometimes ask our friends or someone, "Are we on the same page?" In this world, there are many people who are not even in the same book. But at least if we are all sitting here, that means one thing: we all work on, maybe not the same frequency, but on similar frequencies, so at least we are all in the same book. Our being here means we decided to choose satsaṅg over kusaṅg. There are two types of saṅg. Saṅg means gathering. Sat means truth, so a gathering of truth. Ku means negative. As human beings, we are all drawn toward negativity much more easily than toward positivity. That is human nature. If, in that corner, let us say Naginbhai—I like to take people into my stories, so it is fictional, do not feel bad—if on one corner we have Naginbhai with Vid and a few more people sitting and gossiping about something, as humans we will be more drawn to go towards Naginbhai than towards Mansukram, who is having some spiritual talk on this side. Madaram, sorry. There are other things going on. So many things go in the head. That is the problem. Are we all aware of where we are? Sometimes yes, sometimes not. On one side we have gossip, on the other side spirituality. Our human nature will be more drawn towards the gossip, towards the negative energies. Why? Because that gives us some juice, that gives us some fire. True? Not to me. No, I am not saying that; in general, you are higher, that is why you are sitting here. So what I am trying to say is that we, as human beings, are drawn towards negativity more than positivity. But at the end of the day, it is always our decision if we want to go there or here. If we choose satsaṅg, which we all did today, that is already a step towards positivity. That is why we are all on the same or a similar frequency, and we are all sitting in this space. So it is the right time to be in the right place, simple as that. Talking about those four things: dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa. These all have to be collaborated together to attain mokṣa. Mokṣa is the last step. We will, hopefully, with the blessings and guidance of Gurudev, attain mokṣa. That is what we are all here for, because we do not want to be stuck in this cycle of death and birth, do we? I love the example which Gurudev gave multiple times. First is the mother’s lap, then the cradle. Mother’s lap, cradle, mother’s lap, cradle. We grow up a little. Then it is school, home, school, home, school, home. We grow up more, then it is home, work, home, work, home, work. Finally, after we hit a certain age, then what? Hospital, home. Before hospital, before hospital, is pension. But Gurudev always said, "It is not pension, it is tension." Why? Because then comes hospital, home, hospital, home, hospital, home. Then finally, one day we die. Then we think, "Oh, finally we are free." Then it is death and birth, death and birth, death and birth. There are 8.4 million creatures in this world, divided into three: Jalchar, Thalchar, Nabchar. Jalchar means those who are in the water: fish, sharks, stingrays—you get the point. Thalchar, we also come under Thalchar, who are on the land. And Nābhacar are those who are in the sky. So finally, after crossing by all the snakes, scorpions, centipedes, ants—think about anything and everything—after all that, we finally get this human birth. Nain Gurudev always used to tell me when I was younger, "Yā manuṣya jīvan badā anamol hai, isse vyarth nahīṁ gawānā chāhiye." Which means this human life is very precious. We should not waste it. That is why when we choose satsaṅg, we are not wasting it. If we choose kusaṅga, we are wasting it. Because this life is not permanent, as we know. You never know. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, let alone in five minutes. So whatever time we have, it should be spent in spirituality, in positivity, with positive people. Satsaṅg does not mean we need to come into this hall, gather all together, have one person speaking, and all of you being bored and falling asleep. Satsaṅg is also when you are sitting at home. It does not matter—your family, a few people—but if there is positive talk happening there, that becomes satsaṅg. So we all can have satsaṅgs at our own homes. You just need positive energy, positive space, positive people around you. That already gives you some type of inner peace, Nazarabia. When we talk about outer peace, external peace, that is all temporary. If we go to kusaṅga—what is today? Saturday. Today Saturday, Sunday off, why not? Let us go partying, have your drinks. But that is kusaṅga. With that, what will happen? You will get temporary happiness, and then in the morning you will get a hangover. That is temporary happiness. What will give permanent happiness? It is this guru kṛpā, the blessings of Gurudev, the guidance of Gurudev, the divine light of Him, the company we are sitting in—that gives us long-term happiness. That is the inner happiness we are searching for. But to find that inner happiness, what do we need? We need to accept ourselves for who we are and how we are. We need to be content with what we have, how we have it, and as it is. It is good enough for us. But we as humans have five enemies: ego, jealousy, lust, anger, and greed. That is in every single human being. How to control it? I would not say control it. I like to say the word "taming." We tame a horse, so we tame these enemies down. How to do that is by all the magical things Gurudev has given us. We have all these four Vedas, 18 Purāṇas, 108 Upaniṣads—we have so many things to go through. But all the knowledge is given in our bhajan book, which Mother Rāmjī will sing soon. If you go deep into any bhajan, there are so many meanings in it. Everything he gave us, the greatest power he gave us, is our mālā mantra. You repeat our mālā; that is everything, that is the whole. The soul, but everything he has given us, so we do not need to look around for anything. Everything is there. But to go forward, even if we are to look, first is dharma. Dharma means walking on the path of truth, going with the dharma, not doing things we are not supposed to do. Then comes artha. Artha means money, wealth. If wealth is earned with dharma, then that is okay. If it is earned by cheating, by stealing, by robbing a bank or anything, that is a-dharma, that is not right. With dharma, if wealth is earned with dharma, good. How is it spent? With dharma, in dharma, very good. Then comes kāma. When we say the word kāma, we immediately implement it or translate it into lust, but not necessarily. Kāma means pleasure. Pleasure does not need to be sexual pleasure. Pleasure can be any type of pleasure. We eat food, we eat something nice, we like something—that is also pleasure. We are sitting and having some nice fun, we are going around in nature, we are enjoying it—pleasure. Any type of pleasure, if done with dharma, is good. And when all these three come together and you do it all together—dharma, artha, kāma—then mokṣa can be attained. The only thing that is instant here is instant coffee. Mokṣa is not instant, enlightenment is not instant. Otherwise, ṛṣis and munis would not be meditating for millions of years in the caves. They would get instant enlightenment. But great souls like Gurudev have been free for a long time already. They were much happier up there. But still, they came down to this māyā loka or mṛtu loka, or whatever you want to call it. Why? To free all of us. He was much happier up there. Who would not be? But he still came back down for all of us. So we should be very grateful, very happy that we are here, that we have him, that we have his guidance. The literal meaning of the word Guru is: "gu" means darkness, and "ru" means to light. So the person who brings us from darkness to light is the Guru. That is why we are blessed to have Gurudev as Viśva Gurujī, who is always constantly guiding us, supporting us, helping us, and bringing us forward in our spiritual life. Because we always sing in our prayers, "Rāmāya Rāmabhadrāya Rāmachandrāya Vedase," which means Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa, who were the incarnations of Lord Viṣṇu—when they were incarnated in this world, even they needed a guru in their lives for them to be successful, for them to move forward in their spiritual path. Chinta means worry. We all worry about things. What if this will happen? What if that will happen? But when we put "if," that means it did not happen yet. "What if" means we are just imagining stuff which does not exist, which probably will never happen. But we just put it: What if this will happen? What if that will happen? And that just clutters our mind with more thoughts. And until we manage to solve one problem or one thought, we create in the process ten more problems and ten more thoughts for us to then solve. We are in a constant cycle of creating problems and then solving our own problems, which never existed. So if we want inner peace, all the techniques he gave us—meditation, mala, satsaṅg, bhajans, all the other paths of yoga—we will talk about them. We have six days; if I put everything here today, then I do not have much left for the other six days. But if we have belief and trust in Him, and we say "Śivaḥ kārakaḥ," which means we are not the doer; He is the doer. So if He is the doer, something will flow through. No worries, we will always find something to talk about. So if we stay with that topic of using our life well, here is one bhajan, "Bhaji Tumjagore," from Swāmī Madhavānandajī. For those of you who do not speak this language, which is almost all of us, here is just a little hint of what the song of the bhajan is about. It says, "My brother, wake up, your opportunity is passing. The sleep of ignorance has covered you. In many, many lives, you have tasted this suffering, this pain. And in this circle of birth and death, who else will help you to get out of it, if not your Gurudev? Therefore, go and take shelter at the feet, the protection at the feet of the Guru, and your life will be fruitful." This, as Swāmī Avatārapurījī was saying, this human birth is a precious, very special, very precious jewel that you do not get so often. There was someone who was giving a similar analogy of this line: we are like people who are carrying jewels in our pockets and begging on the street at the same time, not knowing really what we have. And Gurujī says that because only in this human body can you search for the Ātmā; in other bodies, in the bodies of animals, this is not possible. And in your own heart, you meet with your beloved Rām. And then, at the end, Holy Gurujī gives the recognition, or his bhakti devotion, to his Master: that my Master Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī, he woke up, he woke this sleeping swan. And like this, the Mādhāvanānjī is singing. Please listen carefully, he says. "Tehri Satguru Rakhe Laj" means he will be there to protect you, he will be there to take care of you. He is the greatest caregiver, he is the greatest protector, and he is the most forgiving person we know. That is the beauty of a Guru, and especially a Guru as Vishwagurujī. It does not matter how, what—even if we do not like it, we leave and we go. But even after many years, when we realize, "Okay, maybe that was the wrong decision," we still come back, and he is still there with open arms, saying, "Come here, my dear." He never looked into race, background, nothing. All are always welcome to him. Nirbhay means fear, and nirbhay means without fear. So they are telling us to be without fear, to be fearless. Why? Because He is there to protect us. Rakṣā means to protect. Do not ever be scared; be fearless, because He is always there to guide us and to protect us. And those who take the name of the Gurudev, those who are there under His guidance, will always be protected and will achieve mukti, will achieve mokṣa, be free from this cycle of death and birth which we were talking about. Even in yuga-yuga, when we sing Gurudev’s bhajan, what do we sing? "Bina swārtha niṣkāma, Jīvan mukta kare bhakto ko bina swārtha niṣkāma." That is another topic. That is the best part, you know—you take one word from somewhere and you can make anything out of it. Without any self-interest. Self-interest means expectations. Part 2: The Grace of the Path He never expected anything in return from us. He was always there to guide and help. He only ever needed our love, support, and devotion. When we surrender to the lotus feet of Gurudev, all problems dissolve. Guru caraṇa kī śaraṇāgati—this is what I am saying. Our bhajans are interlinked, containing all the knowledge we need. We do not need to search everywhere for pilgrimages, for all pilgrimages reside in the lotus feet of Gurudev. Without asking for anything in return, he liberates and frees the devotees who are truly his. Sumaraṇa, sumaraṇa—this word means to repeat, repeat, repeat the name of Gurudev, repeat the mantra given to us. That is why I say the greatest gift we can receive is our mantra from Gurudev. That is the Brahmāstra. In India, we call it the Brahmāstra, the highest weapon, like the one in the war of the Mahābhārata. For us, that Brahmāstra is our mantra. All problems, all worries, everything can go away through chanting. The mālā we wear is a tool. Every repetition of a mantra is like a phone call to God, to Gurudev, to the higher spirit—to whomever you believe in. Every mantra, every chant, can also be done as ajapa. That is the highest stage. When you see Gurudev speaking to us, inside, his mantra is continuously going on. For us ignorant human beings in the early stages, we need the mālā. It is important for concentration. Right now, we are all sitting here physically, but are our minds here? The mālā reminds us. As we pass each bead, it brings back our awareness: "I am doing my mālā; I need to concentrate on my mantra." Similarly, when singing bhajans, even if I know the bhajan, I read from the book. It reminds me that I am singing, and each time I read, it gives me a new meaning or perspective. Whatever we do—eating, using a phone, working—we should try to be concentrated and focused on that action. There is always a right time and space. Yathā kāle tathā paristhiti, or kāla and deśa, as Swāmījī always said: the right time and right place for the right things to be done. Right now is the right time and space to be together in satsaṅg. When you go home, it is the right time to be with your family. At work, it is the right time to be focused on work. Who chooses what we are supposed to do? We do. That is the fourth Kṛpā. What are the four Kṛpās? The first is Deva Kṛpā—the blessing of God or the goddesses that we are born into this human body. The second is Śāstra Kṛpā—the blessing of scriptures, any knowledge we learn. The third is Guru Kṛpā. Guru kṛpā hi kevalaṁ śiṣyāṇāṁ ānanda maṅgalam. When we have Gurudev's blessings, we disciples are in ultimate bliss, Paramānanda. But Holy Gurujī said that even more important than Guru Kṛpā is khud kī kṛpā, our own grace. Why? Because the Guru shows us the path, but it is our decision to walk it. He will not drag us. It is like a boat in the endless sea of Māyā. It is our decision to step into that boat. But once we do, we know it is the safest place, provided we have trust and faith. We need faith because we look up for guidance. It is said: do not walk in front of the Guru, behind him, or beside him. We should walk on the path he shows, for he knows what is right and wrong. He is the one who can change our destiny. There is a story of two friends, Mokṣānanda and Bhaktānanda. They had to choose between going to a satsaṅg by a speaker named Avtar Purī or watching the last showing of a movie. Mokṣānanda chose satsaṅg; Bhaktānanda chose the movie. While at the movie, Bhaktānanda thought, "I wish I was in satsaṅg." At the satsaṅg, Mokṣānanda had FOMO—Fear of Missing Out—thinking about the movie. On their way back, Bhaktānanda found a gold coin on the street. Mokṣānanda got a thorn in his foot. They were confused: why did a good action lead to a thorn and a less virtuous action to a gold coin? They went to Gurujī for an explanation. Gurujī explained that Mokṣānanda was destined for a much greater accident, but because he chose satsaṅg, the Guru's grace reduced the harm to a mere thorn. Bhaktānanda was destined for a whole basket of gold, but because he chose kusaṅga (bad company), and only due to his one good thought of wishing he was in satsaṅg, he received just one gold coin. This is the power of satsaṅga and kusaṅga. A bhajan mentions Pārvatī, Nandī, and Gajānanjī. This reminds me: Śiva is known as Mahādev, the supreme God. While other deities are often worshipped individually or as couples, the entire family of Mahādev is worshipped: Śiva himself, his wife Pārvatī (Satī Mātā), his sons Gaṇeśa (and his wife Ṛddhi-Siddhi) and Kārtikeya, his vehicle Nandi, Pārvatī's vehicle the tiger, and Kārtikeya's vehicle the peacock. That is why he is Devoke Dev, Mahādev. He is also the kindest, Bholenāth, easily pleased. We can learn from Śiva's family how to live together harmoniously. In reality, a peacock eats snakes, snakes eat rats, and a tiger could eat a bull. Yet in Śiva's abode, on small Kailāśa Parvata, they all live together. If they can, why can't we? In this age, especially, families often separate. We must stick together with bhāva—love and feeling. Without feeling, the world is incomplete. To love others, we must first love ourselves. But who is this "self"? In Aprokṣaṇ Bhūti, Bhagavat Pāda Śaṅkarācārya asks: "Who am I? From where did I come? What is the cause of my living in this world?" The answer is: I am Brahman. This "I am" is not egoistic; it is the realization that I am Brahman. The ātmā, the soul, is ajar amar—immortal. The body will perish. We came with nothing and will leave with nothing. We are the observer, not the doer. Nāhaṁ kartā prabhu dīpa kartā: "I am not the doer; the Lord is the doer." We observe what happens to and around us. We are higher than these events. All clouds shall pass. Our bond with Gurudev and each other will remain. Everything else—problems, sadness, happiness—is impermanent. When sad, we worry how much worse it can get instead of knowing "this too shall pass." When happy, we worry when it will end instead of living in the moment. The problem is not the outer world but our inner world. Once we find and become one with the inner self, accepting who we truly are, everything moves smoothly as it should. We must realize that the ātmā and Paramātmā need to unite. We are the ātmā, merely observing. If bad things happen, no worries—they too shall pass. We have all the tools: each other, Gurudev, and ourselves. Yet we always want more; it is human nature. We must distinguish between needing and wanting. A new car gives temporary happiness; what we are doing now in satsaṅg gives long-lasting happiness. These memories will stay. A party is forgotten the next day. Any space where Gurudev's lotus feet have been becomes divine and holy. You can feel his energy and blessings here. The same is true for your homes. Where there is bhakti and bhaktas, there is God. The Guru is above all. His presence is within all of us, in our hearts. We do not need to look only at a picture; we must look within. We are all his disciples, equal, one beautiful family. No one is bigger or smaller. We are all one. Śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ,... Sadgurudev Bhagavān kī Jai.