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Tryaṁvakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam Urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ... Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya. Respected Your Holiness Svāmī Amarānandajī Mahārāja, dear brother Nīla, Ācārya Śrī, Medinītā Dīneśa and Devendra, and all brothers and sisters, For three days we had a wonderful journey through the ancient world. The central point was always love, bhakti. All who were speaking ultimately led us to the divine love of the self. All the stories were examples given by Jānakī, Svāmī Amarānandajī, or Svāmī Śrī Nirlipṭhānandajī, as well as all that we heard in the form of bhajans. We see humanity from the very beginning—how hard they worked, how many complications they had in their life to find the one truth. Yes, the mystery of human life, the mystery of human destiny, is beyond our limitation. Sages and saints, the great scholars, were researching again and again, but the aim is one: how to come to completeness. It was a wonderful story of the universally worshipped Bhagavān Paramahaṁsa, Rāmakṛṣṇa, and Madhusūdana. Yes, some parts of Tantra are very confusing, written in a commercial way in the Western world. When you see the books, you wonder: is this India? But I would say a thirsty person runs here and there to quench his thirst. Tantra is indeed a science, the path through which you can come to your destination. It must not be those poses which you read and saw nowadays, written about as Tantra. The word tantra: tan means expand, and tra means liberate. Expand your consciousness and liberate thyself from all desires and all the boundaries of karma. We see all the ṛṣis, all the saints from past centuries. They all were searching for this knowledge, for liberation. Not only this, but as Svāmījī just now told, there are other different kinds of tapasyā. Even Hiraṇyakaśipu, the father of Prahlāda, did a great tapasyā. You know the story about him? Even Rāvaṇa, whom you read about in the Rāmāyaṇa, also performed great tapasyā. But when they got something, the ego, the pride, and the desires grew alongside. They were not able to master this. Yes, bhāva—there is a bhāva samādhi. Kali Yuga Kevala Nāma Ādhāra Śrūmir Śrūmir Narhoi Bhava. Finally, in this Kali Yuga, it is said that humans are not anymore capable of following the principles. Humans are not capable of tapasyā, tyāga, and vairāgya. And without this, they are not capable of getting that knowledge. There are two kinds of knowledge described, two vidyā: parāvidyā and aparāvidyā. Now, in this modern world, the aparāvidyā is dominating, but the parāvidyā is missing. This aparāvidyā, the knowledge which you have—no matter how high your education is—it will remain in this world. You can’t take it with you. A doctor, when he passes away, in the next life he will not be born as a doctor. Again, he has to go to university and study medicine. But this morning, brother Ashok Sethi said he saw with his own eyes how a saint, before leaving the body, said, "There and there I will incarnate." He was there and was surprised to see, after five years, that the saint was born there, and he told everything that he was saying before. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad Gītā said to Arjuna, "Practice yoga." Arjuna asks, "What will happen?" You will get that knowledge, the realization. What happens if I practice, let’s say, for 50 years, and I haven’t achieved this? After I pass away, what happens to my sādhanā, my practice? Krishna said, "Then you will be born again in a spiritual family, and from the very beginning, from childhood, this knowledge will awaken you and will inspire you to go to the spiritual path." This is what Ādiguru Śaṅkarācārya speaks of in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi. What is rare for this Jīvātmā? First, human birth. Second, birth in spiritual families. Third, the guidance of the spiritual master. And fourth is having himself or herself the jijñāsā, the desire to achieve or realize. Parāvidyā, which you can learn through sādhanā, tapasyā, kriyā, and also through the vākyas. To understand the Vākyas, what the Vedas—what we call the Śrutis—means "the heard." The Vedas were there before Vedavyāsa, but they were given from master to disciple. The disciples had to learn and had the best memory at that time. If at that time there were disciples like us, the Vedas would not be there. Abhyāsa, abhyāsa, kaṇṭe abhyāsa. We lost the abhyāsa. When someone telephones us and dictates a number, we say, "One moment, please, I have to take a piece of paper." Again, repeat: nine, eight, five, or four? Again, speak. Okay, can you repeat once more? We know the capacity of our smṛti, our memory. And thanks to God that Vedavyāsa was incarnated and got these vṛttis to write down whatever remained. It’s a lost lot of wisdom. And why is this lost? Because of the aparāvidyā. If we come to the parāvidyā, we will not lose. We become known as brahmaniṣṭha, śrotriya. So Śruti slowly, slowly became less, but the Vākyas which remained in us and which you deliver to someone become this Smṛti. What modern men try to do now is mix something more—we call in India masala—to make it more tasteful. If something happens, small things, you will tell someone with double stories, and the second will tell with triple things, and like this, it spreads the wrong message. We do not have that memory and that capacity. Finally, then, in Kali Yuga, we come to devotion, and we see that even in the Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga, and Kali Yuga, everywhere you will see the final way is bhakti, the love. Love unites, and hate divides. Bhakti, and the best bhakti is Guru Bhakti. All holy saints or ṛṣis who went to research something came back empty. But those who went through the guru’s guidance—maybe it was their father—but in the father, you have to see the master. Like the story of Mātā Sāradhā from Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa. Ramakrishna tried to see in her also the Mother. Jai Siddhārṣṭi, Vaiśī Sṛṣṭi. What kind of draṣṭi you have, that kind of sṛṣṭi will be created in front of you. And in which sṛṣṭi you exist, that becomes the saṅgha. Satsaṅg has many fruits. From this satsaṅg, there are many, many fruits, different kinds of fruits. Therefore, the first thing is education, śikṣā. But not the śikṣā you call university and all this. Śikṣā from Mother and Father. Those who have no mother’s or father’s education, it doesn’t matter how many titles they have, they miss that very deep love of the mother, or the love of the father, that makes and awakens the human qualities. And after that is the master, the Gurudev. So, bhakti doesn’t matter in which way you will go. Lord Kṛṣṇa said, "Finally, I will be there." Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa said to all his friends, the gopīs. Gopīs means the disciples, the female disciples, and gopa means the male disciples. Krishna said, in the entire universe there is no power which can close me or hold me. But I have no power against love. Love is that in which I can surrender, or I am caught by the love. That’s bhakti. The story of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the story of Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa, which you heard now in very great detail, and many, many others. What was that? Bhakti. So, therefore, there is one bhajan. In this bhajan, it says, "Bhagatīro Daṇḍata Dījiyo." This is from Kabīr Dās. "Bhagatīro Daṇḍata Dījiyo, Janam Janam Karo Sevā. Bhagatīro Daṇḍata Dījiyo." "Dātā" is God. O Lord, bless me with bhakti. When bhakti is gone, Bhakti Hīna Paśuṣamāna. When there is no devotion, no love, it’s like animals. Animals also have a little bit of love, but we are talking about humans. Bhakti Hīna Paśuṣamāna. Bhakti is liberation. Bhakti is your beauty, your ornament, and bhakti is that light which, without any hard work, will bring you to the divine, to the supreme. Develop the bhakti. What Neil was doing, the whole work for me, is nothing but bhakti. Why did he organize this conference on Hindu spirituality? I don’t know about him more, only that Mr. Neil Walker invited me, and I came. But there must be something which inspired you to do this, and so, what did you learn here? Here is devotion. Without devotion, your door is closed. And when you get that divine consciousness, you come to the higher consciousness: unconscious, subconscious, conscious, superconscious, and cosmic conscious. When you enter into the superconsciousness, then this divine love awakes in you, and you see everything transparent, crystal clear. Nothing is more important for you than the divine light, God. And there, there is one bhajan asking the devotee to the Gurudev, "Gurudev, I don’t want anything except the holy dust of your lotus feet." Our Madhuram will sing this bhajan. Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān, Kī Jai, Devīśvar Mahādev, Lalanānjī Mahārāj, Kī Jai, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar, Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, Gurujī, Śrī Devpurī, Kī Jai. Therefore, Gurudev said, enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice. Tyāg ke dvārā hī us Paramātmā ke darbār meṁ pahuṅcate haiṁ. Sacrifice, give up. Give up the wrong opinions. Give up the wrong searching. Come on the right, real path. Do not make it more complicated. Gandhijī said, "Renounce and enjoy." All is a parpañca of the saṃsāra. Renounce and only the one. That’s why Gurujī said, "One in all and all in one." Ādiguru Śaṅkarācārya, in his teaching, gives an example of a few cups filled with water. Each cup has a different form and different colors. Filled with water and put in the garden, the moon was shining. Śaṅkarācārya said, in the sky you see, there is only one moon. And now you see, in every cup there is also one moon. Five cups, five moons, but in the sky there is only one. Eko Brahma Dutīya Nāsti. What is created will be destroyed; what is manifested will be dissolved. But only that supreme truth of the self, that is the essence and the research which all Vedantic teaching is about. Finally, come to thyself. Śaṅkarācārya said, "Ko’haṁ? Kutaḥ āyātam? Idam kiṁ? Kasyā’haṁ? Kaḥ kartā?" Then all the search ends. And that was the aim of spirituality. Spirituality means the purity, the clear, transparent heart, visions and thoughts, mind, emotions and actions, all this linked in one direction. That’s called devotion, the love, surrendering to the... First, you have to surrender to thyself. Do you love yourself or not? Do you wish well for yourself or not? Yes, then begin your spiritual journey because you love yourself. And you have to find that lover, which is your aim, the ultimate goal, the Paramātmā. Jab main yā thā to wo nahī, ab wo yā hai par main nahī, prem galī atī sākarī, jisme do na samā hai. The street of love is so narrow, two cannot walk together; you have to become one with this. Love, the unconditional love, what Amaranājī told about Bhagavān Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa. There is one little story. Do I have time still, Neil? I will make it short. You see, with him happened the same thing that happened to many people who go through bhāva, bhakti, searching. That time we called it tapasyā, now you can say research work. Research is very hard. One man had a longing to see God, nothing else. And someone told him, "In the town, in the city, in the village, you cannot see God. God doesn’t like it; it’s stinky here. God is in the forest." Moku kaha tu dhunde bandhe, me to tere paas me. Seher se bahār kuṭiyā hamārī derā, merā svāsa mein mokun? Kahān tū dhuṇḍe bande, main to tere pāś mein. Where are you searching for me, oh my friend? My heart is out of the village, in the forest, and my residence is in your breath. Where are you searching for me? But someone like Ācāryajī told that bhakta, "You will see God with your own eyes." That, I am sure. Others, I don’t know how, but you will see trust, confidence. He went to the forest. Days and days, no eating, no drinking, lying under the trees, lying on the rock, and sleepless nights, no sleeping. Yeh kyā hai rīt prīt karne kī? Prabhu jagat hai tum sovat ho. What is the way of love? That God is here and you are sleeping. He didn’t want to sleep for many, many days. He was hungry and very weak. One day, he was lying on the rock. The sun was shining. He couldn’t move his limbs. It seems it was the last day of his life. And there came a very big crow, a very big, black one. Russian, no? They come from Siberia. A crow was sitting on another rock, and the man was lying on this rock. The crow is thinking, "When will he die, so that I can eat him?" Hours and hours, but still this man is breathing a little. The crow came near, and normally the birds, the animals, they will not attack you as long as you have not died. But the hungry crow jumped and sat on his ribs, looking at the man, and the man is looking at the crow. So, dialogue now. A poet, a saint is now making, writing the dialogue. The crow looked at the man, and the man was so brave and strong, and he was distressed. He said to the crow, "Go ahead." And with his sharp beak, the crow tried to open his stomach. But again, the crow had a feeling of mercy. How God’s mercy is very misused—no, misunderstood today. Our DG Sāhab said, "Mercy killing." It was for me something... my all hair were standing. The crow is asking him, "Painful?" And he said, "Go ahead." Again, with his soft beak, he pulls the little remaining piece. He took a piece of flesh from his body because he was very weak, very weak. And the crow is looking at the man. And the man said to the crow—it’s a very beautiful poem, written by some saint—"Kaga sab tan khayo, chun chun khayo ma." O crow, eat my whole body, each and every piece of the meat or the flesh. Go ahead. "Magar do nen mat khayo, piya milan kiyas." But my friend—you see, still he said to him, "The friend, not enemy"—but please don’t eat my two eyeballs, because still I have a hope to see my beloved, to see my lord, God. Ah! The crow was angry. Are you crazy? Definitely, you are crazy. Schizophrenic, but that was a divine intoxication, as Amaradājī explained. Undescribable. Mīrābāī said, "Mera dard na jāne koī." Meera said, "No one understands my pain." There’s no doctor who can treat me. Only when Kṛṣṇa himself, the Lord, becomes the doctor and comes to me, then I will be healthy. The crow said, "Give up, there’s no God, there’s nobody. Get up, eat, and go home," he said. The man said again, "My friend, if it’s a piece of paper, I can read it to you. But I can’t read to you my destiny. If it’s a piece of wood, I can break it into two parts. But love, I cannot pray. Then he will come." The crow jumped away five meters from him and manifested as Chaturbhuja, Bhagavān Viṣṇu, and blessed him. He got the prāṇa again, a healthy body, and he stood up. It is that love which will take you. Love will suck you in. Don’t run here and there. Just be sure what you want and follow this. So the essence of all religions, but especially I would say in Hinduism, is unconditional love without duality and without fighting. Though in old times, there was some fighting with philosophical thoughts, like the Buddhists. Those who brought the teaching of the Buddha call themselves Buddhists. Buddha means the self-realized soul, the enlightened soul. So there were always Jainas and Buddhas and Vaishnavas. But if you search everyone, there is a middle point. It’s only one devotion, the love. Paramahaṁsa, Paramahaṁsa is that one. If you mix water and milk together, that Paramahaṁsa who lives in Mansarovar, Kailāśa Parvata, will drink the milk, and the milk and water will leave it out. Like you have now a machine juicer, you put a carrot inside, the juice will come, and the rest of the solid part will go out the other side. And so that Paramahaṁsa will take the essence of the divine.