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Part 1: The Guru’s Grace: Yajña, Saṅkalpa, and Faith in the Divine Light Salutations to Śrī Alakhpurījī Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā. My eternal praṇām to Svabalavin Gurudev, His Holiness Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī. My greatest gift, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Svāmī Maheśvarānanda Jī Gurudev. Om Namaḥ Nārāyaṇ to all the sannyāsīs. And Harī Om, good evening to all of you present here and to those watching through Swāmījī TV. How was today? Did you enjoy the yajña? Very good. Yajña, the fire, is a medium through which we offer things to God. It is said that Śivjī Mahādev resides in every single element, in every way. So, if we offer things into the fire, they go up. Many people think, “We performed yajña, we did pūjā, and there is no effect.” As I often say, it is not instant coffee; it takes time. But the power of pūjās and yajñas always yields great fruits. And for that, saṅkalpa is important. You can burn a piece of paper or wood in the fireplace at home—that is not yajña. Yajña is when it is done with a certain intention, with a saṅkalpa in our minds. That is why in the beginning, after purifying ourselves and everything around us, we took a saṅkalpa. Whenever we begin something new in life, we take a saṅkalpa because there is an intention behind what we are doing. It is like a promise, and we hold either water or fire. We say, “Agni ko sākṣī mān kar maiṁ boltā hūṁ,” which means, “I take Agni, the fire god, as the witness of the promise I make.” But obviously we cannot hold fire in our hands, so we use water—still one of the pañca tattvas, the five elements. We hold it and we swear, “Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu…” Then we take the name of the place, country, city, next to this and that river, then my name, my father’s name, grandfather’s name, and then the intention—what we are planning to do, the purpose of that pūjā or yajña. We are Indians, and I am still trained by Gurudev, so we don’t need so much, but usually when there are Indian speakers or singers, it’s not only that we need to hear our own voice; we need the echo intensely. You go to any bhajan program, and your eardrums will be shaking for days. The worst is when I go to big programs and there is a lot of echo. “How is it?” “I don’t hear it.” What they do is place the speaker on the stage, facing the singer, so that he hears his own voice and gets more motivated. But if anyone is practicing public speaking and has a fear of looking into people’s eyes, I found a technique when I was learning. Now I don’t have a problem looking, but you can look over their heads to the wall at the back. I am leaking internal information! But it is good if anyone wants to practice public speaking. Still, we have one problem: we don’t know what to speak. Then you just close your eyes and do “Nāhaṁ Kartā,” and whatever comes, comes; whatever doesn’t, doesn’t. You leave it to them. And it doesn’t matter what comes—good or bad—you are talking with your family, in front of your family, to your family, so no problem. So, when we take a saṅkalpa, we decide and we promise not only to ourselves. It is better because you promise to Śiva, to God, to Agni Bhagavān, to your Guru, and to yourself. After taking the saṅkalpa, we offer that jala again, and then at the end of the yajña, at the end of the pūjā, you again do the viniyoga, confirming that you have completed it and you receive the grace, the kṛpā, from that pūjā or yajña. But we often do pūjā, and mostly in India, immediately before an important exam or interview, we say, “Let’s do pūjā, let’s go to the temple,” because there are expectations. That is why, while taking the saṅkalpa, the Brahmins always ask us whether it is for ourselves or for the jñāna kalyāṇ, for the welfare of the world. Even if the motives are personal, we still say it is done for me, my family, my bhaktas, everyone—so we include the whole world. One day Viṣṇu Bhagavān and Brahmājī were fighting. How do you spell God? G-O-D. G is generator, O is operator, and D is destructor. So you have Brahmājī as the generator, Viṣṇujī as the operator, and Śivjī for destruction. Who is bigger, who is better? Does that remind you of someone? Us. All of us. Because we all look at each other and think, “This one is better, he has more money, he does a better job, she has this.” Always comparing. Even if we are not comparing ourselves with others, we start comparing ourselves with ourselves. First we try to find problems around us. When that no longer works, we try to find problems with ourselves. And who can solve any problem—internal or external? If the key is lost, you have a spare one, or you have a stone to break the lock. That stone is Guru Bhakti, that stone is Guru Kṛpā, that stone is Guru Sevā. He helps us open locks that are impossible for us to open. But instead of that, we always try to find something else to do. We will deal with it later. Why give my energy now? The problem is not in my face now. It is not a you-problem or a me-problem; it is an us-problem. We all do this. We all delay things because either we have fear of them, resentment toward them, or we are holding some avaguṇa within that keeps us from solving immediately. Between guṇa and avaguṇa there is not much difference—guṇas are good qualities, avaguṇas bad qualities. We all have guṇas and avaguṇas. In our mind, our buddhi, our viveka, we have all good qualities, and we also have kāma, krodha, mada, lobha, īrṣyā—all these things. Śiva is there too. So good and bad are everywhere. But we let go of the bad things. How? By sitting in sādhanā. By doing yajña, by doing pūjā, by doing mantras, we release that negativity and take in that prāṇa-śakti, that good energy, within ourselves. With every offering into the Agni, we offer our avaguṇas. And with every inhalation we take from that yajña, from that śakti, from Agni Bhagavān, from our mantras, it goes inside and purifies our system. Gurudeva and I were at the treatment center in Patañjali, Haridwar. They have a proper yajña śālā, a big one. Mantras are going on, and the patients have to go every day for one to one and a half hours for what they call yajña therapy. They receive that kṛpā, that āśram only from doing yajña, and also bodily, physical benefits for the skin, the respiratory system, cleansing, simply by sitting in the yajña and breathing. Because every—some of the—even in India, I don’t know here, in India when we make offerings, we use different types of wood from different plants and trees. Nine different woods are used in one yajña. And even that which you were holding and offering with “svāhā,” that mixture has so many ingredients that its smoke also purifies. What is in it? Ghee, black sesame, barley, rice, aśvagandhā, white muesli, mustard, gourd, sugar—many things combined and mixed together, then offered into the Agni. That offering is the food for the gods and goddesses. And that destructive, all Gurudev has—you know, generation: He creates us all, He creates all this, ashrams, He creates all that is creative part of Guru. Maintaining and taking care of us, all interesting souls, is also a big job for a guru. We all have some things, and imagine all of us and all our problems combined, and we give them to Him to repair. And when we combine all this, we give everything to Him according to the rule. Just imagine what we all hold within, and we want to tell Gurudev, “Do this, do that, solve this, solve that,” times thousands of us. So that’s what He deals with. So, operator. There was nothing in the beginning; from nothing it will go back to nothing. When pralaya comes, everything is gone. When Bhagavān Śiva opens His third eye, svāhā permanent. In the same way, Guru is also a destroyer, destroying our ego, destroying our problems, destroying all negativity around us and within us. So, Guru does the job of all three: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśa. That is why the Guru is the greatest and the highest. Brahmājī and Viṣṇujī both were fighting: who is bigger, who is smaller, who has more power, who has less. Viṣṇujī said, “You create and that’s it, your job is done. My job is the longest, I have to take care of the world for ages, all four yugas.” Then a white light, a white strip of light, appeared. Ādi and anta, no beginning and no end. Brahmājī went up, Viṣṇujī went down, trying to find the end of that white light. They made a whole circle, and Viṣṇujī came back and said, “I did not find the end of it.” Brahmājī, to show himself bigger, said, “I found it.” And then Śivjī appeared. So, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva—they are all the same. But even before stars, before sky, before us humans, before anything existed, there was something else. And in that nothingness, there was a vibration. Sūktam nityam nihayanti yoginaḥ kāmadam mokṣadam jaiwa Om kārayana monamah. So Om, the vibration, the sound of Om, was the first creation. Even scientists say that the cosmos was expanding and there was a sound wave there. But the ṛṣis and munis, so many years back, had no telescopes or machines to discover that. They saw it with their sādhanā śakti, with their tapobal, with the śakti they gathered by their jap, tap, and sādhanā. That is the power which sādhanā holds. Holī Gurujī, not much talking or moving like Gurudev was doing, but still that power he held was entirely due to his sādhanā. And Gurudev’s tapasyā for creating all of this beautiful family, and to make this whole, also takes a lot. Imagine a big company with thousands of employees. But it is us bhaktas who are ignorant people, always full of everything and nothing. And to have Gurudev who can remove all barriers, who can fix all problems, and who can bring back that light which is inside of us—that is why Guru is Brahmā, Guru is Viṣṇu, and Guru is Śiva himself, because all qualities reside in that Guru Tattva. Guru is the bridge. We think, why do we need a Guru? Because that Guru is the one and the only one who can help us cross and achieve the ultimate goal. He is the light, the torchlight showing us the path. And when His job is done and we are hopefully freed, then the job starts again—He reincarnates in other bhaktas, and that job never ends. That constant cycle goes on and on. It doesn’t matter if it is Devpurījī or Gurudev or Mahāprabhujī or Holī Gurujī—the cycle will always continue. Different forms, but the same divine light. They look different, their duties are different, the workspace is different, but that knowledge, that light, is the same, and that light is continuing to all of us, within each and every one of our hearts and souls. We are all connected to that same Guru Tattva. It is like one trunk with many branches, and within that, many branches, many leaves. And in the same way, like a mālā, the thread is there and we are the beads. But that Śakti, that Bhakti, that Vairāgya—all this we get from the Kṛpā of the Master. Without Guru Kṛpā, life is incomplete. When I was younger and wanted something—chocolates or prasād—they always taught me, Gurudev taught me, like Sabhā, Kuchā, Devā, Dādā, Dīpā, Dayāl. So everything will be provided by Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī, by Gurudev, by the higher self. We don’t need to worry about things. Things affect us—happenings around us, family, friends—but that is just the upper layer. When you remove that upper layer and look within, you will see that that light, that jyoti, is much different and is not affected by external things. This body is just the clothes. The ātmā is the observer. We are observing what this body does and how we can serve humanity, how we can serve the Guru through this body. What we do will come back in any case. So it is better to do good things with this body, to do puṇya, good deeds. We got this body to do sevā, to do bhakti. And we do that. As for how our problems will be solved—let that be on them. They are the key to the talk. When we say “Sabko Kucho Devadattā,” that’s what Holī Gurujī believed also. Holī Gurujī went to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, with one disciple—actually, he was a guru, Mahāprabhujī’s disciple, Gurujī’s guru brother. Mahāprabhujī asked Mādhavānandajī, “Do you need some money for your trip?” Gurujī said, “No, no, nothing.” When Gurujī was with him, he was thinking, “I don’t have a single penny in my pocket. We don’t have a ticket. How will we buy a ticket without money?” Gurujī said, “Let’s go,” and he went and sat straight in first class. Now, if we are going to do something, let’s do it properly and get all the benefits. Either you don’t do something, or if you do, then do it fully. We say, with bhāva, do whatever you do; give your whole heart and soul. So Gurujī said, let’s go to first class—no ticket, nothing. Then what to do? The ticket conductor came. Before that, in India you also need a platform ticket just to go on the platform to drop someone off or pick someone up. They didn’t have that either. So they went and sat in the train. The ticket conductor saw Gurujī and said, “Mahārājī, praṇām. How are you?” And all was good. At one station, Gurujī had to go further to Amdāvād, and that sādhu had to fix an umbrella and take some vegetables back to Mahāprabhujī. When he got off at the station, the officers there invited him to be the guest of honor. He stayed in the government house. They sent milk, food, dinner, whatever was necessary. Next morning, Gurujī said, “Now we need to repair this umbrella.” They replied, “Don’t worry, the umbrella man will come here and repair it. You don’t need to go anywhere.” They put Gurujī on the train and told the ticket conductor, “No charging, let him go.” But the other sādhu, when he got on the train to go back home, was stopped and asked for a ticket. No ticket. So they put him in the police station. Later, some people recognized him and said, “Oh, this is Mahāprabhujī’s disciple!” and they got him out. He went to Mahāprabhujī and complained, “Mahāprabhujī, this is wrong. This is unfair. Mādhavānandajī goes and no one stops him; he always gets whatever he wants for free and can do whatever he wants, while we are always in trouble. You gave him special siddhis and not us.” Mahāprabhujī said, “No. It is that he does not question, he does not ask; he believes, he has faith in Mahāprabhujī—faith that he will get everything wherever he goes, that Mahāprabhujī will provide. He doesn’t need to do anything.” That is the power of faith. Part 2: Let Them Deal with Everything: Faith and Surrender He does not ask. He does not ask. He has only complete confidence that wherever He goes, He will be taken care of. It was similar for the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Dīkṣā now. It was pretty tight. We found out, I think, one or one and a half weeks in advance. No money, no funding. So then we were thinking, “How will we do this? We don’t know, we don’t know.” I told the boys, “Don’t worry. All will happen.” God knows from where it happened or did not happen, but we got enough for the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Dīkṣā and also for the Yajña. Before we were only planning a small yajña, but whatever money was left, we built a proper grass yajñaśālā there and we had a big yajña. We got enough money not only for the Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Dīkṣā but also for the yajña. At the beginning we thought everything would be tighter, but then we managed to build a special yajña house. The same thing happened two years back when we needed to buy the car. We left the āśram with 500 euros, and we came back with the car. In four days, I don’t know how we paid it, from where it came, but… So this is when you have faith—you let it on them. It’s not only the good times, no. Problems are also theirs. Happiness is also theirs, sadness is also theirs. Let them deal with everything. You live, focus on your sādhanā, you focus on your bhakti, let them deal with everything. In hard times, they will also take care of you if you have faith in hard times and in good times. And all wishes will be fulfilled, but faith is necessary. Without having śraddhā, without having belief in that, or in someone, or in the Supreme Self, or in God, or in whatever—when there is trust, mutual understanding, then things work much more smoothly. In relationships with parents, friends, family, anything—when there is trust and belief, and when there are misunderstandings, immediately talk about it. Because otherwise, one person will make interesting stories in the head, and you will create and create, and those layers will just add up, add up until that person will blast. One misunderstanding, one doubt: solve it immediately, you are good for the next day. You hold it, keep it in, you will be stabbing yourself every day, every morning, every evening, until it doesn’t come out in a pile. So, instead of having problems with each other with the whole pile, if you do it every day, you just level it up, and the next morning all is good. And if that happens, then all are in peace, all are happy. Now you see the aeroplane; within two minutes, you won’t see the aeroplane. Same. Problems come like this and go like this, but we hold on to them. We grasp onto them. We think about them. In the same way, let them come and let them go. And once we have not only faith—not blind faith, but faith—but that dṛṣṭi, we make that saṅkalpa to ourselves that I promise that I will let Gurudev, the Paramparā, deal with everything; I don’t need to worry about anything. And the key is that we have this trust and this determination, this saṅkalpa, to let go. Cintāmatā Karaṇā, Cintāmatā Karaṇā—don’t worry, let them deal with everything. Don’t worry, let them deal with everything. We are not saying, “You are my father, you are my mother, you are my brother, you are my sister, you are my friend, you are everyone.” So if Gurujī is everyone, then… You are my father, you are my mother, you are my brother, you are my friend, you are my family, you are my everything. If you are everything, do not doubt. If we doubt, then we create doubts within ourselves. How things happen, let them happen. And let’s try to make every situation an opportunity by the grace of Gurudev, and let’s just move forward in our life, no looking back. We are all humans. Without mistakes, we wouldn’t be humans; we would be Sadāśiva himself. So, make mistakes, learn from mistakes, move forward, because we know Gurudev is protecting and guiding. Thus, what is necessary is faith, good or bad. Just have faith in Gurudeva and let him do everything. You don’t need to ask anything, you don’t need to ask questions—just go within, you will get the answer. And you don’t need to ask anything, just go inside, turn inside, and you will get all the answers. That Guru Tattva is within all of us. And anyhow we have the kṛpā of all Devī Devtās because today we invoked Gaṇeśjī, Śivjī, Pārvatījī, all the nine Devīs, Ṣoḍaśmātṛkā, we invited all of them and they all came. That’s what is done when, in front of, before every pūjā, we invoke each and every one of these gods and goddesses to come down. And all the gods that he invoked were here today, because when we were walking, we called them all to come down. Patañjali kī svarūpame, Nārāyaṇ kī darśan hojāje—we never know in which form do we have darśan of that supreme. When we had the yajña, you never know which god or goddesses came and blessed us in which form. Sometimes you can see in the pictures that you click of the yajña, you can see some shape of some god or goddesses in the fire. So we are blessed to be here. What did Gurudev always tell us? We, in the morning when we wake up, we take water in our hands and say, “I am human.” We wake up and we thank God, we thank Gurudev for the life which we have, and we thank God for the life we have. It doesn’t matter how hard, which situation, what—we thank them for whatever, because we know that there is maybe, unfortunately, someone who doesn’t even have what we have. And this bliss, this spiritual bliss, is all we have. Materially, maybe Tesla, or Jeff Bezos, or Ambani, or these people are much happier, but spiritually we are all much happier than them. And They provide to those who surrender and say, “We let it on you.” Automatically then all, Lakṣmī, everyone will fall down. Gurudev had faith in Gurujī, and Gurujī had faith in Mahāprabhujī, and we all have faith in Gurudev, and Gurudev has faith in all of us—that’s why we are all sitting here. Going to sleep? Not yet, no. His time schedule became like mine. Nowadays, even I’m going to sleep earlier than him. Father is working, and son is also working till midnight. But good. This is saṃskāras. This is what Gurudev implanted in all of us, and we should implant in all the younger generation. Unfortunately, this is the difference between modern Indians and now our bhaktas here. We go to bhaktas’ homes in India. The first thing the parents tell to the kids: “Oh, Bābā came, Bābā came. He will take you, he will kidnap you if you don’t behave like this.” Then we say, “No, no.” Because whatever—śruti, smṛti, whatever we say—it goes in the ears, doesn’t matter, small, big, understanding, no understanding. The words have value. When you say “I love you,” you say it to the person whom you truly love, because that word means something; it’s not just for everyone. When we say thank you, we say thank you not only for the other person to hear it, but because we mean it. We say sorry, we don’t say sorry just to say sorry, but we say it because we mean it, because it is the emotions which we are letting out, and we let go, and we cleanse ourselves after releasing that. When you are forgiving someone, it’s not for them, it’s for ourselves. So, what we say in front of the kids, to the kids, in which form that goes inside, and somewhere in the subconscious, back of the head, it will remain. When you say some words many times, then the child picks it up. In the olden times, the mothers, the grandfathers, or grandmothers used to tell, sing Gītā, Rāmā, and listen to good things because the child is hearing inside. Then even after birth, there are so many saṃskāras which they go through: first feeding, janeū, muṇḍan, shaving, piercing, marriage, so many things. Because those have certain meanings, and those change certain energies within ourselves. The child who is brought up in a spiritual family and the child who is brought up in an external family, you can see the difference between a child who is raised in a spiritual family and a child who is not raised in a spiritual family. And that difference is the tapas, is the sādhanā of the parents. We are the ones who will give that further. So when we have Guru Kṛpā, the Guru Kṛpā goes further. Guru Kṛpā Hi Kevalam, Śeṣe Kevalam Ānandamaṅgalam. So when we have the grace and the kṛpā of Gurudeva, everything is good. Now I will ask Dhyānānand and Amarābindu to come, sit here, and share something about the Himalaya trip. Now, please, the two of you, please share with us your experience of traveling in the Himalayas. Pushpā is not here; she was also with us. Is she here? No, not anymore. Hari Om. Hari Om? [ Dhyānānand: ] Oh. Public speaking. Where should I look? Where should I look? Here? Where should I look? Okay. We were blessed to have an opportunity to go on pilgrimage to the Himalayas with Swāmī Avatārpuri Jī. It was really wonderful. We started in Ṛṣikeś. In front of Gaṅgā Āratī, in front of Swami Chidānanda’s ashram, it was really beautiful, and the day after we went to Uttarkāśī, a beautiful city in the heart of the Himālaya. It’s really a Vārāṇasī of the North. Yes, so if you can’t go to Vārāṇasī, you go to Uttarkāśī. And there we had a beautiful prayer with Swāmī Avatārpurījī and pūjā in front of one of the oldest and the holiest temples, Śiva temples in India. It’s Kāśī Viśvanāth. A Shiva temple, Kāśī Viśvanāth is the name. It’s beautiful, really very old. And it’s a little temple, but very, very powerful. There is a big triśūl in front of the temple, about six or seven meters. And then this little temple with Śiva Liṅgam. And then, the day after that, we went to Gaṅgotrī. [ Amarābindu: ] Amṛta Bindu will proceed. I lost my voice, so I have a very good excuse not to speak too much. I agree with Jānānand. We were really blessed ones, truly blessed. It was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go with Avatarpurī Jī to holy places. It was fun, no? Yes, of course. We were really lucky that we were able to go with you, Avatārpurījī, and Avatārpurījī says that everything was fun and that we all have a chance to have fun again in September. It was, I think, eleven, eleven people all together, with Dhyānandanjī. No, thirty with porters. Okay, with porters, but it was with Nirañjanjī, who was our guide, European guide, Puṣpā from Linz, Dhyānāndanji and me, and Avatā with guys, I think five of them. So, it was a really nice and blessed opportunity to go with Avatārpurījī. Like Kṛpā, Katerina Kṛpā said, it was a VIP trip, VIP trip. Really? She did the extra hike up that mountain. It was just a viewpoint for Meru. Yes, and the first day we came, we went with Avatārpurījī and, I don’t know, five of us. Yes, we wanted to touch the snow on the Śiva Liṅgam, but it was very, very difficult to climb up. Avatarpurī Jī, they all know your language. I patented some special work for this part. You walked on four legs, like arms and legs. Yes, four legs. It was very difficult. Because the body needed time to adapt to the lack of oxygen. I didn’t grow there. And our Indian guide, Rāju, said that there is a way for a continuum. A way for heaven. A way for heaven is difficult. And we stopped there, some three of us guys went, and we went back to the camp. And we thought we had more time here, so we didn’t want to see heaven yet. And everything went perfectly. Of course, we all had a little bit of a headache. Nothing. Just Avatārpurī Jī didn’t have anything. Yes. Avatārpuri Jī had to say that… He had a nuclear pogon. This last part, from Gomukh until Tapovan, is very difficult. But Avatār was so fast that Rāju didn’t catch him in three hours. I did it in three and a half; they did it in nine. Yes. And it was very funny in camp: Avatār Purījī was something like our alarm in the morning. I woke up early. I said, “Why should I be alone?” So I went to sleep. Yes, but this alarm, it was impossible to snooze. If they didn’t wake up, there was ice on top of the tent, so I sprayed the ice, made a ball, and threw it in the tent. About 5, 5:30, you can hear a very happy and loud voice around 10:30. I went and had an ice water shower like Wim Hof, so when I come back. Around the 5th, 6th, you heard a very lively voice. Around the chateau, Avatarpurījī says he went to the ice shower before that, and that’s why he was completely confused. I convinced them all to go with, but… Every morning, every morning, Swāmījī Avatārpuri Jī said, “Come with me to bathe at the river,” and I said, “No, no.” He said, “Then just look at me, how I bathe.” I needed someone to hold the things, you know. Those on the river was one degree or two degrees. No, no, the last day was minus six, minus six, with ice. Yes, yes, the sun. He said, “Go with me,” and that’s why he told me. Not to go with him, that they will hold things for him. Swāmī Avatārpurjī took the water. He took the water and washed himself with it. I didn’t participate. Some didn’t participate. If you want to wash your face in the morning and don’t wait for warm water, but if you have a 5 o’clock morning cold shower, you don’t feel cold all day. I don’t believe it. I was walking half-naked in the morning, and they all were sick. He went with pādukās, and we were with three jackets on us. Yes, we were there on top of a building. That’s why I need this, you know. Yes, it was beautiful. Food was good, and those porters would take with them potatoes, pasta, three kinds of meal. And the first time, I ate a special dessert. They took pineapples and they put them in boiling water. They said, “This is the liquid boiled water, this is the sweet water, and the cut ananas was the dessert.” I said, you can just give me a cut like this; you don’t need to put it in water. And then they said, “This is sweet water, and ananas is sweet compote.” But we had a cure with pasta, didn’t we? No, that’s sevā, yeah, that’s, yeah, in India you have thin spaghetti type kheer, instead of rice. I never ate that. Yes. Well, then we went back to Uttar Kāśī. We found a guphā for all of you also. We were there in the guphā, yes. We had a prayer there. We called it Avatārpurījī’s gufā. It’s a little guphā where some woman lived. And then it turned into a toilet, but we cleaned it. And made prayer there. Bhāva is important, you know. If you are clean within, outside is automatically clean. Usually, outside is clean and inside is dirty. We had a nice visit to Swāmī Ānand. A very nice sannyāsī who lived there for how long? Nineteen years. In winter, there is fifteen feet of snow. He is there all the time. Fifteen feet. So to go out, one day the roof flew off or something. In the snow, he had to jump from over the roof and then go out because the snow blocked the entrance and everything. In July and August, they would bring all the supplies, and then for six months they don’t go down. That’s proper tapasyā, no? Up there, no one there, no people around in winters. Tapovana, government closes down, so no one can go up. You can’t go down because the weather is not favorable. If you get sick, you get sick, because no hospital, no nothing, but the energy is so powerful that you just sit there. Whatever, you don’t need to intentionally meditate, but automatically you feel things. There is a lack of oxygen, so you can meditate nicely. I think we’ve managed up to 4,700 meters. That’s 3,700? No, 4,700. It’s before snow. Only he finished a few oxygen bottles. Yes, we bought it in Gaṅgotrī, so it’s like spray, oxygen spray. We put it on the mountain and breathe. So you can make it, if they can make it, if I can make it—you know, the founder of Art of Sleeping—you know, you have Art of Living, so we have Art of Sleeping. If we have the art of life, we also have the art of sleeping. So if I can—no, I can, but I don’t like to walk even from Om Āśram to Bhakti Sāgar, and I manage to walk all the way up there, so I think you all are much fitter than me, so you all will manage. We were more or less forced to take such paths. Last year, also in Strilky, we were driving back and forth from Gaṅgā to the hall, so this time I decided I will walk. After Himālaya, now walking is okay. You know, when people say, “Yeah, this is my three,” you know, people say this, that, I said the same thing, when you were twenty-two, twenty-one, no, actually I’m twenty-six, twenty-seven. I’m getting old. So when you were 27, you might also be lazy, so I have the right to be lazy. I’m in that phase, so don’t mind me. But no problem, I’m trying to fulfill my duties and do as much as I can. Āme karma satsaṅga se jagata. Oh, I’m sorry, you were talking, yes. No, no, thank you. Thank you for all your blessings there.