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Part 1: The Power of Intentional Living Sadāśiva samārambhām, Śaṅkarācārya madhyamām, asmatācārya paryantām, vande guru-paramparām. Guru-brahmā, guru-viṣṇu, guru-devo, maheśvaraḥ, guru-sākṣāt-parā-brahmā, tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. Mannātha Śrī Jagannātha, Madguru Śrī Jagadguru. Mamātmā Sarvabhūtātmā Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥa. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śrīla Gurujī, Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā. And with salutations to our beloved Gurudeva, His Holiness, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī. My sincere greetings to our Gurudeva, Śrī Viśvagurujī, Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī. And Hari Om, and good evening to all of you who are present here and those who are watching through Swamiji TV. Many familiar faces and many new faces, nice to see all of you. We are all sitting here today in this beautiful hall. But one simple question: how many of us are truly, mentally and physically, sitting here, not only physically? We might all be physically sitting here, but mentally, very few of us are here, and many of us are somewhere else. In life, we have so many different schedules, different things to do, right? We are all here, but did we leave the house door open? Did we leave the car on? Did I turn off the gas in the kitchen? There are so many things to worry about. That is the problem. We worry about absolutely everything else except ourselves. We all find external happiness, the external things that make us happy and peaceful. For example, going out for a party. Well and good, if it is with good intentions and good people. But if we are just drinking and thinking that we are enjoying ourselves—when we go to drink somewhere, and we think that we are actually having fun with it, and then completely smashed the next morning—I do not think that is happiness. And I do not think with that happiness we will achieve any type of peace. We find so many excuses, why not and why yes. And us as humans, we have the greatest brain in the human race. Anywhere in the world, humans have the most brains. Our human brain is so powerful that humans are the ones who created these buildings, who created the cameras, who created the clothing, who created all of these things—they are human beings. But it is the same human brain which creates wars, which creates technology, which creates tanks, guns, bombs. All of that is the same human brain. Everything has a positive side and a negative side. There is good and bad in each and every one of us. In our Indian mythology, there is something called the Rāmāyaṇa. In the Rāmāyaṇa, there was the incarnation of Viṣṇu, whose name was Rāma. But, there is always a but in life, no? Anything that happens, anything we try to do, we always find a but. But great knowledge, great everything, but ego. Ego, jealousy, anger, lust—these all things pull us down in our spiritual growth. We can achieve so many different heights in our spiritual journey. But then suddenly, something pops up. Why does he or she have this type of car, and I am still having this? Our human brain immediately goes into that comparing mode. We will try to compare the belongings of ourselves with our neighbors, with our friends. Then automatically, jealousy will arise. With jealousy, anger, and envy will come. Then, if our wishes are not fulfilled, then expectations are crushed. When our expectations are crushed, then many other emotions are going up and down. And if we do not have any expectations, and if we let all be as it is, then it becomes much simpler. But we will always find problems in everything. Life is pretty simple. You wake up, and you go back to sleep in the evening, no? In between, you have a hundred billion things. But is every single thing that we do, is it done with intention, or is it just done as a routine? It is all about whether what we do, we do intentionally, consciously, or just as a routine. Do we know half of the things why we are doing them? Or do we just do it because we have to? There is a difference in doing something because we love to do it, or if we are forced to do it. If we love to do something, then that is our passion. And if we do something because we have to, it is compulsion. Compulsion, it is compulsory to do it. In India, we call it bhāva, which means feelings. Bhāva, with feelings. If anything we do in our lives, if it is done with feelings, it has a very different effect. And bhāva is a certain feeling. It depends on what kind of feeling it is, then the result has a different effect. You have a fight, you come back home, and immediately start going into the kitchen and cooking. In our mind, it is going on: "I wish I would have said this to that person," or "I would have done this," and so many different things are going on in our heads. Most probably, we do not even mean the things that we are thinking about. And then all that energy that we hold, we put into the work that we are doing. So if we are cooking, that energy, that anger, that animosity goes into that food. And then whoever will eat that food, you will see that effect, you will see that change within ourselves or within that person. Because the prāṇa, the energy, the vital energies, they flow. When we breathe, we are breathing in oxygen and letting go of carbon dioxide. But it does not just go in our nose, it goes inside the lungs and then into the heart and into every single vein. In the same way, every vital energy, either consumed by food or in any way, will flow through us in and out. When we do prāṇāyāma, when we do breathing exercises, when we meditate, it is for calming our inner body and inner mind. We are sitting here, we are all breathing at the moment. But it is natural breathing. It is just happening automatically. It is not intentional. When we do the prāṇāyām, when we do the breathing exercises, then it is intentionally done. Then it is a very different thing. I promise to do this, and this, and this. We tell our parents or someone that I promise I will do this, and then I will get this. So in the same way, we are taking a saṅkalpa, we are taking a vow that we are keeping our body healthy, and we are doing it intentionally. When we say come for yoga, then immediately in our heads there are ten, twenty different types of yoga schools which operate. Unfortunately, the true essence of yoga has slowly, slowly faded in this modern world. Now we have hot yoga, beer yoga, nude yoga, dog yoga, this yoga, that yoga. Yoga is not only the movements of the body, all the cracking and twisting we do. Yoga is a way of living. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj. And yuj means unity. So yoga means unity. Yoga is the one which unites our body and our soul. It is the alignment which our body needs, in the same way as our cars go for servicing. And when it is done with true intention and with the proper way of teaching, then it changes so many things within us. And with the system which our beloved Gurudev has created, as you can see, it is very easy for every age group to practice. So this is a system that is very simple to practice. It can be practiced by any age group. Every āsana, everything that he had created in this beautiful eight chapter book has been selected by him. And he chose each individual āsana in that eight-chapter book, which is stated there. That it is for all age groups here. We were watching now in the video that even the children and teenagers or adults, everyone can practice it. And why are still so many people practicing it? Because it works. External peace, we will get everywhere. We will go out with friends, we will go out for a movie or a concert or something. Yes, it will make us happy, but momentarily. We are so focused on external things that we forget about ourselves. When was the last time you sat with yourself and asked yourself, "How are you?" In India, we have a saying: khānā, pīnā, bhoganā, paśu samānā, which means eating, sleeping, and reproducing, even the animals are doing. We have the ability to make decisions, to use our viveka, to use our intuition power to see what is right and what is wrong. But in the morning we wake up, quickly get ready, work, come back home, do more work, and maybe spend some time with your partner, family, and sleep. That is the normal daily routine we are stuck in. The power of the words is very powerful, the words, what we say. Because of our sādhanā, because of what we do, what we say, the power of the words can be such that they come true. We can call it sādhanā, we can call it manifestation, you can call it whatever you want. But all day, if you notice ourselves, now last month I was in the mountains. Seven days without any signal, no phones, no technology, no nothing. In yoga, we have a term called mauna, which means silence. Not silence, that we say, OK, now I am going to bed, so I will be silent. But intentional silence. Try it sometime. Also, make it a part of our routine. It came in the morning, or before going to bed, or whenever you have time, forty minutes, one hour, as long as you can, give it for yourself where you intentionally will not say anything. Every breath we take in our body should be intentional. Knowing that when we are inhaling, we have that intention, that thought in our mind, that we are inhaling all the vital energies, all the prāṇas within our body. And when we are exhaling, we are exhaling all the toxins, all the bad energies, all the negativity out of our body. And you will already start feeling the changes within ourselves when just the breath becomes intentional. But let us say it is all of the reason or the result of what we have done in the past. We do good, good comes back. We do bad, bad comes back. Dharma rakṣati rakṣitaḥ, in the Bhagavad Gītā it says, those who protect the truth, the truth shall protect them. Did we ever notice, to hide one lie, we will make up ten to hundred different lies, just to cover up the first one? We create lies, we create truth, we create problems, we create the solution. If there is a lock, there has to be a key. So if there is a problem, there is a key, there is a solution to that problem. But most of the time, we are the ones who are creating those problems. And until we manage to even solve the first problem, we already made ten more. And no one else can actually solve those problems created by us. So it has to be solved by us. If we have the power of creating a problem, we have the power of solving the problem. But we are all so stuck in ourselves, with our problems, with this, with that, that we forget about everything else. But when we start functioning like a united, beautiful family—in the olden times, the family, parents, kids, everyone sat together at one table for dinner. That was the only time we used to socialize a bit. No, in the modern world, we all have our lives. We all are too busy. And even if we do manage to gather at one table, all of us will be sitting on our phones, sending each other reels. Commenting on the posts. That is the world we are living in. We have zero clue who is our neighbor. Many times, we have no clue who sits at the next desk in our office. Because we are so stuck in our own things. But if we realize that we are not the doer. We are just the observer. This body is a tool. And the ātmā, the soul, is just the watcher, the observer. Let things happen at their own pace. What happened in the past, can we change it? Yes? No. No. What is going to happen in the future? Do we know it? So, if we cannot control what will happen, if we cannot change what happened, then why are we stuck in the past and in the future? And I do not think till now we have the doctor who makes the Back to the Future car. I think that so far no one has found a car that would take us back to the past. So if we cannot go back and change anything, there is no sense in bothering ourselves with those things. We do not even know what will happen to us in the coming minute. We were born with nothing, and we will leave with nothing. But we hold on to the possessions like we are going to hold on to them for ten lives. Our home, our house, our room is full of things. Nothing is permanent. Neither us, nor our problems. We all saw clouds in the sky. The clouds can be in many shades: dark, grey, black clouds. The neutral ones, or the normal white ones. But what is one thing that is common? All of these clouds pass. Part 2: Finding Peace Within Last time I said this, there was someone who corrected me. There is one cloud in the world which is stable; I think it is in Sweden or somewhere. But except that, all clouds pass. So the point is, the problems, it does not matter how bad they are, whether as a dark grey cloud or simple as a white cloud, they will go. But we focus our minds, we focus our entire living on that specific problem, waiting for it to pass, or trying to find solutions for it to pass. But if it is not permanent, and if we are just the observer, then let them come and let them go. Even with good things. We hold on to those things so much, we do not even see the growth, we do not see anything else. But sometimes, if we let it go, maybe there are better opportunities, maybe there are better options which are coming. That is why if we go within and be happy and content with ourselves, then all the external problems feel like nothing. There is always going to be someone who has something to comment. In this world, we all are doctors, especially us Indians. In India, everyone has a solution to everything. It does not matter what profession, what they do. You ask that person something, even if we do not know the directions, we will make up the directions to tell you. Because if we are going to get stuck on listening to everyone's comments, we will not live. We listen to everyone because we might get some knowledge from someone. Following or not following, at the end of our day, is our own wish. Because we have the freedom to choose what we want to do and what not. No one forced you all to come here today. If we all gathered here in this hall, there was a cause, there was a reason, and there was a wish. I wish to find out something new. I wish to refresh our memory on things that we already know. Or even questions in the mind, which we want to search the answer of. An Indian guy wearing wooden high heels looks interesting, no? But the point is, if we all gathered here, it was our wish to gather. So instead of listening to everyone around us, try to listen and search for the answers to the questions within ourselves. We believe in Indian mythology that there are 8.4 million creatures, divided into three: Jalchar means those who are in the water, Thalchar are those like us on the earth, and nakṣatras are those up in the sky. And we believe that after crossing all of those animals, insects, we finally got this human birth. And we say, this human birth is very precious. We should not waste it. If we put daily at least 10 minutes, 15 minutes of our time for silent meditation, for breath work, we will already see the effects and the changes within our way of functioning and way of thinking. We will see and feel that all the negativity that we hold, all the anxiety that we hold, all the stress that we hold, everything just leaves. But for that, we need to believe in ourselves. At least love everyone else as much as we love ourselves, Gurudeva always said. So if we love ourselves, then only we can love each and every one of us, each other. But first, instead of doubting ourselves, "We are not this, we could have been this, we could have been that," we accept ourselves for who we are. It is not that we are, but we know that we are the best versions of ourselves, and that we are trying our best to do what we can. Simple three questions to ask ourselves every day. These are simple questions that are good to ask yourself every day. It is from Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad. Who am I? What is the reason or the cause of my existence? And from where did I originate? That is it. Very easy questions. Very easy to find the answers. But that answer, only we can answer to ourselves. When we go within, we will know that there is no difference between them and us. There is no difference between us all. Are we happy with that external peace, or do we wish for some internal peace? And if we are content and happy with external happiness, good. But we all are looking for that inner peace. Because the cameras can be looking, and then I just go. I can just smile. That is external happiness. But are we truly happy, satisfied, and content with ourselves from within? That is what matters. First, we work on the bad qualities that are inside each and every one of us. Anger. Jealousy. Envy, lust, the many things that pull us back down in our spiritual growth. And if we are in peace within, if we accept ourselves, we will surely spread that love to everyone. And that is only between you, yourself, and the Supreme Self. There are so many things that we can find the answer to just by sitting in meditation and going inwards. Every day we go outwards, but let us try to go inwards more. Please close your eyes. I will chant OM. First, OM is the vibration which was the sound in the universe before it was created. Let us sing OM. Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Inhale and exhale. Feel the body from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes. Our mind is like a monkey, jumping from one thought to another thought. So today, we are not going to complicate the meditation very much. We are going to keep it simple. First, we will tire your monkey brain a bit. So, whenever you hear a snap, you change your thought. And whenever a snap, forcefully or whatever, changes the thought. As many times as you hear the snap, sit comfortably. And when the exhalation, you are throwing out all the negative energies, all the toxin energies out of your body. Whole day you were busy, now you tell yourself, it is time for me to relax. It is time to unite with my true self. It is time to become one with that Brahman, with the Self. The mind is restless. Changing our thoughts will just tire it out. You do not need to see any lights or anything, just thoughts. Now your mind worked enough, enough of thoughts, enough of thinking. Now just relax. Do not control any thought. If anything is coming, let it come. If anything is going, let it go. Do not change the breathing. Natural breathing. Just observe. Cool air entering and warm air exiting. Like the gentle waves of the ocean. Now imagine, with every breath, we are inhaling peace. And with every breath out, you are releasing all the stress. Breathing in calmness. Breathing out worries, breathing in clarity, breathing out all the tension, you see a divine light entering, a light of peace, a light of kindness, a light of your higher power. With every breath, that light is spreading and filling up your whole mind, quietening all the unnecessary thoughts. It flows through your face, to your neck, to your shoulders, your shoulders, your heart, your hands, your abdomen, your legs, all the way to your feet. Your whole body feels calm and light, we feel that in a peace. That inner peace, which is hidden within all of us, we just need to discover it. Perhaps the thoughts are still coming, but that is totally natural. Do not fight them. So we are that sky, clear, open, endless, blue sky. Ask yourself, who am I? When will I stop chasing every thought? Do not search for an answer. Simply rest in that question. Allow yourself to experience this quiet space within yourself. Notice that nothing on the outside has changed a bit. It was never missing. It was just waiting for our attention. Take a slow breath in. And breathe out with gratitude. Notice every breath going inside of us and exiting our nose. The flower of compassion, the flower of determination, the flower of devotion, the flower of happiness, the flower of joy, all flowers open up, and that light is entering our hearts and spreading throughout the whole body. This peace which we will feel now, carry it with you. Not only now or today, but into your family, into your friends, into your relationships, in everything that we do, we feel that peace. We feel the peace and tranquility in everything we do, so that our whole family, our friends, can feel it as well. Inhale and exhale. I will sing one stotra, one chant from the Sanskrit. Just keep your eyes closed. And feel the energy. Rādhātana kari dhūtā khila ghaura pavana kari tyakṣa maheśvarī Kāśī Purādhiśvarī Bhikṣāṃ Dehi Kṛpāvalambanakarī, Nāṃpūrṇeśvarī Nānāratna Vicitrabhūṣaṇakarī, Hemāmbarāḍambarī Muktā Hārāvilamba Mānāvilāsad Ho Jañcakumbhāntarī Kāśmīrā Guruvāsitā Rucikarī Kāśīpurādhiśvarī Bhikṣāṃ Dehi Kṛpāvalambana Karī, Mātā Annapūrṇeśvarī Yoganand Kari Ripukṣaya Kari, Dharmārth Niṣṭhā Kari Chandrārkana Labhasamāna Lahari, Trilokya Rakṣākari Sarveśvarya Samastavāñchitakāri, Kāśīpurādhīśvari Bhikṣām Dehi Kṛpāvalambana Kare, Mātāan Pūrṇeśvari Kailāsa Chalakāndarālaya Kari, Gaurī Umā Śaṅkari Kaumārī Nigamārtha Gocara Kare, Oṃkāra Bījākṣarī Mokṣa Dvārakā Pāṭa Pāṭana Kare, Kāśī Purādhīśvarī Bhikṣāṃ Dehi Kṛpāvalambana Kare, Mātā Anna Pūrṇeśvarī Dṛśya Dṛśya Prabhutā Vāhana Kare, Brahmāṇḍa Bhāṇḍodarī Līlā Nāṭaka Sūtra Vedana Kare, Vijñānādi Paṅkuri Urvī Sarvajaneśvarī Bhagavatī Mātānnapūrṇeśvarī Sarvānandakarī Draṣṭāśubhakarī Kāśīpurādhīśvarī Adhiṣṭhātā Samastavarṇakarī Śambhośrībhavanakarī Kāśmīrātrijaḷeśvarī Trilaharī Nityāṅkureśāṅgavarī Kāmākāṅkṣakarī Janodayakarī Kāśīpurādhīśvarī Mātaṅgī Pūrṇeśvarī Bhagavatī Kṛpālambanī Devī Sarva Vichitra Ratna Rajitā Dākṣāyaṇī Sundarī Vāma Svādūpā Yoḍarā Priyakārī Saubhāgya Māheśvarī Bhakta Bhiṣṭa Daśa Śubhakarī Kāśī Pura Dhīśvarī, Bhikṣām Dehī Kṛpāvalambanakarī, Mātā Annapūrṇeśvarī Kṣātra Draṇakarī, Mahābhayakarī, Mātā Kṛpāsāgarī, Sākṣān Mokṣakarī, Sadāśivakarī, Viśveśvarī Śrīdharī Dakṣa Krandha Karī Niramaya Karī Kāśī Purādhīśvarī Bhikṣām Dehī Kṛpāvalambanakarī Mātā Annapūrṇeśvarī Annapūrṇī Sadāpūrṇī Śaṅkarā Prāṇavallabhe Jñānavairāgya Siddhyarthaṃ, Bhikṣāṃ Dehī Ca Pārvatī, Mātā Ca Pārvatī Devī, Pitā Devo Maheśvaraḥ, Bāndhavāḥ Śiva Bhaktāśca, Svadeśo Bhuvanatrayam. This was one of the chants which we sing. And before ending, we will sing one mantra for peace, for ourselves, for the world, for everyone around us, all insects, creatures, plants, everyone. Rub your both hands together. Rub the warm hands on your eyes and on your face. Feel the warmth entering your face and going through the whole body. And slowly open your eyes. Feel slightly more peaceful than before? When we come to lectures like this or talks, it is not like we are jumping and diving into something. It is an experiment: how you feel. We do not need to think about anything or imagine anything, just close our eyes and go within and focus on our breath. That is enough for slight inner peace. So the peace which we are looking for is not outside, it is inside us. We go more within, we look for that peace, and we will find it. It was always there and will always remain there. We just need to look for it and find it. Neither Gurudev can give you peace, neither can I give you peace. Ourselves can give us peace, from our own problems, which we will solve. So let us now try not to go too much into the past, not to go too much into the future, but be now in the present. It does not matter if we are working, eating, playing, sleeping, whatever, but full focus, full attention to what we are doing at the moment. Be more aware about what we are saying, what comes out of our mouth. If possible, try a little bit of meditation, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes a day. Some breathing exercises. And then slowly, slowly, as we progress, we like it more and more, and then we see where life takes us. If someone says, "I know everything, there is no one better than me," then run. When they say, "Come, experience, experiment, see how you like it, and then go for it." Not going to tell you immediately to join our very interesting family. But as we say, Vasudeva Kuṭumbakam, which means the whole world is one. So let us not differentiate ourselves with religion, with caste, with race, with this, with that. Let us all unite and become one beautiful humanitarian family. In any way possible, in the tiniest way, if we can help someone, we should. Because it is said, sevā dharma, parama dharma, which means sevā dharma, service is the highest dharma, is the highest virtue. So if we can serve anyone in any way, giving them water, food, helping each other, helping our family, helping ourselves, that is good enough. I wish for all of us to be happy, to be healthy, to be blessed. Sat Gurudev Bhagavān Kī Jai.