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Part 1: The Most Valuable Thing: Wisdom, Devotion, and the Grace of the Guru Asmat Ācārya Paryantam Andhe Guru Paramparām Gurur Brahmā, Gurur Viṣṇu, Gurur Devo Maheśvaraḥ Gurur Sākṣāt Parabrahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥa Mannātha Śrī Jagannātha, Madguru Śrī Jagadguru Mamātmā Sarvabhūtātmā, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥa This breeze we just felt was Gurudev acknowledging that we are singing, "Gurudev, Gurudev Śaraṇa Tumhārī." We are accepting that, "Gurudev, we are at your lotus feet." Chintā Merī Miṭāde, O Gurudev, remove that chintā, that worry, from my shoulders. And that was Gurudev signaling, by moving that breeze, "I acknowledge, and I take away all your worries with this wind." Mātā, Pitā, Ora Bandhu, Koī Nai Hamārā—Mother, Father, Friends, Family, No One Is Ours. Māyā kī jālabhārī, ise prabhu bacāde. This spider web of māyā, this spider web where we are stuck, is very deep and very dense. Īśe Prabhu Bacale. For us, Prabhu, in normal language, means Lord, means God. But in this context, for us, Prabhu is Gurudev. So, O Prabhu, rescue me from this. In the same way that the sea, the ocean, has many turbulent waves, this worldly storm, these worldly waves, are also very strong. You are the only one who can shine that kṛpā and save this sinking boat. Japa tapa na hove mujhse, yahī Prabhu araj hai. O Gurudev, O Lord, I am requesting you that I cannot do all this tapasyā and japa and tapasyā and all these things. Karunānidhān tuhi duḥkh ko dūr karatā hai, so O Karunānidhān, O Merciful One, please, You are the only one who can remove all these obstacles. Gurudev Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī, I am in your śaraṇ, I am at your lotus feet. Now I am yours, I surrender to you. O Gurudev, O Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī, I am at your Lotus Feet, now I am yours, I surrender to you. Arazā Māṅgīlāla kī, Śrī Rāma kā nāma raṭā de. This is a humble request of Māṅgīlāla Jī: that you put the name of Rāma, the chant of Rāma, on my tongue. You know what Dātā means? Giver. So when we call Gurudev Dātā in India—when you come to India, they call Swāmījī Dātā, or here Maṅgilālajī is calling Mahāprabhujī Dātā. Dātā is the one who is the giver. They are the givers. And here in the last line, Maṅgilālajī says, "Rāmkā Nām Raṭāde." He is saying, "Put the name of Rāma on my tongue." Why do we say, "on the tongue," or "in the mouth," or "in the throat"? We speak every night about bhakti. We speak about devotion. We speak about all those things, but I want to ask you one question. What is the most valuable thing for you in your life? And reminding you what I said yesterday, I requested not to be all silent. It is more of an interactive thing, so I will not ask this. Mālā, mantra, any more? Emotions, devotion, emotion also. Because without emotions, without love, we are a stone. So emotion and devotion. Me. You do not need me, you need Gurudev. Human. Human life. All these things are correct, but as in life, there is always a "but." Here, there is also a "but." The most valuable thing for us—actually, all of these things are most valuable—but a very valuable thing for us is wisdom, is vidyā. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge we get from aparāvidyā. Aparāvidyā is all the knowledge which we gain from all the texts, even including the Vedas and Purāṇas; they are included in aparāvidyā. So when we think that the Vedas, the Purāṇas, the Upaniṣads, all the books, math, science, chemistry, physics, whatever you want, this all comes under the category of aparāvidyā. What does aparāvidyā teach us? What can we gain from aparāvidyā? Theory, everything: how to live in the world. It teaches us how to be successful. It teaches us how we can live in the world. It actually, technically, gives us the techniques of how to live. But parāvidyā, the knowledge which Gurudev gives us, that will teach us living itself. Think of every new gadget we buy. There is always a big, thick manual in the box. Me, I never read it. I do not know if you all read the manuals on how to operate a new device. First, we try to solve the riddle by ourselves and see if we can get that drone flying or the phone working without reading anything. So that is the ignorant us trying to figure out things which we do not know. But still, it is harder, or easier, than reading those manuals to watch a YouTube tutorial on it. So, that easiness—we can read all the manuals, but we will understand nothing. But that YouTube video is the knowledge which Gurudev gives us, which simplifies it. But still, the operator at the end is us. This human mind is so powerful. Within seconds we can search anything on Google. On Meta glasses you do not even need to type. You just say, "Hey Meta, what is this?" or "What are the directions?" Uniting, or is it dividing? Technology is not bad. It is good, but in the Himalayas I realized the use and misuse of technology. And now I know why ṛṣis and munis went to the Himalayas to meditate. You discover a new self of yourself. But everything in parāvidyā that we need in our lives is the living teachings of the master, of someone who walked that path. But then, except aparā and parā, there is also avidyā. But apart from aparāvidyā, aparāvidyā is also avidyā. And what is avidyā? Ignorance. Any other synonyms? Exactly what I was waiting for, in polite language: stupidity. That is what avidyā is. When we know, but we do not know. We know what is right, we know what is wrong, but there is no awareness to discriminate between what is right and what is wrong. There is so much fog, there is so much dust, which is covering our vision, which is blurring our vision. When we see 1%, or not even, let us say, not 1%, I work on 10, 15, 20%, or not even 20, 30% of our phone battery, we go into panic mode. I was thinking to say 1.5%, but then I did self-inquiry. I thought, when do I start panicking? When it goes under 30, 25. Where will we find a charger? Is there an extension wire coming to reach the proximity of my bed so that I do not need to walk in the night? Only our cameraman used one; except that, none of us even thought of using our phones. That is the beauty of the Himalayas. But we always panic about these things. Panic about the charger, about the battery, about this, about that. Did we have a panic when our battery went down? Did we have a panic when we did not do our mālā in one day? Yes, we did panic when we did not do kriyā one day because we knew that we needed to call Swāmījī. But in general saying, we do not really panic when things are going according to our wishes. But we should start panicking a bit that this human life is short. There is no guarantee. When we were born, there was no guarantee. When we die, there is no guarantee. So that is not decided. If we cannot control our birth, we obviously cannot control our death. Unfortunately, we think that if we jump off the hill, it is the end of life. No, it is not. Unfortunately, sorry to say. All the things that were still supposed to happen, and because of the premature death, you will relive all these sufferings, all these memories, to come to that exact point where you ended it, to finish what you did not in the previous life. Knowledge can teach us many things. But wisdom teaches us that giving up is not an option. But to differentiate between wisdom and knowledge, that is viveka. And this viveka is got only by the grace of the masters, by the grace of the paramparā. Did anyone think, why is... Actually, okay, wait. Who is the goddess of knowledge? Sarasvatī, right? It is Sarasvatī. Any guesses what those things mean, which she has around her? Or are we just used to that formatted picture of Sarasvatī Mātā which we have been seeing for the past decades? Did we ever think about the color? Did we ever think about the instrument? Did we ever think about the book and the things which she holds? Did we ever think about the lotus she sits on? And after the bhajans, we will ask you what you thought. Because in Sanātana Dharma, no symbols are just symbols. Every symbol has a meaning. Why is she wearing white? Why cannot she wear pink or blue or orange or whatever? And do not Google it in the meantime. I know the technology is very developed. But in this seminar, through Gurudev’s kṛpā, through anuṣṭhāna, through the practices, we are trying to activate our own search optimization system. Google, Chat, GPT, they are all there. But now, try to use that inner consciousness. There are so many animals, birds, which are much stronger than a swan. Why did she choose a swan? There are so many different things she could have been sitting on, but she still chose a lotus. I have a brilliant idea, a new thing I started, and I give up after a few tries. But in this seminar, we are learning to work on ourselves, right? We talk about not giving up in our life by dying or doing something. So I motivate you on other things, you motivate me to finish this till the end of the seminar. And I realize that when I am writing down my ideas or the thoughts which I have, which I want to potentially, maybe, talk about, and I pick certain topics which you suggest, like someone suggested in the morning, Vidyā. And only on the topic of Vidyā, potentially, we can get four or five chapters. Like this, in the whole seminar, we will have multiple things. Then, inside the community, inside our beautiful family, we have many people who are experts in many different fields. Some will do the corrections with, obviously, my help, because no one will understand my handwriting. And then we will make, like, a satsaṅg series type thing which you can read. And do not worry, we did not forget about the kids. All the stories that I narrate in the lectures will be made in animated cartoon form for kids as bedtime stories. And then we have many, many lectures of Gurudeva, which even I did not listen to. And then I will be like, living in the present. But let us see. Ale uvidíme. These are just ideas, but actions speak louder than words. Words. Než slova. So, let us see when something comes out. So these are just my notes, which I wrote to remind myself what I can talk about to make it a little more fun and dynamic, and these notes can be used for other things. And these are notes that I wrote down so that I know what to hold, and we can use them as samples. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavānī Kī Jai. Reading all the books, reading all the scriptures, is not the real knowledge. The real knowledge is becoming one with the truth. Embodying the truth, being aware. Be aware of the truth. Knowing the difference, avidyā tells us all these things: māyā, it talks about kāma, krodha, mada, lobha, this is mine, this is yours. Ego, jealousy. But vidyā, what does vidyā talk about? Vidyā talks about, "I am not that. I am just the observer." I am that Ātman. Sagal Jagake Antaryāmī Jharajarakī Nārāyaṇ, Bhagavān, Kī Jai, Śrī Swāmī Śivānanda Jī, Mahārāj, Kī Jai. When this awareness comes that we are the Ātman, then all the inner enemies—kāma, krodha, mada, lobha, ahaṅkāra—they all leave the body. But that awareness is necessary, that viveka is necessary to differentiate between the māyā and between this Ātman. That is why we bow down to the Master, that is why we bow down to the Guru. Part 2: The Parāvidyā of Inner Purity Because he does not give us more information, but he gives us that knowledge, that wisdom. He gives us that viveka śakti to differentiate between those—the difference between knowledge and pride. Everything is known. Let’s make it slightly more masāledār, with more masālā. Once upon a time, bylo ne bylo, there lived one man, and that man could be a woman also. It depends on ourselves, if we are taking the story for ourselves. So if you are a man, that guy was a man; if you are a woman, then that person was a woman. So, should we say he rented a boat and went on a boat ride? There was a person who was operating the boat, and his name was Fateh Purī. Vegan sailing? That’s still the same name? So, a certain individual was on a vegan sailing boat. And he asked Fatehpurī, "Did you read the Vedas?" No. "Did you read the Upaniṣads?" No. Ne. "OK. Waste of a quarter of your life." And he, being a very calm person, did not react. Ten minutes later, "Did you study Sanskrit grammar?" No. Then he started thinking that nervous, drunk, scorpion bit, thorn, monkey started running too much. "Which other philosophical books, anything, did you read?" No. And as soon as he started asking another question, suddenly the waves started getting more rocky. The storm started getting very heavy. And his boat was not one with a motor. "Do you know how to swim?" That person said, "No." Then he said, "You were telling me I wasted a quarter of my life and half of my life. You wasted the whole of your life." So we can learn all the knowledge in the world. But the practicality and the way of how to live that knowledge in real life, that only the master can teach. We can have a certain—someone can be teaching us how to swim. We are learning, we are progressing. But then, some distraction comes while swimming. And you get diverted, and you go in a different direction, and you forget about the master who is teaching you. Vikram is very experienced in this, because this was not a fictional story. In the same way, distractions are very good. It’s good to remove our tension, it’s good to remove our sadnesses, but not so good for our journey of learning and growing. How to calm down those distractions, that is the practicality which Gurudev teaches us, that is that parāvidyā. What does white represent? Purity. Čistotu. Now when we say purity, which purity are we talking about? Inner purity. Outer purity is very necessary also, but when some of us are in the Himalayas and the water is too cold, then outer purity is not there. But inner purity is still there. That’s why his mālās were still going on. I love this. When I talk to him, or anyone talks to him, you’re talking to him, but the mouth is going. Something, the mouth is moving and you’re like, "What am I talking to?" But it’s good, at least he’s doing some chanting. So the point is, Harinām on the tongue, white means purity, which means inner purity. So Mā Sarasvatī wearing the white clothes is representing that we need to be pure inside and outside. Not that we wear the fanciest clothes and put on the best perfume to smell nice, but inside it’s a trash bin. Sorry, sometimes my language becomes pretty harsh, but I prefer to stick to the originality and truth than to find a sugar-coated way to explain something to you. Instead of saying, "Please do your mālā," we’re telling you all around it to come to the point. So it’s easier for me just to come to the point, because you all know the background of it. And to become free from the cycle, to become free, we need that differentiation, we need that viveka, we need that parāvidyā which Gurudev gives us. And that inner purity we can only get if we change, we become the change which we want people to see. I opened my heart and I said, "Whatever I do, I want to do it. If I really want to do it and if I feel for it, then only I will do it." I’m not going to do it for sugarcoating or for public image. And that’s why I’m trying to unite us all, and I’m trying to bring that harmony and that unity again, because that is what I feel, which I want. And which is something that we all need to work on. So inner purity, the sādhanā, the anuṣṭhāna, satsaṅg, bhajans. These all are removing that clutter in the mind, which is an unnecessary storage unit. Is there something in the sky? I always see some of you always looking here, and then there, and there. I’m also trying to see what’s there, but I don’t see anything. I mean, yeah. OK, dobře. Our mind should be blank like this. Not much clouds, only some aeroplanes and birds that cause more distractions. I mean, first I thought, okay, we are looking at the sunset, but I don’t see that either. When we were kids, we were counting aeroplanes. I mean, in a way, we all are still kids, maybe somewhere. But I think our viveka is telling us to be present in satsaṅg right now. You have the time between 1 and 2:30 to look at the... It’s so funny observing myself complaining about overuse of phones, but after Himālaya I made a change. So after I made a change, I can tell as much as I can, because otherwise you would say, "Look at yourself, you are all the time on your phone." Now you can’t, because I don’t even wear pockets, so I can’t even hold my phone by myself anymore. Problem solved. No stitched phones, no pockets, no phones, nothing to worry about. Meta glasses, but they are intentional. They only go on when I want them to. Not to have our hands busy in something else, it records directly. So the point which I’m trying to make is that we need to exclude, at least at this Strilky time, at least when I was in the Himalayas, now I’m back on phones, but at least not seven hours. You are here. You are exactly where you need to be. Gurudev is exactly where he needs to be in your hearts. Now let’s just focus forward. Let’s go forward towards the direction which our inner purity, inner pure heart is longing for. Nowadays, when there is something happening, I love how, especially in India, we are experts in this. Unfortunate situations, accidents happen. Instead of us going to help that individual who is in that accident, our first reaction is to pull out our phone. So in that, it shows the real capacity. I don’t know how real it is, because this world is illusion, and the movies are surely illusion, but still. It shows how our mind can get to the capacity which is achievable, not by the drugs which are shown in the movie, but... Instead of that, imagine that that drug is spirituality for us. And whatever we see in the movies, if you can jump one meter, the movie will show the actor jumping ten meters. So the movie showed us that we can get up to 100%, I believe we can at least get up to 50% from the 2% which we use. Close your eyes. Why do we invoke the gods or goddesses before beginning something? Because the blessings and the kṛpā should be there upon them. And as we believe that Sarasvatī Mātā is the mother of wisdom, is the goddess of wisdom, we will invoke her. Close your eyes. Bring your awareness and consciousness into the middle of the center of the heart. And that divine motherly love. That divine motherly kindness and compassion. May she be on our tongue, on our throat, and in our pure heart. May whatever we say be full of intention, clarity, and awareness. Whatever we say may be the words of her. Brahma Vichārasāra Dhavala Madhyam Jagad Vyāpinem Vīṇā Pustak Dhāriṇem Abhayadam Jāḍyam Daśān Sāraham Hastai Svatikamalikam Vidadatim Padmāsane Sansitam Vande Tam Parameśvarīm Bhagavatīm Buddhim Pradām Śāradā. Śāradā is another name for Mā Sarasvatī. Jagadambā is another name of Sarasvatī. And it doesn’t matter if we are male or female. That divinity, that divine power, is inside all of us. You may notice that in certain times we turn, or our feminine energy which is inside of us starts or activates. The mother can be very caring and very loving, but when that Kālī, when that Raudra Rūpa, when that Bhagavatī awakes within her, then she is the most strong woman in the world. We can put water, crystal clear, pure water. Sorry, you can open your eyes, by the way. I mean, you can keep them closed if you want. If we put pure, crystal clear water, but it’s put in a dirty cup, then what happens to the water? Hmm? What? Again reminding you, it’s an interactive satsaṅg. You can talk. You are not all sitting to stare at it. It gets also dirty. Why? Because the vessel, the glass, was dirty. That’s why inner purity, inner clarity is important. All the children who are leaving, please come for prasād before you leave. Sorry again, we made it late. I got a suggestion that we should have prayer a little bit earlier, and then maybe talk afterwards. So maybe from tomorrow. Today they are talking from inside, so let them talk. These are some rare days when I don’t mind sitting long. So until and unless our inner vessel, inner glass, is not clean, all the world’s knowledge can pour into us, but it will still remain dirty. We watch yoga in technical language, that’s German: Yoga in Daily Life. How many messages do we read in a day? Hundreds of messages we read throughout the day. Hundreds of videos we scroll through on social media. Everything is so accessible. We don’t have any more newspapers, we open our phone and we get fake news on Instagram. We become Brahmajñānī from the tutorials. In the same way, as we experiment with astral travel on YouTube. Close your eyes. Imagine your body is going out. The soul is going out. If your astral self has gone out of the body, then which self is listening to the YouTube tutorial? And what if you are listening to the tutorial? You go out, but the physical self doesn’t know how to communicate with the astral self, and you did not watch the complete tutorial because you are going with the flow. And you get lost somewhere else. Or maybe the tutorial is in English. And then what? You are lost. And let’s believe and follow the one who actually climbed that mountain, not Google Maps. Because Google Maps is, especially in India, we experienced it. We were going, I think, to Kumbha Melā or somewhere. It was night, thundering. I’m joking. This I made up to make it more intense. It was day, and we were driving on the road. And Google Maps says, "200 meters straight, turn right." And go straight 200 meters, we go right, there’s a newly constructed bridge, guess what? The bridge is only half built. So it was good that we were not driving at a good speed. Otherwise, my number plate of the car would be "Reality. Go Mokṣa!" That’s why I got that number plate, to remind myself. And the goal is mokṣa. Go mokṣa. So, that’s why we should not trust Google Maps, but I think the person who has driven that route, or who has climbed that mountain, knows more than Google Maps. So instead of trying to understand all the Vedas and all the knowledge in the Purāṇas and all these things. What do we do?