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Part 1: The Guru's Feet as the Holiest Pilgrimage And I will continue with the 15th śloka. When you think of your Gurudeva, water springs above your head. And that is the benefit—it is as though you are bathed in all holy rivers. You will receive all the benefit of bathing in all holy rivers. I remember at one Kumbha Melā in, I think, Prayāg, there was a comic situation. In the morning, a truck with a big billboard was passing in front of our camp: "Today, visit our nightclub, and tomorrow bathe in the Gaṅgā." So stupid. And remember what we talked about a few days ago. Mahāprabhujī said that in the Gaṅgā there are also many animals living and bathing. And what—do we think that all the animals in Varanasi which are living in the Gaṅgā are self-realized? That must mean something else, something much, much higher. And you know the story about Gaṅgā, how Gaṅgā came to the earth. It is a very long story. This story is connected with Kapila Muni. But I will tell only the beginning and the end; the middle is long. Kapila Muni was meditating, and Indra was, of course, in fear. "Look, that yogī is really great, and he will take my position." Because Indra is in position. It was out of his mind that Kapila Muni did not want to get the position of Indra. If you are a yogī, who wants the position of Indra? That is something—heaven. A yogī is not interested in heaven. The place of heaven is our Maṇipūra Chakra. And when we are on the level of consciousness of Maṇipūra Chakra, we are on the level of consciousness of heaven. And because of that, I always said, if somebody asks you, "How are you?" and you say, "I am not so good, life is suffering," etc., etc., it means that we are not on the level of Maṇipūra Chakra; we are below Maṇipūra Chakra. Maṇipūra Chakra is the conscience, and that is the level of heaven. But that is Maṇipūra Chakra. And a thousand miles above heaven is the Sahasrāra Chakra. That is in that bhajan, praise of Rāma. What does it mean? A yogī is not interested in heaven. A yogī wants only one thing—that ultimate, true, ultimate cosmic conscience. Paramātmā. The conscience of the Guru. That is the aim of the yogī. And in there, Indra made one līlā. And Indra arranged such a līlā, such a little game. Because at that time, one king made a ceremony, a ritual with the horse. Because of that, in the picture with Kapila Muni, you will also see a horse. And at that time, only the king made such a ritual with the important horse. And if you look at the picture of Kapila Muni, there is always the horse also drawn. If you want to show that you are the mighty Mahārāj, one of the ceremonies, yagyas, was called sacrificing of the horse—but not killing the horse. You must always understand this play of the words. It does not mean sacrificing the horse, that we will kill the horse—no. That means that for one year you make that horse free, and he is walking everywhere where he wants to walk. The best horse of the king. And with that horse, some soldiers are also walking along. And of course, when the horse comes into your kingdom, if you say, "Yes, this Mahārāja is greater than me," you just let that horse walk through your kingdom, and also you give some donation. But Indra makes, like in Star Trek, this teleportation of the horse into the āśram of Kapila Muni. And in the morning, the soldiers did not know where the horse was. Who stole the horse? Meaning that it is the enemy. And they tried to find the horse, and they found the horse in the āśram of Kapila Muni, and they were very angry. And Kapila Muni was in mauna and also meditated. And they went into the āśram and saw the yogī meditating. But yogī meditation is not like our meditation—15 minutes and we are finished. But who knows, maybe 15 hours, maybe 15 days, maybe 15 years, he will meditate without movement. "A nice. Mahārājī, nothing." Mahārājjī and nothing. And one soldier was really angry. He took a stone and hit Kapila Muni. And Kapila Muni opened his eyes and burned everything in front of him. And the king was thinking, "Where is the army?" And for a king, his army is his sons. And because of that, you will find in the text that thousands of kings' sons were turned into ash. And the king finally found that ash—everything finished in the Kapila Muni Āśram. He realized that his soldiers, his sons, made great mistakes, and he came to apologize. But Kapila Muni said, "I cannot do anything. Really, I cannot save them. Only Gaṅgā is able to purify sin." And we talked this morning, and this afternoon we talked about what sin means. What it means when you have avidyā, when you do not have knowledge. And through that, we make mistakes. And only Gaṅgā is able to purify his—what means—ignorance. And starts the story of how to bring Gaṅgā to the earth. And the real son of the king starts to make tapasyā. And you know what tapasyā was? Standing on one leg. Why are we doing this āsana? And why is this āsana usually for tapas? Till nowadays, you will see the sādhus who are standing on one leg. Because it is focus, concentration, strengthening the will. Also, it depends which leg, because you decide to stand on one leg, which means it is not changing legs, and that is connected with Iḍā and Piṅgalā. What do you sacrifice? Did you sacrifice your negative emotion and purify this, or avidyā? And his son was standing on one leg, but nothing happened. His son also, and it was great tapas, and in the end, Gaṅgā came to the earth. And how Gaṅgā came to the earth—she came to the place where the ashes of these soldiers were. And as the Gaṅgā came to the ground, she came to the place where the ashes of the soldiers were. That purifies all his mistakes and makes him free. And she purified all his mistakes and set him free. Of course, everything in the symbolic way. Everything, of course, is symbolic. And we always say that Gaṅgā is purifying. And not Gaṅgā like today go to the nightclub and tomorrow bathe in the Gaṅgā. But the meaning of Kumbha Melā is also that you have 12 years of great sādhanā. And after that, you went to bathe in Saṅgam, where there are the three rivers Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī. And we know that Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī—and a yogī is always bathing in Saṅgam twice a day, at Brahma Muhūrta and also Sandhyā, time of sunset. And bathing in Saṅgam means meditating in Ājñā Chakra. Because here is the Trikuṭī. Because here is the Trikuṭī. And when you meditate on Ājñā Chakra, what is also Vārāṇasī, Kāśī, where Śiva is living—everything what you see also in the Guru Gītā—that meditation means that you have bhāva on Saṅgam, that is your Kumbha Melā. And that Kumbha Melā, that bath in Gaṅgā, will purify us. It purifies us. That is symbolic. But also we need material. What does it mean that people come to one place? In that place also there is great energy, because on that place for thousands and thousands and thousands of years holy people, saints, yogīs were coming, and all that area has strong energy. And in Guru Gītā, we will find the next śloka. The place where Śiva is living is Kāśī, Vārāṇasī. Or they call it Mokṣa Purī, the place where you will get mokṣa—that is your Ājñā Chakra. And water from the feet is the Gaṅgā, and that Gaṅgā is purifying our mind. Guru is Viśveśvara, which means the Lord of the whole universe. Tāraka means those who are making it possible that we are able to cross over the ocean of Māyā. Guru is that who is bringing us to Brahman, and what is said in the bhajan of Śivānandjī, the feet of the Guru is the Tīrtharāj. That means the holiest of all holy places. But also Tīrtharāj means Prayāg, where is the Saṅgam of three rivers, Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī. But when we talk about these three rivers, and that the Guru's feet is that Prayāg where is the coming together of the three rivers, it also means that the three rivers symbolize Icchā Śakti, Jñāna Śakti, and Kriyā Śakti. These three rivers symbolize Icchā Śakti, Jñāna Śakti, and Kriyā Śakti. What does it mean when we bow down to the Guru's feet? What does it mean to be a part of the Guru? It means when we bow down to the Guru's feet, it means the path of the Guru. Through that we will gain, and it is also important that we have Icchā Śakti. Śakti, strength, in this is not only will, but also right behavior and right action. It is not only the power of will, but it is also the power of good behavior and the power of right actions. Jñāna Śakti means knowledge, strength in knowledge, and Kriyā Śakti is also strength of action. And what is also very important to know, we have triśūl. And the triśūl is the weapon of Śiva. And that triśūl means we will win, we will solve problems only through Icchā Śakti, Jñāna Śakti, and Kriyā Śakti. If we do not have Kriyā Śakti, everything will stay on the level of inspiration and motivation. But if we do not have Jñāna Śakti, we do not know what to do. And also if we do not have Icchā Śakti, Saṅkalpa Śakti, we will not be able to do anything. And because of that, the weapon is triśūl. And in this story and everywhere, Śiva is the chit, conscience. But Śakti, she is the triśūl. And only Śiva and Śakti can do something. The water from the Guru's feet is purifying all our mistakes, or we will say also sins, and it is bringing the light of real knowledge, and we are able to cross the ocean of ignorance. The ignorance can be destroyed. The saṃsāra, this rebirth cycle, this chain of birth and death—and gain the jñāna and vairāgya when we are drinking the water from the Guru's feet. Drink that water, which is holy. Eat the food which the Guru gave to you. Meditate on the Guru Mūrti form and repeat the mantra. And again, Kāśī is where the living Guru is. From his feet is flowing the Gaṅgā. He is the Lord of the Universe. He is the path. And he is that who will bring us over the Māyā to Brahman. And we talk always about this water from the Guru's feet. Water has many symbols. First, what we talked about a few days ago: one of the principles of water is that it flows from up to down. Always from a higher place to the lower place. That is the principle in the universe: from high energy to low energy. When we talk about weather also, high pressure and low pressure. What it means is that if we want to get knowledge, we need to have this love, this understanding—you know, and I do not know. And now I am sitting near your feet, Upaniṣad, and please, I listen to you. Because it is very important if you respect something, and if you value something. From that which you respect and value, you will gain the benefit. You will remember only that which you value and what you think is really something. Part 2: The Value of a True Disciple and the Path of Sādhanā Because of that, we said in the West, don’t throw pearls in front of pigs. Why? Because pigs don’t have value for what the pearls are. And that means we need to value, to respect, to love that person from whom we want to learn something. Also, that means without ego. Because ego is the highest peak of the mountain, and water will not go up. And also, you know, from many, many traditions, always the same story. When a disciple comes to the guru, the guru is pouring tea, but the tea is going out, and more going out. And in one moment, the disciple said, “But Gurujī, tea is going out.” And Gurujī said, “Yes, that is also your condition. First, you need to empty your cup to let something fresh come inside.” And there is one story. It was one lady. She was 50 years constantly visiting the satsaṅg. She said, “Praṇām Gurujī.” She prepared 50 liters of kheer, a nice kheer, and it’s not easy. It is a job, it is expensive, and it’s very tasteful. And she prepared 50 liters of the kheer, brought it to Gurujī, and Gurujī had one bowl, because they said alpāhārī, that our daily food should be what is in two palms, and that cup, that bowl was like this. That means coconut. And he told her, “Please give me my pot.” And she brings the pot, full of joy. But she’s with a little ego. “My kheer is the best kheer.” And Gurujī said, “Look at this cow shit, take cow shit in my pot.” Imagine us in that situation, but Gurujī said, “I will do,” and she made, “No, no, more, more, more.” And she made it full, and he took the pot full of cow dung and he said, “Put this kheer inside.” And she was devastated, but Gurujī said, and she started to put it in. And the kheer was coming in, and a mix of kheer and dung goes out, a mess. And with every filling of the pot, she was observing Gurujī, but Gurujī said, “More, more, put more.” And in that moment, the kheer was completely clear. The pot was completely clear. And Gurujī drank and said, “Oh, really good kheer.” And she bowed down and asked Gurujī, “But why did you destroy 50 liters of good kheer?” And Gurujī said, “To teach you something. But what? Look, when you came to me, you were a pot full of cow dung. All these negative thoughts, negative feelings, everything that makes us unhappy, a lot of ego, a lot of negative thoughts, everything that makes us unhappy.” And for that, it needs a long time and a lot of nectar. And when we talk about amṛt, what is the water from the Guru’s feet, it means also wisdom, energy, lecture, satsaṅg. Darśana, darśana, everything of that is purifying us. And that is the meaning of the water. And also water, what does water mean? When you are very thirsty, only water can make it so that you are no longer thirsty. And drinking the water from the Guru’s feet is symbolically that that water, that nectar, that knowledge, that energy, that darśana will make that we are not anymore thirsty for the knowledge, because we will conquer the thirst. And also, the water here and water from the feet means also that physical form, not only part, not only books, but physical form, who will correct us, the one who will lead us. And what we must know, that the yoga path is not the same for everybody. It is completely individual. For each of us, it is something different. Because we are not the same. And that is known only by the person who has also passed through that problem. I always talk about Alcoholics Anonymous, because it’s very similar. But who is your mentor? Not somebody who never drank. Not somebody who was never an alcoholic. First, you will say, “How will you talk about this, but you don’t know anything about this. Just theoretically, you will tell me something.” Like when some nun comes to the drunk person and starts, “Oh, God is loving you, don’t drink.” What will that person think? Go away. But somebody with experience, who passed through the same problems, it is possible to lead you. And that is the guru. What is not meaning that he or she was an alcoholic before. But when you come to that point, when you merge the river with the ocean, in that moment, you become the ocean. What does it mean to have the experience of each drop in that ocean? And because of that, we are not talking in yoga about nirvāṇa. Nothing less, nothing. Because when you go to sleep, in the first moment when you’re down, before you start the dream, you are in that state. No worries, no pain, but you don’t know that you are existing. That is the big nothingness. But in yoga, we go beyond that. We go on that when you enter in the river, you are not big, nothing, but you become big, everything. You have experience of everything. What was from Ādi and Ādi, from beginning till no beginning, no end, that endless over. And only those who reach that state, who have such experience, such knowledge, are able to lead people and lead them to the next, to the shore. Crossing the river or ocean of ignorance. Now, one advice: what is sādhanā, how to have sādhanā, and which sādhanā is important. Always meditate on the form of your guru, mūrti, repeat his name, follow his or her instruction, ājñā, and nothing is more important than your guru. That should be your sādhanā. You know, many times Swamiji said about satsaṅg and kusaṅg. And many times he said that whichever liquid you take, what you drink, in that way your tongue will move. If you drink water and nice juice, juice before fermentation, your tongue will work nicely, and you will have nice words. But if you drink something that ferments, our tongue will... And also on what you are thinking, that you will become. Also, it’s very important which song you are listening to. A few days ago, I just wrote on Facebook that a song came to me: “I am just a human...” No, no, but about that song, what I hear and what inspires me. If you listen all the time to some song, “I love, but he don’t love me, and I’m suffering, and my life is nothing,” and it feels good, it feels good, and I will cut my vein. And if we look only at Latin American, Turkish soap operas, telenovelas, what do you expect of your life? If your darling is not hitting you, it means he doesn’t like me. And only suffering, suffering, suffering. Glorifying of suffering, and your life will be suffering. But if we all the time have satsaṅg, not kusaṅg, only satsaṅg, and if we have a multi-form picture of our guru, all the time, we will have somewhere in the mind the teaching of the Guru. And because of that, Swāmījī said, the picture is even stronger than mantra. And we should be very careful to whom we give a picture. And how will we respect the picture? Because we said about respect. We will learn, we will gain something, we will remember something, only if we respect and value that. Just from what we value, what we give value to, what we see as valuable. Repeat the name, Guru Nām. What means mantra. And follow the instruction of the Guru. The instruction of the Guru is called Ājñā. Ajñā: also control, but also instruction. And next, śloka 19. They said that this śloka comes from one Upaniṣad. The knowledge will not come from one Upaniṣad to that one who is only intellectually excellent. But knowledge will come to that person who has that love, that respect for Guru and for God. And we know many times from stories which Swāmījī said, that what means Guru Kṛpā? Guru kṛpā and how to gain the guru kṛpā. Swāmījī said all of you have Guru Kṛpā. Guru kṛpā, we will gain the guru kṛpā. Swāmījī said, when you are able to receive the knowledge and transfer knowledge completely clear, completely clean, clean, completely clean, without putting your opinion. What it means is you are able to receive the pure water, and also you are not putting all that water, I will put a little orange juice inside, and a little more sugar and tea, and that will be better, and I will transfer further. Only what is changeable, I will say, is kāl and deś, place and time, and of course, to whom you are talking. Because you must be able to also, when, not to confuse people. And talk on the, not level, because when we say level, it means I am on the highest level. And who is talking? That is our ego. But of the situation in which the person is, and that is kāl and deś, place and time. And what is very important, the knowledge, but not knowledge, but wisdom is much better. You will not, we are not able to learn to get. Same thing is one big mistake with the mantra. On that, I am very allergic. It is nothing, but it is attitude. Listen, I got a mantra. I take a mantra. Do you feel the difference? I take. No, you can’t take. You got a mantra like a present. And because of that, we have a bhajan from Mīrābāī. I got the big present from my guru: the divine name. No, I took from my guru the divine name. Yes, we have here people from advertising. Many people talk about NLP. How will they say, reframing? Yes? It is very important how you will tell something. On the surface, it is the same. But I got a present from my guru. You value this. For you, it’s really great, like you got something amazing. And I took it. It has no more value inside. And when it’s not valued, you know how many times Swāmījī said, how you value something, you will get from that, that much. It means if you value something more, you will get more from that. And it is also inside, it is said, that the knowledge we are not able to take, but knowledge appears in us, here is in peer. Okay, after one and a half hours of talking. It is possible to be inside only when we purify the pot from the shit. And in that moment, the knowledge appears in us.