Sri Swami Vishwananda tells us today

Don’t waste time! This is one thing that a lot of people do: waste time. They think that later in life they can do everything. Whenever they have time they can do everything. But you see, one thing is, if you do not make time now, you will never make time - later never comes. Like somebody was saying “Tomorrow never comes.” It‘s true. You have many excuses for not doing your sadhana, but know that what you are doing now is very important. And that contributes a lot. So, taking every opportunity to receive, to be near the master, to be near a teacher, to receive the grace is a must in life. Like I was just saying, you all are very lucky for Mahavatar has graced all of you. The Divine has graced all of you, God has graced all of you, so that you may search, you may look for the greater purpose in life. And I am sure you will achieve it. I am sure you will get what you are looking for. One thing only that I ask is: just be sincere with yourself, open your heart sincerely to yourself and let the Divine do the rest. You will see that this nectar, which we call Love, you are full with it, even if your mind does not feel it. If you are looking at yourself, you do not feel it like that, but actually, each part of your body is full of this. You are sitting here, you are receiving the grace, you are chanting the Divine Names, you are singing the glory of God, and you are receiving the blessing. Even though you do not know about it, but yet you are receiving it. There was once a criminal, somebody who killed people, a murderer. So he received a mantra from his Guru. The Guru gave him the mantra. He told him to chant, but he did not want to chant the name of God. He said “I don’t believe in any God, just give me something to chant so that I can make my head, my mind, calm”. So the Guru was very happy and said “Chant Maramaramara.” This murderer was very happy and he was chanting “Maramaramaramararamaramaramaram”. Can you hear? What is he chanting? “Rama, Rama Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama,Rama, Ram.” So, ignorantly, he had been chanting the name of Rama and, at the end of his life, he was fully realised. He attained God. He attained Rama. So when you go to satsang, when you go to pilgrimage places, it is always you who receives. It is your benefit always. So, surrender to the Guru’s feet! As it is said “When one meets one’s Guru, the world becomes the feet of the master.” And the Guru’s feet are everything. That is why, in the Hindu tradition, we worship Vishnu Padam. Why do we worship the Feet of Maha Vishnu? When we say ‘feet’, it is not the upper part, rather it is the down part. That is why when the Guru places the feet he does not put the upper part. He puts the down part of it, because under the soles of the Feet of the Master is the Vishnu Padam. Beneath the feet is all: They are the Feet of Maha Vishnu Himself. That is why in the Gita it is said: Guru Govinda. Krishna manifests Himself as the Guru and the Guru is Govinda, is Krishna. Service to the Feet of the Master is equal to thousands of pilgrimage places. So, do your service to the Feet of the Master and surrender. Adi Shankaracharya said “I received everything only by surrendering to the Feet of my Master” But, sadly, nowadays, when we say “Follow and do this”, what does the disciple say “Why should I do this?” It is normal, because the difference between the time before and now is that nowadays, the mind has taken over. And, when the mind takes over, of course, there will be lots of questions, lots of doubt, a lot of unreasonable thinking in the mind and, then, one loses certain opportunities. That’s why mankind always goes in the circle of birth and death, when mankind can achieve everything in one life - they can! Charanasparsha, which means surrender to the lotus feet. As the Divine resides in all of your hearts, may the Divine put His Lotus Feet in your hearts. And, as all the saints and all the masters and all the spiritual seekers, may you always be in the Love of the Divine. May you always feel the Divine. Whatever you are doing, wherever you are, know that God is close to you as ever. You know, in the Hindu tradition we have a prayer, we say: Karaagre vasate lakshmi, karamadhye sarasvati karamuule tu govinda, prabhaate karadarshanam samudravasane devi parvatastanamandale, vishhnupatni namastubhyam paadasparsham kshamasva me. [Oh!

Mother Earth, who has the ocean as clothes and mountains and forests on her body, who is the wife of Lord Vishnu, I bow to you. Please forgive me for touching you with my feet] Do you know this prayer? This prayer is a prayer which one does before getting out of bed. One puts one hand like this [with fingers] touching the upper part, saying Goddess Lakshmi is there, the middle is Goddess Saraswati and down is Govinda - Maha Vishnu. This is the first thing people used to do before getting out of bed. They would remind themselves that in their palm there are Lakshmi, Saraswati and Govinda. So, like that, they would never forget that the Divine is always with them. But nowadays, the first thing when one gets out of bed, one says “What will I do today?” In place of thinking of God, one thinks of everything else except the Divine. So make it a habit, the first thought when you rise in the morning, just think of any Divinity that you feel close with. If ever you know your Ishtadev, think of your Ishtadev. If you have your Guru mantra, just chant one time even your Guru mantra. And build up!