That´s what the word Guru means....

When one comes into the guidance of a Spiritual Master and surrenders to what He says, of course, one will be pulled out of this illusion, but as long as one doesn’t want to come into the shadow or guidance of a Master, one will always be in the ignorance. You will see this is the same in all religions. Take Christianity, take Hinduism, take Islam, take any religion, Buddhism, or any other, and you will see that there is always a hierarchy. Even you don’t need to go that far. Let’s take the hierarchy in the angel’s level, you know. You will see that there is this obedience. They all obey God, of course, but there is this obedience within the hierarchy of the angels itself. The normal angels are bound to listen and to serve the archangels. Because this is very important: if one just thinks that one knows something, it’s pure ignorance. That’s what the word guru, which is in two parts, means: gu, which means dispeller, and ru is darkness, so it’s dispeller of darkness, dispeller of ignorance. So, when one comes into the spiritual guidance of a Master, the Master takes on the responsibility of getting the ignorance out of the disciple. The ignorance means all the negative things. Also, in the word Guru, gu means the ultimate fulfilment, ‘r’ is remover of sin, remover of ignorance and ‘u’ is Narayana, Maha Vishnu. And He has these three together in Him; He has all three. The Guru is the one who gives spiritual knowledge which illuminates the mind of the disciple. And He is the Ultimate One, because He has already Realised the Oneness with God. So, when the disciple comes into contact with the Master, the disciple has to be loyal! One must have loyalty – loyalty not only to the Master, but loyalty also towards oneself! Only when you are loyal towards yourself will you be able to be loyal towards the Master and towards the outside. Secondly, the disciple must have obedience. Obedience doesn’t mean slavery. Often people think that to be obedient is just to become the slave of the Master. No, it’s the opposite, actually.

Like I said before, it’s not you who is the slave of the Master, but the Master who is the slave of you. But as in the mind you have ignorance, you have the pride, the ego, all these things, you have to listen to the one who has already overcome it.

How will we find the Lotus Feet of the Lord?

How will we find God? How will we find the Lotus Feet of the Lord, if we are so filled with this pride inside? Only with humbleness will one find Him, but not in the mind. You say to yourself, “Yes, I’m humble, I’m humble,” but it has to be here, within yourself, inside of you. When you think to yourself, “Yes, everybody is greater than me” you can learn things. There are so many things that you can learn. But, how many like to learn? Not so many. It is said that in this world there are four kinds of people: the one who is attached to the world, the one who is looking for freedom, the one who is ever free and the one who is liberated–well, actually, liberated, then ever free. These four kinds of people make this world, and where is each one situated in it? Are we trying to be liberated? Are we liberated? We can’t be ever free, because the ever free is only the Lord Himself. And, of course, whenever He manifests Himself, He’s ever free. He’s not bound by any law of karma, like

people are, but yet, you see how humble He is.
The Lord manifested Himself into a form here, in this level, to show the greatness of devotion, how important the devotion of His bhakta is. The Lord limits Himself for his devotee. So, the Lord is ever free to take whatever form, wherever He wills it, but yet we fight. We say, “Ours is the best; yours is not,” forgetting that He’s the Lord. He has created everything and He’s not bound in the way people are bound with the mind.

There’s this beautiful story that shows these four categories of humans. When a fisherman throws his net in the sea, the ever free will never get caught in the net. The fisherman can try as much as possible, but they are too wise for that. When the net of Maya is cast, the rest of them, the other three, get caught in it - the one who is attached, the one who is liberated and the one who is on the way to liberation. The one who is searching for liberation is like a fish caught in the net. The ones who are trying their best to be liberated see the net and they try their best to jump out of the net, but yet, they don’t succeed. They try and try and try and they can’t. But the liberated ones, they will jump out of the net, and then they will go! And the fisherman says, “Look at this big fish, he’s going away.” And the ones who are caught in the net are like the fish that don’t even try their best to come out. They don’t do anything. They think that, “Yes, I will be saved; let me go down deep in the mud and hide myself” but yet, forgetting that the net is caught in the mud. They will go and hide, forgetting that when the fisherman pulls the net, they will be also caught. They will come out inside the net. So, such are they who are caught in the world outside, who don’t even try their best to realise why they are here. They don’t even try and do something. They don’t even want to think about it, because they think, “Life is beautiful; let’s enjoy it!” Enjoy for how long-ten years, twenty years? They’re getting old; time is running on! And we don’t realise that, you know. We don’t realise that one day there will come a time where we will look at life and say, “What have I done?” We have danced in the routine all the time, every day. We have danced in the routine, which has made us a slave to this world. The merciful Lord has given a chance to change, but yet, we have not taken it. Then when you look at life behind you, you realise what a waste of life, what a waste of time has been. Then you will say to yourself, probably among you -you have even said it already, “Oh, I should have changed that time.” You realise that there were times for you to change, but you didn’t take the opportunity. Then you fall into the category of the fish that has been caught in the net, and when the fisherman pulls it out, you say, “Oops! Too late!” But it’s never too late. When you have practiced to surrender to God, when you have the Grace, take the chance and change! It’s not up to me to tell you to change, but it’s up to you to tell yourself to change. When you try, of course, it’s not in one go you will get the Divine. Of course, for some it’s easy, because of the past karmas. They can try and very quickly they receive the result. But for some, it takes time, but one should not lose hope. When the Divine sees that you are trying, He will send help. If you accept the help, He will lead you to liberation, but it’s up to you. This is the freedom that He gives to mankind. We choose the way we want. That’s why you see the world in this state. We have forgotten why we are here. We forget that our soul wants to be one with the

Divine; our soul wants to reach the Lotus Feet of the Lord.

Your aim is to have God-Realisation......

One has to completely surrender to one´s path and, whatever obstructions or obstacles come on the way, one has to always say “No” to them. Your aim is to have God-Realisation, Self-Realisation. Until you have reached your aim, until you have come to the point of complete trust and faith in yourself and in God, keep trying! Don’t let anything come in the way! Many times the mind will come in the way and say “No, no, no, no, no, no, you should not do like that, you should do like this”, but if you listen to the mind, you will stop. You will become lazy. Only when you really, sincerely dedicate yourself and surrender to your path, surrender to what you really want, you will achieve your aim. The aim is to Realise this Love that you have inside and to become this Love so completely that every atom in your body will radiate this Love of God. And this Love, you will spread it around always. This Love is beyond everything: beyond the mind, beyond the body, even beyond the Spirit itself. It is this Love that we have to attain.

Sri Swami Vishwananda talks about........

To Realise God you have to cross over all the barriers that the mind puts in place. And, as I said before, the easiest way to do that is to chant the Name of God. Then the mind will merge completely into the Divine Name and become Divine.

Focus on the divine.....

Focus on the true joy that you have inside of you. Focus on the Love of God that you have inside of you. Focus on the Divine, which is present inside of you and focus in a way that nothing on the outside can move you. No matter what comes, nothing can move you!

You have to make a difference in this world.....

Today I will talk about the self-confidence, also about the self-respect. So, often when travelling around looking how people are, how people live in different parts of the world and also how far along spirituality is. It’s a bit sad, actually, because people long for peace, people long for happiness; people long to be free, but yet, when you see how they live their life, you ask the questions “Will they ever be free; will they ever be happy? Will they ever be happy the way they live?” Well, if you ask the question, the answer will be “No.” Imagine how lucky you are, sitting here, to sing the Divine Names. How lucky it is that God chose you to be on a spiritual path. But it doesn’t end only here, because when you are on the spiritual path, very often I’ve seen people very shy, very shy to say that they are on this path. They are shy to say that they love God. Well, if you are shy to say that you are on a spiritual path and you love God, where is the self-confidence in it? Where is the faith in it? Where is the faith in yourself? You should never be afraid of saying that you love God, because this is the only thing; He is the only One that you can love, really. And only by being true to yourself, by being sincere to yourself, you can really change something. Like that, you don’t only change yourself, but you change other people also. People are scared of the spiritual path, because they see the limitation in the outside. If spiritual people limit themselves by being scared of the outside, well, it will not help. It will not help others to change. Like I said last time, become an instrument of this Divine Love. If you become an instrument of this Divine Love, you have to spread it. You have to make a difference in this world, not only in your life, but also in your surroundings.

We are so ruled by our mind.....

We are so ruled by our mind and we expect so many things, but in your life, for sure, you have done something unconditionally, but very often it’s easy to forget about it. Let’s say, you want something from somebody. You expect it and you get it. You will always remember it. Or, if somebody has hurt you, you will always remember it. But the good that somebody has done to you disappears [from your memory], also. Time makes everything disappear. There is one question that we always ask ourselves. In the beginning we were with God, so why do we have to incarnate here? Why do we have to be separated from the Divine? This is a question that everybody asks, no? We have read books and we have seen probably many Masters who have said “Yes, the main thing in life is to Realise your true Self, to Realise your true aspect.” But the question, which is still in the mind is “Why are we separated from the Divine?” Actually, the Divine is not separated from us, but it’s true that our mind perceives us to be separated from the Unlimited One, because we let ourselves be ruled only by the outside. We forget what is inside. The last part of the song that we sang says “We visit holy places, we visit lots of pilgrim places, but one place that we forget to visit is our heart.” Why did we get separated? Of course, the Divine in manifest and unmanifest form is present everywhere, in each cell of our body and pervades everything manifest and unmanifest. When we think of the manifestations of the Divine, we only think of Saints and Avatars, but He is, also, in all of you. Of course, these Saints and Avatars are grand manifestations of the Divine where He has to come to help humanity. Actually, He always comes to help people, to help Himself, actually, but we are so bound by the outside that we create karmic things. Always, in many lives, we have been creating a lot of karma and we bind ourselves by that. Some will say “Yes, but we are here to remove the karmic things. We are here to Realise our Selves.” It’s very true and this is the purpose of life; this is, also, the purpose of religion. It’s not only waving the light in front of the Deity or singing the glory of God, which is very good, but we have to attain Him. For that, we have to make an effort from our side. But if we let ourselves get caught by the illusion, Maya will get us. Illusion is, also, the Lord’s creation, but He gives us the choice, also, to want Him or to want the world. Some people are pretending to be very clever, saying, we want everything; we want the world and we want the Lord. But Christ said in the Bible: Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give back what belongs to the Spirit, to the Spirit. He, also, said that: if you think yourself to be Spirit you will be Spirit; but if you think yourself to be human, you will be just human, because you bind yourself.

At the end it´s only Him....

Your life’s purpose is only to attain His Love and the moment you get Him, you get everything. Your prayers and mediation and all your sadhana are to attain this Love, to Realise it or to awaken it. If you have a precious stone and leave it inside the safe, it will not shine, but when you have it outside, it will shine more and more. Christ said also: If you have a lamp, you don’t hide it under the bed. You put it high up that it can shine everywhere. It’s the same thing with what you have inside of you, don’t keep it closed inside. You have kept it closed up for so many lives. You have darkened it; you have put so many covers around it. Now you have a chance to let it shine, again. Be sincere towards yourself and do your sadhana. We can talk about sincerity. You can be sincere towards God, you can go in front of Him and pray everyday, but here you have to be sincere, because it has to come from within yourself. Even the littlest thing, if you ask from within you will get it; even the greatest thing, if you ask from within you will get it. We have a form outside to concentrate on and it’s very good until He reveals His Cosmic Form inside. And once you have found His Cosmic Form within your Self, you will see that He’s everywhere. He’s in everybody. You are in everybody, because at the end it’s only Him. We are ruled by our mind, by our pride and ego. We say “Yes, I, I, I,” always, “I am doing this.” But if you are doing it, why don’t you always succeed in doing it? It’s because we are so bound by our little pride, you know, that we have. It’s so little, but yet it seems so big. It blinds us so much that we don´t see even the Reality, but there is an easier way to surrender–to always remember the Divine. Whatever you do, wherever you are, just remind yourself that it’s only Him who is doing it, because if He doesn’t Will it, nothing happens. It’s life, actually, God. There are different ways, but at the end everybody will attain Him, because we all come from one place, and we all will go to one place only. The journey can be long, or it can be short, but at the end we will reach Him.

“How will we open our heart?”

We are here – somefor tourism, some for the spiritual search, and some just to see who Swami Vishwananda is. But, actually all of you –knowingly and unknowingly – you are here to open the heart; to know who we really are, not here, in this room, but here in this world. Often people come and ask me, “How will we open our heart?” For me to answer this question is very easy, I know how the heart is opened. It depends only whether the person will accept it or not. The first question that I will ask is “Do you love?” Then they tell me “Yes I love!” But, do you love yourself? This is the main important thing. We love towards the outside, but in the same way we love the outside, we also judge the outside. As easy as it is to love, as easy it is to judge. You see, mankind is made in such a way that the attention is always turned towards the outside. Very rarely does it turn towards the inside. And this is a search to go inside! The moment you stop, you stop judging; the moment you stop looking for fault in others, you will start truly loving everybody. And for that, you have to start looking within yourself, looking for what you have to change in your life. I’m not saying to judge yourself, but to look at the negative part of you and face it. But by looking at the negativity only, you will see that you create this negativity. To understand Love, it’s simple, it is just…absence of fear. You can’t understand Unconditional Love out of fear. But if people really want to understand Love, really want to understand who they are…they will.

How can one be better than the other?

How can one be better than the other? There is one phrase in the Srimad Bhagavatam where Krishna said: Don’t judge anybody. Don’t judge any religion. Don’t judge anybody by their colour. Don’t judge anybody by their culture, because they are loving me. And in all the forms I am present. You will see that Christ has said the same: Don’t judge; you shall not be judged, because our mind is always tempted to judge, thinking, “I’m the right one, you are the wrong one.” How can they be wrong, when everybody has the same God? Tell me, yourself, can there be something wrong in it? There can’t be anything wrong. The paths are different. The ways are different with each one suited to the way they like, but all want to attain this eternal happiness. All want to become Satcitananda and to attain God-Realisation. We see how the world is nowadays. You see how the mind of man is working. I don’t say that there is just negativity or just positivity. There is a balance of both, but people who are spiritual have the grace of God, and when you are spiritual, you awake this Divine Love within you. You try to know who you are, because you know the mind is limited by something and the body is limited by something. But there is the greatest force, which governs everything, which is deep inside of you, and this greatest force can’t be satisfied by anything in the outside, only by Pure Love, only by complete devotion to the Divine.

What is the Atma?

What is the Atma? It’s part of Paramatma and this Atma one day, whether it´s in this life or in a hundred lives, will go back to its Source where it comes from. There is no chance that it will never go back there, but it´s up to each one whether to quicken it or not. That´s the free will that God has given. You can quicken your way to the Divine and realise Him or you can just sit around and make it longer, which many people like to do. But everybody, in the end, will reach the Divine, because the essence of your Self is only Him. And only through this Love, when this Love really gets awakened and becomes like Radharani´s Love, then there is no chance of not attaining Him.

So, let Love rejoice inside of you, like I said, not only today, but always. And may you, by the grace of Radharani, become like Her. Like many other Saints, not only Radharani, but also among all the Deities who love the Lord, you will see that there is an expression of this Divine Love. If they could do it, we all can do it, also. If saints have achieved the Oneness with the Divine, be strong and say ‘yes’: you can and keep nagging the Lord inside of your heart until He opens the door and says, “Here I am, what do you want?” And be ready when He asks you what you want, to know, really, what you will ask Him.

Just Love.......

Love is all there is. Love is all you have to do. The rest will take care of itself. Those who have inner ears will hear. The words are like a sweet love song that if you allow it to touch you – will change your life forever.

Train your mind to focus on God.....

God is sitting deep inside the heart of man and you just need to focus your mind on your heart. Try your best to feel Him at all times. So the best way is to start loving, without any question, without thinking of loving, without asking, “How to love?” Train your mind to focus on God, train your mind to focus on your Self. Take any Divine name, take any Divine aspect and keep chanting the name until you realise that you are one with this name. It’s not a name apart from you, but it’s the name of your own Self.

Sometimes the Master has to do things to bring the disciple on the right path...

Sometimes the Master has to do things to bring the disciple on the right path, you know. Like I said: one can’t question. If someone is a Master, He knows what is best. Then you just need to surrender. Even if one’s mind is saying “no, no, no!” to it, it’s only by being humble, only by humility, by humbling yourself, by putting aside what your arrogant and prideful mind says, that you can really surrender. And once you have surrendered, the Divine will shower His love upon you. God will shower you with His grace and Love and you will feel His Love continuously, you will feel His joy continuously – a joy which doesn’t have any limit, a Love which doesn’t have any limit. And this Love, once you have Realised it, once you have treasured it inside your heart, once you have treasured it in each part of your body–in your mind, in your heart, in your soul– you, also, have become a master. You yourself will spread this Love. You yourself will spread the Name of God, because this is how it is with the Name of God, this is how it is with the Love of God. The more you have the Love of God, the more it will spread out, the more you will not be able to keep it, the more your heart will explode to let it out.

You have to look inside...

You have to look inside. When you turn inward, the Lord will reveal Himself to you; your Self will reveal itself to you. But you have to be sincere with yourself for that. You have to take your time and enjoy it. So many times people have said to me, “Oh, you know, half an hour of meditation is long enough, and one hour is way too long.” If you can’t do one hour meditation, you should not force yourself. If you can’t meditate for half an hour you should not do it. If you can only do it for one minute, then do a perfect one! Then there is one minute just between you and God, between you and Yourself – so enjoy it! It’s better than meditating for a whole day and not attaining anything!

So keep practicing. I always say it and keep saying it all the time. When you make the effort, the Lord will run to you. It’s said, “Make one step towards God, and he will make a hundred towards you.” It’s true, you know. The moment you are sincere with yourself and you make this one step, you’ll receive His grace. The door will be wide open, and you will see the Lord running to you! You know how beautiful it is, to experience that? How joyful it is! Words can’t express it. I can just say ‘joyful’, but it is beyond that. It even is beyond the word of love itself! The mind can only imagine it, how it is to be continuously, constantly in love. It’s marvellous.

This type of love is unconditional. It’s without the expectation of anything in return. It’s just a flowing, a continuous flowing. Be this instrument, all of you!