At Ram Navami Guruji gave us an extensive and quite informative speech about the incarnation of Rama and of course he knows how to apply Rama`s example to our all life....

Here is the summary:

Rama was the embodiment of Dharma, He was very righteous. The question arises why he did not accept His wife Sita back after she was kidnapped by the demon king Ravana. At that time, a woman was not allowed to be alone in a room with a man other than her father. Otherwise she was not even allowed to enter her house again. So when Rama came back home after many years of exile, people accused Him for taking Sita back. He had to act according to His role as a king in order to appease His people. What the people did not know was that it was only a shadow of Sita Devi who was captured by Ravana. The real Sita has been guarded by Agni Dev. There is a close connection between Rama and Agni Dev. Dasharath, Ramas father, was not able to have children. One day Narad Muni, the Divine messenger, came to Dasharath to tell him that the Lord had decided to incarnate into his Yadava dynasty. He told him to do a yagna in order to conceive a child. During this yagna Agni Dev appeared and gave two mangos to him. They were meant for two wives of Dasharata so that they might conceive. One mango was for the incarnation of Narayana and the other one for the incarnation of Adishesh, the serpent. But he had three wives. So the two wives shared the two mangos among one another and this is how it came that two wives conceived one child and the third conceived two children as she got a share of each of the two mangos. So Narayana incarnate as Rama, Adishesh became Lakshmana, then there was the shanka and the chakra incarnating in Sathurnath and Bharath. The reason why the Lord had to incarnate at that time was the presence of Ravana on earth. Ravana was one of the two gate keepers of Vaikuntha, Jaya and Vijaya, who had to incarnate as a demon. But this is another beautiful story. Guruji told us, that whenever the Lord has the intention to incarnate, he asks all the Devas for their assistance on earth, so all come with him to earth. So when the Lord incarnates, they are already all waiting for Him. And all know their mission. This is what we celebrate with Ram Navami.The reason why Rama refused to take Sita back was because of His people. Sita always stayed pure, She is Maha Lakshmi, but this the people did not know. They were unhappy that their King took Her back after She was with Ravana, as they thought. So Rama had to act on His dharma as a king. This is a beautiful example how the Lord surrenders to the Devotees, He puts Himself always last. Relating to this Guruji was also explaining why the Lord, Narayana, is wearing a tilak, as the tilak symbolizes the lotus feet of the Lord. The meaning of Narayana wearing a tilak is to always remind himself of the love of the bhakta. Guruji told us, that the same way Rama was doing His dharma, each one of us should do their dharma. It is not in our hand to decide about this, life will guide us towards this. There is of course the universal dharma of realizing oneself, but God has put us also to our individual dharma and we have to learn to love it, no matter what our task is. And if we learn to accept it and realize that the Divine has given it to us, it will lead us to our aim. And this is what it means to live spiritually. How can we live a spiritual way if we cannot accept what God has given us? When we finish our dharma which God has given us in the outside, He will reveal to us the inner dharma. But how will we handle the inner dharma, when we do not learn to handle the outer dharma?

Swami says: “So that is the Dharma. That is what Rama stands for, that is what He is showing. Each one has their own dharma, each one is very important in that. The role of a priest is a priest, the role of a banker is a banker. You can't put the priest into a bank, you know somebody searching for God you put him in a bank I am sure the bank will be ruined completely and together with him all the people. If you realize that where God has put you that is what your dharma is, try to enjoy it even if you don't agree with it.”

Love is such a big gift......

When we talk about freedom, what are the things we think of at first? Freedom of country, political freedom, economic freedom… But the inner freedom is the most important among all the different kinds of freedom, and that is what mankind really wants to achieve. This is the reason why each soul has come on earth. They come to achieve this freedom, this love of God. Let me try to interpret this kind of freedom: If you want something you shall have it. But you can also detach from the desire by your own will. You see, mankind desires many things, but when they have them they get attached to them. This attachment brings unhappiness. The more you are attached to things which are limited or not eternal, the more you feel miserable. You lose this inner freedom. You become limited in the mind. You become limited with your body, which in turn makes your soul limited. So, to free one’s self, one must surrender the body, mind and soul to God, to the Unlimited. It’s true that everybody can’t renounce the world and live only for God, but you can continuously try to remember God wherever you are. Remember that the soul inside you is the light of God. The more you think of yourself being part of this light of God, this great love, the more you will reflect this love. But the more you think that you are just a normal human being, the more you will just be a normal human being with all of its limited qualities and you cover all of your divine qualities. Take time every day, just five minutes, to be with your Self. Forget about the world outside, forget everything. Forget about your husband or wife; forget about all your relationships with the outside. Only think of the relationship with your Self. Do you know what treasure you will find? You will find the biggest treasure of all, a treasure that nobody can steal from you. And that is love. Love is such a big gift. We feel it with our heart, we know it with our mind, but to realise it, to become one with this love, to spread this love, unconditionally – this is the aim of mankind. The more you spread it, the more you reflect it, the more you will discover your Self. 

Do we have a free will ? ....

All spiritual sadhana, why do we do it? It’s because we know that there is something greater that our soul wants. We want something, but yet, with the mind we don’t understand it too much. We try to understand. We always look at it with the mind and we always want it to be how we want it to be, our way. But what is our way, actually? It is His Will. We always think that we have a free will. Once somebody asked a saint “Do we have a free will?” The saint said “Well, you have a will, but it’s not free.” It’s like a cow: the cow is tied with a rope and is given only a certain radius to turn around. The cow is free, but it is free only in a certain radius. And such is so, also, with the will of man. And the rest is His will only. But in this little radius with things which seem so big, we like to make ourselves feel greater than anybody else, don´t we? We like to make ourselves even greater than the Lord Himself. This reminds me of Narad Muni, the messenger of God, who was cursed by Maha Vishnu, who had said to him “Narad Muni, go to Hell! You are doomed! Go away.” Narad Muni became very quiet and said “My dear Lord, as you have told me to go to Hell, can You please tell me where it is?” Maha Vishnu said “OK.” With His Shakti, He manifested a chalk and He started to draw. He said “Here is Heaven” and then He drew Heaven “And here is Hell” and He drew Hell. Seeing that, Narad Muni became very happy. He approached the drawing, jumped into the drawing and started to roll in the place where Hell was. Maha Vishnu was very amused and said “Narad, what are you doing?” Narad Muni answered to Him “Well, You told me to go to Hell, didn´t You? Here I am. I’m rolling myself in Hell.” Then Narad Muni continued, saying “You are the Lord of everything. When you say ‘This is Heaven’, of course, it becomes Heaven. When you say ‘This is Hell’, of course, it course it becomes Hell. When you sent me there, I went there. Even if it is just a drawing, it is Hell for me, I can feel it.” Maha Vishnu was very pleased with him and He blessed him. This shows us, also, the limitation of ourselves, the limitation that our mind creates. We could be free, but our mind doesn’t let us be free. We can see the Lord everywhere, but our pride always stops us. We can love Him, but our expectation is always there, too. When one lets go of these three things, one will be really, fully into Him. Above all, He is the manifestation of Love. He is the manifestation of who we are, all of us. In Him Love is manifested in the outside, in everything that He expresses, in every action of Him. 

If somebody knows the glory of prayer, the glory of chanting the Divine Names, they know the value of it....

As it is said in the Shrimad Bhagavatam “It doesn’t matter how you chant My name, how you recite the name of the Divine.” Some have a beautiful voice, some don’t have a beautiful voice. But, it’s equal to Him. The main thing is that you chant, that you pray. Prayer: that’s what transforms somebody. Through prayer, people find solace; some to attain the lotus feet of the Lord, some to achieve whatever they desire in life. But the main thing is to pray: that’s what transform you, what gives you this inner glow, so that you can call yourself spiritual. People, humans are always on a search. They are always searching for something. Some people search for it in the outside world. Some people search for it in the inside world. But, only few really know the importance of prayer. In the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas said “The value of a stone is known

only to somebody who knows about gems”. Then they can value how precious the stone is. The same thing: if somebody knows the glory of prayer, the glory of chanting the Divine Names, they know the value of it.

Let Love fully blossom in your heart .....

When faith is strong, the Love will be much stronger, because when you have complete faith, you are the Lover. And when you are the Lover, the Beloved will always be with you. So, strive for that! Work, so that

Love can fully blossom in your heart; so that your mind can fully be into the Divine; so that the Divine can reveal Himself to you.

Words of Sri Swami Vishwananda......

You will realise this cosmic Christ within, which is our Self. Of course, this is not a very quick process. You really have to dedicate yourself to that. It’s not just by touching it a little bit and feeling it and saying, “OK, this is good. I will take it or not.” You have really to be in it...... deep inside. You really have to fall in love completely. Completely trust, to really know the depth of this love, to really know the depth of this trust. One way is through meditation.

What will make you realised? ...

...It is very simple and easy to offer your heart to God. So, whenever you think that you have to offer something to the Lord, first inside of you, offer your heart to Him saying, “Lord, I offer You my heart.

It is not mine anymore, it is Yours. Make me love the way that You Love. Make me Realise this Divine Love.” Spirituality is just about a relationship to God and this Love relationship to the Divine will

make you Realised.

Words of Sri Swami Vishwananda.....

We often talk about the mind. But God has given a heart to man, too. The heart is not just here to pump the blood in the whole body. It’s also to feel. Very often, when you get hurt, the heart has a lot of pain, doesn’t it? And when you feel happiness and joy, the heart is wide open. And to love God is... I can’t even express it in words actually, because it’s a mixture of everything in it. Sometimes you will fight with God, sometimes you will blame God, and sometimes you will just be completely in love with God. And at the end of all three, it’s just this pure love. And this is the freedom that all of you have. But you have to really express it, to really let it grow. Not with a ‘but’. So many times we say, “We try to open our heart, but there is always something in the way.” Try it, you will see. One day you will surrender completely, saying, “Open my heart. Here I am. I surrender to You – body, mind and soul is Yours! Do whatever you want to do.” 

Chant the name of God always, so that on your lips there are always the Divine names.....

About the Divine Names, in the Scriptures, let’s take the Psalms 113: King David said: From sunrise to sunset, I should praise the name of God. Take the Bible: Saint Paul said: Whoever finds refuge in Your name, shall be saved. Buddha said: Whoever chants my name, at the end of their life, they shall reach me and I will lead them to paradise. In the Veda it’s said: In this time chant, chant, chant, because only the name of Sri Hari will save humanity. Mahavatar Himself, you know, has said “Chant Om Namo Narayanaya. If you want peace in the world, recite the name of Narayana, it will bring joy and peace.” So, something like that almost every saint has said. Shirdi Sai always was telling to his disciples “Chant Om Namo Narayanaya.” Lahiri Mahasaya also said it to his disciples “read the Srimad Bhagavatam and chant the name of God always, so that on your lips there are always the Divine names”, because when there are always the Divine names on your lips, there will be no time for you to think of negative things.