Be completely detached from whatever you do....

In the morning, praise the Lord and say: “I’m an instrument in your hands. Guide me, be with me!” At the end of the day, before you go to sleep, surrender everything, every action, even if it was not a good action. Analyse it and surrender it to the Divine. Be completely detached from whatever you do, and focus your mind on the Lord.There was a great poet, Adi Shankaracharya who said,“Bhaja Govindam, Govindam Bhajam Muramate.” Meaning, if mankind would realise how foolish mankind is... We do not realise that the Ultimate of everything is Govinda, is God. If man would realise that everything comes from the source, which is God, why not take the source itself? Why just want something that will be finished after some time?Even Lahiri Mahasaya, who was a very great yogi, in one of his previous lives when he used to live with Mahavatar Babaji, he had the desire to have a golden palace, and this desire for this golden palace made him incarnate again on earth. Because of the grace of Mahavatar Babaji, his love, and really his compassion for everybody, Babaji guided him and fulfilled his wish during this life. When Babaji appeared to him, he materialised a very huge golden palace, with lots of diamonds and all the precious stones that you can imagine inside. He was very amazed with everything, and then Babaji de-materialized it. Just the same way he made it appear, he also made it disappear.When you fall at the feet of Babaji, think of Babaji and pray to him, “If You could create this big palace, if You are the source of everything, why will I need just a palace? Isn’t it better that I take you completely? You are the ultimate. You are the goal of all life. Let me have you!” In the same way, do not waste your time in wanting things that you know have their limit. Desire the Ultimate, and you shall have it. Surrender your body, mind and soul. Focus on any Divine aspect firstly, and then you realise your Divinity. Remember that whoever you are, even if your advancement is slow or fast, God loves you. He loves you even more than you can think about love, more than the mind of man can think about. So always trust in this love, always hang on this love, and never let go of Him. He is always with you. Even if you do not feel Him, even if you do not see Him, He is there. 

We create the illusion of being free......

We forget that if the mind could fathom God, we would not be slaves of the mind. But yet, we let ourselves be ruled by this mind. We don’t have it under control. We are never free, but yet we create the illusion of being free. We think about ourselves being the best. But yet, 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: for Prahlad he killed Hiranyakashipu. 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.

Make the ultimate goal of your life Divine love, and surrender to it......

You know what God wants from you? Surrender your mind to Him, continuously. Surrender your mind to the lotus feet of God, to the feet of your Guru, to the feet of any Divine master, and free yourself. Free yourself from the mind, free yourself from all the misery that you created. When you free your mind, you realise the Divine everywhere, in every aspect, in every small thing. Even the clothes you are wearing are divine. Each atom is divine. If you have divine eyes to look at the world with, you will see that it 
is just the radiated light of God shining through everything, but as long as you don’t come to that realisation, keep trying. 

You know that the Reality is only realised when you surrender to the Divine Feet....

As long as one does not surrender the mind, one is a slave of the mind. Our mind is bound by the five attachments: greed, lust, anger, ego and jealousy. These are the five gross qualities that make up our mind

and the strongest of them is the ego. In place of surrendering the mind to the Lord, pride and ego make one surrender to all other things except the Lord. That is why we become restless, because the mind is not at the right place. The soul inside of us is jumping and telling us, “Hey, mind, surrender yourself!” but the mind says, “No! I am better off with my own worries, because that is how I can drag you down completely.” The soul says, “But this is just an illusion”, because - deep inside - you know that the Reality is only realised when you surrender to the Divine Feet; when you realise the mystery of your incarnation, when you realise your Dharma, your duty here, and achieve that. Deep inside, each one of you does know about it. It is not about me saying it; it is about you, yourself, knowing that. But the mind makes it impossible, because whenever we say: don’t do something, detach yourself from it, what does the mind do? The mind gets more active and says “No, no, no. Do it!” But the moment you do it, you get entangled in it. And then, one will lead to the other. It will never end! Then, when you look back, you say, “Oops, if I could have changed it from the beginning, I would have changed it!” How many times in your life did you take such a decision, and then, afterwards, you said, “I should have done it differently!” It happens, doesn´t it?

You are in His Divine hands and He will never let go of you. Never!

Make the ultimate goal of your life Divine love, and surrender to it. You know what God wants from you? Surrender your mind to Him, continuously. Surrender your mind to the lotus feet of God, to the feet of your guru, to the feet of any Divine master. And free yourself. Free yourself from the mind, free yourself from all the misery that you created. So when you free your mind, you realise the Divine everywhere in every aspect, every small thing. Even the clothes you are wearing are divine. Each atom is divine.If you have divine eyes to look at the world with, you will see that it is just the radiated light of God shining through everything. But as long as you don’t come to that realisation, keep trying. Never lose hope. The moment you lose hope, you lose everything. The moment you say, “No, I can’t do it, I can’t do this”, you will not be able to do it. Challenge your fear! Keep reminding yourself that you are part of God. You are in His Divine hands and He will never let go of you. Never! He will be always near to you, even nearer than the breath, the air you are breathing in.

Let the Divine Love that is inside your heart take control of you......

Yesterday, we were talking about humility and also about the Love of God. Like I said yesterday, many people tell me “Swamiji, it’s very difficult; it’s very difficult to be humble.”    It’s true. Some people told me again today it’s difficult. Actually, all of you want to Realise God and to Realise God one also has to develop the qualities of the Divine. So for God nothing is difficult and everything is possible, but for the human mind, with human limitations, everything is impossible. If you transcend this mind and yourself, everything will be easy. It all depends on how you think of things. If you think it is difficult, it will become difficult. Like I have always said, God is the Creator, but part of this Creator is present inside of us. When we create the barrier and think that it’s difficult, when we become the creator of this big barrier, then it will become difficult. But when we say “Yes, I can transcend everything” we become positive towards ourselves. We develop the qualities and we make it happen. Look, when you want something – let’s say you want to eat something nice – what would you do?  You would do anything to have it. No matter what people think, would you bother about what people think?  No, you just want to have it; you don’t think about what people would think of what you want to eat! Or would you bother about what people think? No, you wouldn’t. If you want to eat something, you will eat it – no matter what! Whatever your neighbour thinks about you, you will not bother about it. So why do you bother about other people, what they think or what they do or how they act? Bother about you! If you develop the qualities, people will learn from you; you will become an example. You are spiritual people, yes? So you have to act in a certain way you have to have the quality of the Divine within you. This quality has to reflect on the outside as well. The quality of the Divine is not to gossip around; the quality of the Divine is not to criticize; the quality of the Divine is not to curse others. No! The quality of God is to Love everybody. No matter what way a child is behaving, a mother always loves the child, no? So if God says “OK my children, you are all very bad, you have acted very badly today. I shall punish all of you” what will happen? Yet, we who call ourselves spiritual, we let these qualities govern us. We forget about our real qualities, the Divine qualities within us. If little by little you get rid of your negativity – firstly, the negativity of the mind – and if the mind is transcended and the mind becomes pure, everything that you do will be pure. There will be no negativity present inside of you. The power of the mind is so great that you will create what you want. That’s why when you read something, instantly you go into the image of that which you are reading. You become identified with that. So what you are reading is very important. If you are reading positive things, you are becoming positive too; you’re creating this positive energy. If we train our mind to be positive at all times, we will create positive things. If we just say “Yes, I want peace in the world. I want to change the world. If little by little you get rid of your negativity – firstly, the negativity of the mind – and if the mind is transcended and the mind becomes pure, everything that you do will be pure. I want to make a big impact on the world,” and when it comes to ourselves, our self is negative, then what in the world do we want to change, when we can’t even change ourselves? If you want to change the world, if you want to have peace in the world, change your mind. When the mind is changed, everything becomes pure. Let me tell you about the power of the mind. You know, a few years ago, some scientists made an experiment about the power of the mind. There was one man who was under a death sentence, so the scientists went to him and said “My dear man, you know very well you will die, so only if you accept, we would like to make a certain experiment with you.” So the man thought for a while and said “Yes, look, I will die anyway, so it doesn’t matter what I do. I will die.” So he agreed. Then the doctors said to him “Listen, before you agree, we will show you how we will kill you.” So they took the man to show him a horse and a snake. The horse was bitten by the snake and the horse started to tremble, to shiver and foam started coming out from his mouth and he died. The man saw that and said “Yeah, well, I will die, whether here like this or in the electric chair, still I will die.”  Maybe it was in Texas, somewhere – probably. So, what happened was, on the day of the sentence, they brought the man to the laboratory. Inside, the man was thinking “Yes, I will be bitten by a snake.” The doctors said to him “We will cover your head.” So they covered the head of the man. The man could not see anything. They took, in place of a snake, a rat. They made the rat bite the man. So what happened?  He died; he died in the same way he saw the horse die. He started to tremble and then the foam started to come out, then he fell down dead. The most amazing thing is, when the doctors analysed his blood, inside of him was no rat venom, but there was the venom of a snake.Such is the power of the mind, that it can change the venom of a rat into the venom of a snake and that it can make the person die in the same way he had seen. So we programme everything the way our mind functions. We can create, also. Like it is said, human beings use only 5% of their brain and the rest is dormant. So imagine if everybody transcended the mind and transformed everything which is negative into Divine wisdom. This can be done only if you become positive.Such is the power of the mind and such is the power that you have to control the mind. But no, we like to listen. Like I always say, I don’t understand one thing about humans, you know, well I am human, also. We like to listen to the mind, we like to suffer and we like to complain. Three good qualities: listening to the mind, enjoying the mind and suffering and complaining – four! You see, God has given the mind to Man for a reason. Of course, each part of the body, each aspect that is inside this body, God has given. He is the master engineer of everything, you know. He is so perfect that He created human beings perfectly. The mind has been given for the right reason and if we use it for the right thing, it will always be constructive. If we use it in a negative way, it will be destructive to ourselves, firstly, and also to others. Each one wants to change, so let’s see. Be positive in your mind and change. Let the Divine Love that is inside your heart take control of you. The more you want this Divine Love, the more the Divine qualities will be present inside of you and the more you will feel the Love of God. You will feel how much He loves you. Look, when a child makes a mistake, of course, the mother will slap the child – a small slap – but the mother’s heart stays the mother’s heart, no matter how many mistakes you make. His heart also stays the same, even if sometimes He has to slap you a little bit. When you sit down with God and talk to Him, you will see. He will say “I slapped you, but my Love inside is stronger for you.” Look, when a mother beats a child, what happens? The mother showers more love afterwards. So no matter what comes along the way, even a small slap, you know, later on His Love will be much more and in more abundance. It’s for your own good!

“Guruji, I offer to you as Dakshina my pride and ego.”

Once there was a man, who went to a Rishi, to a  Sadhu, and wanted to get knowledge. He wanted to study under the Guru and he did. After some years, he succeeded in his study, and as you know, in the Hindu culture when you study under the Guru, at the end of your study you have to give a Dakshina. Dakshina is normally whatever you feel close to. So when he went in front of his Guru, he said “Guruji, I don’t know what to give you as Dakshina. You tell me.” The Guru said “My dear child, I want that you give me the most worthless thing.” As the Guru said that, he bent down to pick up some earth, some soil and as he was doing that he heard a voice. Mother Earth said to him “You fool, you consider me worthless? Look around you. You walk on me, all this greenery, all these beautiful flowers, everything comes from me. How can you consider me worthless?” Then he started thinking “Yes, it’s not worthless.” He put it down and as he was walking he saw a stone. He said “A stone – who cares about a stone?” He was going to pick up the stone, when the stone started talking to him and said “You consider me worthless? I tell you, all these big, big buildings that you see around, they are all built from me. The statues, the Deities, are made from me and then you pray to those Deities, so how can I be worthless?” He thought for a while and said “Yes it’s true.” Then he started thinking “If the soil that we don’t think too much about is not worthless, and if the stone itself is not worthless, what could be more worthless than my ego? That’s the most worthless thing.” He went to his Guru and bowed down to his Guru and said “Guruji, I offer to you as Dakshina my pride and ego.” You always learn new things. Even from the smallest detail, you always learn.

When we talk about freedom.....

 Often people talk about liberation or freedom. 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 you will find??..... 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. 

Nityam brahma niraakaaram - nirgunam bodhayet param;

Sarvam brahma niraabhaasam - deepo deepaantaram yathaa.

Just as one candle lights another, the Guru imparts to the

disciple awareness of the Absolute Being who is eternal,

imperceptible and without form or attribute.

We have to learn to turn the mind.....

We have to learn to turn the mind and gaze in the inside, inside each one of ourselves and see the Lord there and let Him reveal Himself. When you call Him, when you chant His name, when you recite His name, when you sing His name, this is how you’re calling Him. You’re calling him “Please, reveal yourself.“ Like

in the Gita it is said, Krishna said “ I don’t reside anywhere in the outside. I don’t reside even in the heart of the people, but I reside where there is the glory, my glory is being sung.” The same thing is written in the Bible, “If two or three are gathered in my name, I shall be near to them.” That means that when you sing the name of God, you are calling, you’re asking Him to awaken within you, you are asking Him to come to you and to reveal Himself to you. The more you do that the more he will reveal Himself as this Love. The more you long for Him, the more you will love to do your sadhana, the more your mind will be controlled. And, when your mind is controlled, when you have peace of mind, you will be peaceful. You will be peace in your body and you will bring peace this peace to your surroundings. You will be an instrument of this Divine Love. But, as this first step, you have to not only be contemplating in the outside, but you must contemplate within yourself and find God. This reminds me that very often people are scared about the outside. They are scared and they always look at how the outside thinks of them. This is a weakness of man, actually, always looking about others and forgetting about how they can change things. That reminds me of a story where there was this sannyas, a sannyasin, a sadhu. He used to live just opposite a house where a prostitute lady lived. So, every day the sannyasin looked at how many men visited this prostitute. He counted. So, one day he decided to go to the lady and said “Lady, you don’t know how much you are sinning. For sure, you will go to hell for all the sin. You have to really repent and change your life.” This poor lady, when she heard that, she was very alarmed and shocked. She was crying very bitterly, you know, crying and repenting inside and feeling so bad inside of her when she heard how much sin she had committed. And she prayed to Maha Vishnu and said “Lord, forgive me, I didn’t know how much sin I had committed.” So, she cried and cried, but as prostitution was her only means of living, she could not really change her life. So, seeing that even after talking to her she didn’t change, the sannyasin was thinking and he said “For each person I will put one stone in front just to show her how much is her sin.” So, after some time, it was a big heap of stone. He went to the lady and said “You see this big heap of stone; this is all your sin.” And, again, she cried; every day she was crying. Sincerely, she asked God for forgiveness. It so happened that, after this incident, the prostitute lady died and, coincidentally, the sannyasin, who was a brahmin, also died. So, as he was waiting for who would come to get him, you know, he was thinking, since he was a brahmin that the angels of God would come and take him. As he was waiting, he saw that the angels of God, of Maha Vishnu, came and took the soul of the prostitute lady to Vaikunta, to Heaven. And, for him, the God of the dead came to get him and bring him to hell. So, out of protest, he started to scream, saying how unfair it was, “I am a sannyasin, I am a brahmin, I passed my life praying to God, but here the prostitute lady is going to heaven and I’m going to hell.” At that, the guards of Maha Vishnu, the servants of Maha Vishnu said, “Well, whenever you accused her, she repented sincerely and asked God for forgiveness and she was chanting the Divine Names continuously in her heart. Whereas you, you were not contemplating the Divine, even if you were sitting and praying in the outside, inside your heart you were contemplating the sin that this lady was doing. So, that’s why you are going to hell. In the same way, where you put your heart, there it shall be. That’s what is said in the Bible. So, if your heart is focused on the Divine, the Divine will always reside inside of you, in each part of you and you will start to radiate this Divine Love and give it to everybody, so you will become this instrument that I was talking of before. But, if you concentrate on the negativity that you always see - because your eyes always perceive things that are not good - you will get trapped into this illusion. The only way you can really un-trap yourself is to surrender to the feet of God, you know, and really say “Lord, take me.” Know that God is compassionate. He will hold you and He will carry you and He will always send help for you. That’s how His Love is. So, concentrate not on the negative, but on the Divine, and call Him within you. Don’t be shy to chant the name of God. And, also, don’t be shy, because it is not about the others, it is about you and God.

“Do 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.

Who is burning with this Love for God.......

When you burn something, there is a residue that stays, but when Love consumes, nothing stays. For example, when you take the life of any great Saint, who is burning with this Love for God; they don’t see anything, they just see the Divine. I always take the example of Meerabai – have you heard about Meerabai? No?  She is a 15th  century saint of India. She was a model of bhakti; she was a model of devotion and surrender. Like her there are many, but she was a princess who loved Krishna with all her heart. There

is not even a single cell in her that was not in Love with Krishna. One day she was sitting in the temple and was singing for Krishna; whenever she would sing for Krishna, people would see Krishna, standing next to her. The King disguised himself. He was a Muslim king, Akbar, so he disguised himself and he was so touched by the devotion of Meerabai, that he gave his pearl necklace to the temple. Of course Meerabai didn’t take anything. Because of that, her father-in-law got very angry. As she was a princess, the father-in-Law was a king; so he said “Because you have sung in the temple and the enemy has come, we accuse you of treachery.” Meera said “Well, in the temple everybody is equal, I don’t know any bad one or good one, the fight is between you, not between God. Whether the person is Muslim, Christian, Hindu; everybody is allowed in the temple. The Lord is for everybody.” For that they said “We command you to drink poison.” She said “OK, if you have condemned me for that, I accept it.” So they brought the cup with the poison for her. As she was drinking it, she thought of Krishna, she thought that Krishna is giving her Divine nectar – amrit – to drink. She drank this poison, and she walked to the nearby temple of Krishna. Everybody followed her. She entered the temple and as she had the effect of the amrit, she became one with her Lord. She disappeared physically into the deity in the temple. Even the poison didn’t stop her. How did she view the poison? She accepted it.

You will find the biggest treasure of all, a treasure that nobody can steal from you......

Often people talk about liberation or freedom. 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.

When people say, “I want to know God”, I answer, “Know thyself!” By knowing your own Self you will know God. Because when we want to know God outside, we automatically create a barrier, we create a limited form. But we are this love. We are this Light. We are not separate from God, we are part of God. To achieve this, we must surrender. Surrender the mind which is always jumping around. Surrender the body, which is the temple of this light and love. And reflect this light always.

“Swamiji, you talk about humility, but how do we cultivate it?”

Very often we see masters high up and people say “Oh, they are very high”. We are here to serve. It’s not you who are serving the Master, but the Master who is serving you, all the time. Whether you know it or you don’t know it, it’s the Master that is serving you. The Masters don’t come here for themselves. They come to lift you all up. So taking the example of the life of saints, taking the example of the life of great ones, we learn a lot; we learn how to develop selfless Love, unconditional Love and humility. People will say “Swamiji, you talk about humility, but how do we cultivate it?” It’s so simple, I tell you, really. It’s the simplest thing that you can do. Love is there, in the heart, but humility is in the mind. How will we make this mind, which is so ferocious - this big beast - how will we make this mind humble? We always say that it’s our mind, but we don’t say we are the mind, do we? Or do we say we are the mind? No! The truth

is that the mind is something apart from man. Man is the master of the mind. Man is the master of all the negative qualities that emerge from the mind, but illusion is so great that it seems that they are the master. We need to remind the mind continuously who is the master to build up humility. It’s not that I am telling you to flagellate yourself every time you have a thought, no, but flagellate the mind with the Divine Names. Always remind the mind that it’s God that does everything. He’s the cause of everything. Every thought is Him. Remind the mind continuously. Whenever the mind becomes negative, say “Mind, it’s not you, it’s only the Lord himself”. It’s only God. If God didn’t allow you to think, where would you get the power to think? In the Gita, Krishna said, “If the Lord didn’t allow the leaves to move, the leaves would not move”. Even if there was a great wind blowing, the leaves would not move. Such is the power. So if He who governs everything is inside each one of you, he’s seated in each one’s heart equally! So how can we forget about Him? So train the mind to remember that it is not this pride; it is not this big ‘I’ - which is the ego - the ‘me’, ‘myself’, you know. Transcend this pride and say “God, it’s You”, and continuously talk to Him. Whether you have an answer, whether you hear from Him or not, it doesn’t matter. Deep inside know that He’s listening. From time to time He will give you a hint. From time to time, He will give you a sign in the outside that he’s listening. Rejoice in this sign; look at this sign and say “Yes, He’s with me.” But, don’t let pride rise inside of you. If you are spiritual, on the spiritual path, and you want to realise God, let go of pride. Pride will attack everybody: whether a saint or not. Pride will be there, but the saint knows how to have pride under control, you know.  And such is this huge pride that if we let this pride control us, it will take left and right, left and right. Then, there’s no control. So when you have control over it and say “God is the Master”, Love will generate. Love will grow. And you will see that there is love that you always say with pride and then Love which will be a different kind of love that you will experience: Unconditional Love. This is the same way the Divine loves, you know? This Love you will experience, because you are part of the Divine. The Divine is seated in each one of you. So, if He can love like that, you also can love the same way. If He can live in humility: even Christ, you know, He was so humble that He even accepted the cross; Krishna was so humble as to be the charioteer of Arjun. If they are so humble, these Divine incarnations, you know, these Avatars, great Maha Avatars, who are we not to be humble? We have to be more humble than them. It’s true that they have everything, yet they’re humble!

Free yourself.....

Real spirituality is in each one of you, in each one of your hearts, whether you believe or not, it’s there. God is sitting permanently within you. But to achieve it, this is each one’s way, each one’s personal way. To discover the God without form, God without name, the eternal – to realise that you, all of you, are part of Him. This is the aim of man.

Open up your heart! Love, love unconditionally! Love without limit! Love without expecting anything! Realise this love is ever flowing, the more you give, the more you receive. Just give for the sake of giving. That is what you are here for. Not to receive anything, not to take anything from anybody. Because, what is the difference between you and me? Nothing. But one difference: I realise it, and you don’t realise it. But you can also reach the same level. You need to be continuously in love.

You know how beautiful it is? For sure you know... all of you have fallen in love, haven’t you? Haven’t you? (The audience laughs) But none of you have answered me. Have you really fallen in love? (Audience: “Yes, but it was terrible“…laughing) Yeah, you see, as long love is with expectation, it will always be terrible. But when you love, when you realise yourself being the source of love, it’s not terrible. It’s the most joyful thing, the most beautiful thing. Still, love is just a word that I say to you. It’s up to each one of you to experience it, like a small child. If a small child came walking into this room, he would just experience love; he wouldn’t bother about anything around.

Now about our mind. We think before acting. We always think. We think if we give love we will feel hurt. However, you see, in the mind you already create the hurt; you create the feeling of destruction, so you don’t put love first.

Make the ultimate goal of your life Divine love, and surrender to it. You know what God wants from you? Surrender your mind to Him, continuously. Surrender your mind to the lotus feet of God, to the feet of your guru, to the feet of any Divine master. And free yourself. Free yourself from the mind, free yourself from all the misery that you created. So when you free your mind, you realise the Divine everywhere in every aspect, every small thing. Even the clothes you are wearing are divine. Each atom is divine.

If you have divine eyes to look at the world with, you will see that it is just the radiated light of God shining through everything.

“The value of a stone is known only to somebody who knows about gems”

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.

Before I said: prayer distinguishes one from other people outside; it distinguishes why you call yourself spiritual and why the other person is not so spiritual, because there is spirituality everywhere in different ways. In spirituality you reflect the glow. And the more you chant the Divine Name, the more you start to reflect the quality of the Divine, the qualities of love, compassion, joy, happiness, calmness. You start to reflect all these qualities, which the Divine has, through prayer, through the chanting of this Divine Name. So you start to become alike the Divine. And you don’t need to say this joy to somebody, you don’t need to express to somebody that you are happy. This joy that you will be having inside of you, it will reflect itself.

The same when you take the life of Saints. Take the life of Mirabai, Bhakta Prahlad, any Saints who have attained the Divine, they glow this light of the Divine. They glow, they reflect the Love of the Divine through them. They don’t need to talk about God, but they just need to be around. Same with all of you: the more you chant the Divine Names, the more the Divine will start to reflect on you. Then you can call yourself spiritual, because when you become spiritual, all the negative quality is removed from you, all the negative karma that you have created through many lives before, it get removed. And what takes place is this joy – the joy of serving, the joy of really being here, the joy of trying to attain the Lord, you know. And this joy starts to appear with you the more you attune yourself to the Divine. But you have to do the first step, because the Divine is already there. He’s waiting for you.

Prayer, can turn all your life into gold. It can turn all your negativity into purity.

Sri Swami Vishwananda tells us a story .....

Once, in a town there was a shoemaker. He would make his shoes while chanting God’s name all the time. Whenever he would go to sell the shoes in the town, in the market, he was very sincere. He would tell the people, “Look, I bought the leather for 1€ by God’s Grace. I bought the nails for a few cents and I made a profit of 2 € on it and altogether it cost 5 €, by God’s Grace”. So, he was so sincere. In everything that he was doing, his mind was centred on God and he was accepting everything as God’s Grace. So the people saw this innocence and this love that he had for God and without any bargaining, they would buy the shoes. So it happened one day that, during the night, while he was sitting in his courtyard and he could not sleep, some robbers came and took him with them - they just kidnapped him. And after kidnapping him, they went to another house to rob it. When the owner of the house heard noises, the thieves left the man in the middle, with all the jewellery that they had stolen and they ran away. When the owner saw this innocent man with lots of things from his house, he said, “It’s impossible,” but as he saw that the man had all the jewellery with him, he doubted and he said, “Let me call the police”. He called the police, the police put the man - the shoemaker - in prison and the next day he was brought in front of the judge. And in front of the judge he said, “By the Grace of God, yesterday night I could not sleep. By the Grace of God I went outside of the house and, while I was sitting there, by the Grace of God some robbers came and kidnapped me. And, by the Grace of God, this man found me. And, by the Grace of God, he thought that I came to steal in his house. And, by the Grace of God, I am here”. But, seeing the innocence also, the judge said, “This man is not the one who has stolen. He has spoken the truth”. While coming out of the court, the shoemaker said to his friend, “It is by the Grace of God that I came out”. This shows that, very often, when we do things, we take everything for granted. We forget that behind all our actions, behind all that is happening, there is God’s Grace. And if we start seeing it in this way, we will be very happy. We will find peace in everything.

If He has humbled Himself inside of you, why can’t you be humble on the outside?......

Live in the world, do everything, but do it in the mind-set of surrendering. No matter what action you do, surrender it to the Divine. Know that whatever action you do, whether it is, positive or negative, it is a prayer for and in front of Him. If in this attitude you surrender every action to the Divine, it will be pure always. In the Soundarya Lahari, Sri Adi Shankaracharya wrote about it. He said “Oh, Divine, I give you everything. Let my every action of surrender to You, be a prayer to your Feet. When I am lying down, sleeping, let it be a prostration to your Feet! Be it that every food that I am eating is an offering to Thee.” Like that, all the actions that you are doing in daily life, if you do them with the remembrance of the Divine, they will be pure, because the Divine is not limited half as much as we think of Him. We are limited. We are limited, because our mind, our pride, our ego is so huge, that we live in this world and we get attached to the world. We make our whole life depend on this world. Like the great Sages said “Live in the world, but don’t let the world live in you. If you let the world live in you, then God becomes far away.” Like the lotus. Have you seen the lotus flower? Where does the lotus flower grow? In mud – it comes out from mud. All the mud doesn’t affect it. Such is the Divine inside of you also. Such is who you are in reality. You live in this world. Don’t let the negativity of this world affect you. Be positive firstly. If you are positive, automatically you will be humble. Humility – this is a nice word. Humbleness means acceptance – to accept yourself how you are and to know that what you are looking for on the outside doesn’t reside on the outside. It resides here inside of you. If He has humbled Himself inside of you, why can’t you be humble on the outside?

We are the consciousness of God......

In the Shivapurana, is said that Shakti always resides with Shiva. The upper part is Shiva and the lower part is Shakti, referring to the kundalini together with shesha, the snake. It is the perfect combination of the two aspects which are in each one of us, the male and the female. It’s also the day and the night. This reminds us that we are not just the body. We are the consciousness of God, whom we will find by surrendering completely to Him. We will find Him when our heart is completely open, without any doubt, without any “buts”.

Surrender everything and be assured that God is always with you! If He has put you here on earth, He will not let you go just like that! A beggar on the road will always have his food, because God will always provide him with what he needs. For sure he doesn’t need much. We are children of God. Jesus has taught us, “Don’t beg, but ask. Ask our Father. Ask, and you will receive.”

To realise our true immortality, we must got deeper within, rising above all material things, and become whatever God really wants us to be. We are God’s children and we will have to keep realising it. We have to keep it in mind all the time.

Sri Swami Vishwananda tells us today.....

Once there was a farmer who was living in a small town and in this town there was a big drought; there was no rain. The farmer decided to make a canal from the river to his field, so that he could water his field, and the cows could have water to drink. He said to himself “I will make this canal and I will not take any rest or eat any food or drink anything until I have finished it” During the day his daughter came with food saying “Father, come and eat; it´s already lunchtime”, but he said to the daughter “No, go away. I have to finish this canal first; then I will eat.” The daughter went back home and told this to the mother. So the mother went to see him and told him “My dear Lord, you have been working the whole day, surely you can take 5 minutes rest and have your lunch.” Again, the man said “No!”, but the wife kept insisting. Finally he left the digging of the canal and started to run after his wife, shouting to her “Leave me alone! I told you: until I have finished the canal, I will not leave this place. Go away!” The wife saw that the husband was, really, very angry and that there was no point in changing his mind. So she stayed quiet and went home. The man carried on digging. Late in the evening he finished the canal and, as he finished it, the water from the river started to flow towards his field. Then he sat down with appreciation, hearing the beautiful sound of the water, looking at the water flowing to his field and he felt great satisfaction. Then he went home and called his wife “Come here and give me tobacco. I will smoke now.” Very happily, he smoked his tobacco then he took a shower, had his lunch and slept very peacefully. His neighbour also tried to build a canal from the river, but when his wife came and called him “My Lord, come and have your lunch.” He, also, said first “No”, but when the wife insisted, saying “Come, my dearest Lord, five minutes will not cost you anything”, he left his work, saying “As you have said it so sweetly, I’ll come!” So he went and sat and had his lunch and after the lunch, he would of course, have a small siesta. He had his siesta, but at the end of the evening he hadn’t done anything else than eating and sleeping. So he never succeeded in making the canal to his field. What lies behind this story is that 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!

"We say we have only one God, but we adore Him in His many forms until we reach a point to see this Oneness everywhere."

‘Spirituality starts when religion ends’.......

You know there is a saying, ‘Spirituality starts when religion ends’.

Real spirituality is in each one of you, in each one of your hearts, whether you believe or not, it’s there. God is sitting permanently within you. But to achieve it, this is each one’s way, each one’s personal way. To discover the God without form, God without name, the eternal – to realise that you, all of you, are part of Him. This is the aim of man.

Open up your heart! Love, love unconditionally! Love without limit! Love without expecting anything! Realise this love is ever flowing, the more you give, the more you receive. Just give for the sake of giving. That is what you are here for. Not to receive anything, not to take anything from anybody. Because, what is the difference between you and me? Nothing. But one difference: I realise it, and you don’t realise it. But you can also reach the same level. You need to be continuously in love.

You know how beautiful it is? For sure you know... all of you have fallen in love, haven’t you? Haven’t you? (The audience laughs) But none of you have answered me. Have you really fallen in love? (Audience: “Yes, but it was terrible“…laughing) Yeah, you see, as long love is with expectation, it will always be terrible. But when you love, when you realise yourself being the source of love, it’s not terrible. It’s the most joyful thing, the most beautiful thing. Still, love is just a word that I say to you. It’s up to each one of you to experience it, like a small child. If a small child came walking into this room, he would just experience love; he wouldn’t bother about anything around.

Now about our mind. We think before acting. We always think. We think if we give love we will feel hurt. However, you see, in the mind you already create the hurt; you create the feeling of destruction, so you don’t put love first.

Make the ultimate goal of your life Divine love, and surrender to it. You know what God wants from you? Surrender your mind to Him, continuously. Surrender your mind to the lotus feet of God, to the feet of your Guru, to the feet of any Divine master. And free yourself. Free yourself from the mind, free yourself from all the misery that you created. So when you free your mind, you realise the Divine everywhere in every aspect, every small thing. Even the clothes you are wearing are divine. Each atom is divine.

If you have divine eyes to look at the world with, you will see that it is just the radiated light of God shining through everything. But as long as you don’t come to that realisation, keep trying. Never lose hope. The moment you lose hope, you lose everything. The moment you say, “No, I can’t do it, I can’t do this”, you will not be able to do it. Challenge your fear! Keep reminding yourself that you are part of God. You are in His Divine hands and He will never let go of you. Never! He will be always near to you, even nearer than the breath, the air you are breathing in.

You try to imagine a little bit with the mind, how close God is. It’s difficult, isn’t it? The mind will never let you imagine that, the mind will never let it. Only when you start thinking with the mind of the heart – then you can realise the Divinity completely.