Gurudev's Talks
The Power of Shakti, the Secret of Meditation and the Science of Ancient India

An edited transcript of Gurudev's online gathering with students from India and the United States of America on the day of Vijayadashami. The content of the talk is unchanged; short lines have been joined into paragraphs and subheadings added. Only technical remarks made during the call and verbatim repetitions have been left out. Unclear passages are marked in square brackets. A glossary of spiritual and Sanskrit terms follows at the end.

A Ritual on the Day of Vijayadashami

May you all be very happy, joyful and healthy. How are you all? Hari Har! I greet you all. Namaskar, be happy. Purushottam ji, be very happy. Sarita, be happy, my child. May all of you be very happy, joyful, healthy and filled with bliss.

And it was very beautiful that today you performed a ritual, the Shri Vidya ritual, a ritual dedicated to the Mother, which you performed from there, and on the very day of Vijayadashami. With a truly wonderful sadhana of Shakti, with a longing for Shakti, you performed a ritual of Shakti. That is a very good thing.

First of all, I wish you all much happiness and all the best on the occasion of the Navaratri festival. And I also wish you all much happiness on today's festival of Vijayadashami, which is celebrated today throughout India. May this day be auspicious for all of you, may all your families prosper, may you all be healthy and may things always go well for you.

Bal and Shakti

There are two things. The first is the state of force, bal, and the second is the state of energy, shakti. So one is force and the other is power. There is a difference between force and power.

One is that which is motionless, which remains in one place. That is bal, force. And the other is that which is dynamic, which is in motion, which takes part in creation and destruction. That is shakti. That which forms the connection between creation and dissolution, that through which creation happens and through which destruction happens, is bal, force. And both are necessary. One is shava and the other is shakti. Shava means bal, force.

For example, all the parts of our body are in their places. The heart is in its place, the liver is in its place, the kidneys are in their place, the eyes are in their place. Everything is arranged in its place. And that which stands behind this arrangement of all things is called bal, force.

So the distance you see between the Earth and the Sun – that is bal. What you see around the Sun is bal. What you see around the Earth is bal. What is around every moon, every star and every object, outside its boundaries – that is bal. This means that when the boundary of an object is formed, it arises precisely because of this force.

That Which Has No Boundaries

And force itself has no boundaries. That is wonderful. Force has no boundaries. It is always an object that has boundaries. And the boundary of this object exists because of force. When this boundary dissolves, the object merges with force. Its boundary disappears. In this way every object has its boundary.

That which has boundaries can be seen with these two eyes. But how will you see something that has no boundaries? That which is visible, which can be seen with two eyes, exists within some boundaries. That is exactly why it is visible. It has its outline, which you can draw on paper. What you can draw on paper, you can see with two eyes. But that which you cannot draw on paper, which has no such outline, is not an object of sight. It is an object of knowledge.

And that is why the havans and other rituals and ceremonies you perform are a method of moving from what can be seen to what can be known. From shakti we arrive at bal. That is why the worship of shakti is necessary, so that we can reach bal, so that we can understand this force. Because bal is knowledge itself.

Bal is spread everywhere. This force is omnipresent. It pervades everything, it is all around us. It has no boundaries that could be measured. The space around the Sun, the space around the Earth, the space in front of every single thing, the space around the whole universe. Such space is everywhere around us. All this space, the whole sky, has no image. And that which has no image, which is omnipresent, cannot fit entirely into some object. And if it did fit entirely into some object, it would no longer be omnipresent. These are two things.

Ishvara Is Not Born

It is often said that God is born, that Ishvara is born. But Ishvara is never born. God is never born. Ishvar ansh jiva avinashi. The living being is an indestructible part of God. In the form of individual parts, things are scattered throughout this whole world.

Who Steers the Body

I don't know whether you are aware of it or not, but several causal bodies can dwell in a single body. Causal means chitta, the conscious mind. And thinking is connected with this chitta. This state exists in every body. There are many struggles and conflicts in it. If you have not worshipped shakti, then there is no one to protect you from these things. Then a person does not even know whose body it is and who is actually controlling it.

It is precisely in the presence of a capable Guru, a perfect Guru, that you can know whether this body belongs to you and you yourself steer it, or whether this body is yours but someone else steers it. When we want to do something in a certain way but cannot, when things do not happen as we would like, and this repeats again and again, it means that someone else is giving the orders.

So each person's state manifests according to their shakti. If the shakti is sufficiently strong, capable and with the person, then the one to whom the body belongs also steers that body. The steering wheel is in their own hands. That is something truly wonderful.

Every day I see many such things that are not described in the shastras, are not in books or in the sacred scriptures. Great spiritual masters have written something, but one's own experience says something else. Some person is very good, but suddenly some evil causal body enters them and their nature changes. Nature means that their subtle body changes. Because what steers the physical body is the subtle body.

The causal body never steers the gross body directly. It has its intermediary, its manager, and that is the subtle body. Through it, it steers the physical body. So someone enters the body of another person, begins to steer it and takes control over it.

The Power That Grows in the Chakras

But if you have sufficient power of Shakti, if your Shakti is in order, if you are worshippers of Shakti and Shakti is with you, then no other living being can enter your body and move about in it. Then only you yourself are there. Your meditative sadhana belongs only to you, and all the merits you gain through this meditative sadhana belong only to you. These merits stay with you, and your Kundalini Shakti gradually grows more and more. The power keeps increasing and accumulating.

In every chakra a new power arises. Through friction between every two chakras, new energy arises in the subtle realm. When friction of chakras happens in the gross realm, gross power and gross bodies arise. And when your own chakra comes into contact with the next chakra, when they connect with each other and friction occurs between them, a new power arises in the subtle realm. This power then acts according to your instructions, according to your will.

That is why any yajna, fast or religious ritual you perform strengthens your inner power, your spiritual power. It strengthens your will and opens for you the path of meditative sadhana. That is why yajnas, rituals and similar ceremonies are necessary from time to time. They are also very important for a spiritual practitioner.

A Tradition That Survived in the South

Over time, however, the situation has changed even in India. You are now sitting there, in the United States, but I am speaking about India. Here in India, if we set aside the south a little and a few places in the north, elsewhere they have completely spoiled it all. People no longer recognise yajnas and similar rituals. They say it is all nonsense.

Whereas in the south of India they still preserve these traditions very firmly. To this day they perform havans and other rituals there in a very beautiful way. When we go to the south, it gives us great joy. We see that people there still very firmly keep our Vedic tradition. They hold on to it truly exceptionally strongly. And that is exactly why they are ahead. That is why their thinking, their way of reasoning, their way of working and their way of life are completely different from the north of India. There is no such carelessness in it. And God also helps them accordingly.

That is why it is very good that you performed this ritual. The energy of today's ritual is now with all of you. And you will now feel it. You will sense that the energy of this ritual is with you. You will feel that you are well, that you feel lighter, that you feel pleasant, positive. You will not feel laziness. You will feel: "That was good. I really liked it. It was very good."

Feeling Good and Being Good

But when we say that we liked something, that we did something good and feel good about it, there is still a path from feeling good to truly becoming good. Doing something good and being good are two different things. Feeling good and being good are two different things. When we do something good, we feel good about it. But for a person to also truly become good, for that goodness to really be realised in them, what is needed? For that, meditative sadhana is needed.

When the Darbar says that the mind is purified through bhajan, it means that when you sing bhajans, the mind is being purified. And when you perform service, when you serve cows, when you serve people, help the poor and those who deserve help, when you serve your Gurus and your parents, then through such service the buddhi, the intellect, is purified. The buddhi becomes pure.

So the mind is purified through bhajan. The buddhi is purified through service. And the chitta is purified through meditative sadhana. Meditative sadhana is therefore the highest means. Through it the purification of the chitta takes place.

What Purification of the Chitta Means

What does purification of the chitta actually mean? In your chitta there are unnecessary energies that have settled in it and taken control over it. You don't even know about it. But they have settled there. And it is precisely through meditative sadhana that the purification of the chitta happens.

You have surely seen that animals have parasites called ticks. They latch on, bite in with their teeth and hold on. And then people pull them out with tweezers. When they pull them out, a little blood comes out with them. It is similar here. Another living being cannot enter whole, but causal bodies can enter with their own causal body. And all these causal bodies then gradually leave. This is how the purification of the chitta takes place.

Sometimes you have to experience in your own body the consequences of other people's karma. When other beings, their energies and memories, enter a person, then their illnesses and sufferings, their physical, mental and spiritual pains, pass on to the person whose body and life they have entered. And this person then has to experience and endure them. Through purification of the chitta, however, they are freed from this.

The Mother in Every Chakra

And Tripurasundari, who is connected with Shri Dashamahavidya, with Mother Mahakali, as her ruling divine power, grants you Shakti. She gives you power and shows you the right path of meditative sadhana. Because all the Kundalini Shakti that is found in the individual chakras is connected with the Mother. The Mother has dwelt in every chakra from the very beginning. She has been there from the very start, already from the muladhara. So without the Mother there is nothing.

Just as in our country we had Shankaracharya, Adi Shankaracharya… He did not accept maya. For him Brahman was the highest. He recognised only Brahman. At first he did not recognise maya. Only in the final stage of his life did he accept the existence of maya. But by then it was too late. It was already very late.

And the choice of the wrong energy… So as not to hurt anyone's feelings, we say this only carefully and indirectly. The choice of the wrong energy will destroy your life. The choice of the wrong energy will bring you to the very gates of death. At the age of thirty-two or thirty-three, Adiguru Adi Shankaracharya had to leave his body. He vomited blood from his mouth, blood flowed from his rectum, he went through all kinds of suffering and in the end he had to leave his body.

Divine and Demonic Forces

All these evil forces that are present in all of creation, in the whole universe, these forces never, never… So if these forces, if the wrong energy comes into contact with you and then settles in the form of the Mother, then only suffering comes, only illness. Then there is no longer any way forward.

And what do these evil forces do? Everyone who works for dharma, everyone who works for the welfare of people, these demonic forces attack directly. And I have said it repeatedly, I say it again and I will keep saying it: the divine forces are much weaker than the demonic forces.

It is the same as in our material world. Imagine that somewhere ninety decent people are sitting and ten criminals with pistols in their hands walk in. Those ninety people will sit quietly and say to themselves: "Brother, do what you want." If those ninety people stood up and rushed at those ten, those ten could do nothing. But they will not stand up. They simply will not stand up. They will not even speak. And it is exactly the same in the subtle world. It is similar there too. The demonic forces are so powerful that they can suppress the divine forces, divine beings and divine men.

Under the Protection of Baba and the Mother

So all of you are, above all, immensely fortunate and blessed. Because you are sitting in such a place, under such a roof, where Baba and the Mother are. And Baba is here as the original Guru, the Mula Guru. He protects all of you under his protective shade. If even the slightest impurity got into any of you, it would leave within a single moment thanks to your prayer. It would be out immediately. You close your eyes, you pray, and it disappears. It's over. That is truly wonderful.

And that is why your ritual today was very beautiful. It would be good if you held such rituals regularly, perhaps once a month or once every two months. Whenever you have the opportunity, let us know. We are always ready. You only need to tell us. Just not at the time of the full moon or new moon. Otherwise there is no obstacle on our side. At any time we can agree together like this and perform these needed and necessary rituals. So that we can keep ourselves and our families healthy and at the same time continue with the highest task, which is meditative sadhana.

So continue your meditative sadhana. But at the same time also pay attention to your family and your surroundings. You must do both. Pay attention and meditate. These are the two things you must do.

When I saw your ritual today, it gave me truly great joy. And if anyone has a question or wants to talk about something, we can discuss it together now. Otherwise we could have a short, roughly ten-minute meditation session and then slowly approach the end of today's gathering. If anyone has a question or some important matter they would like to talk about publicly, we can go through it now.

Serving Cows

All who are connected with us, all the people connected with our organisation – many of them are already devoted to the service of cows, gau seva. The greatness and spiritual significance of serving cows are not described in books. But we see their significance very well. A cow can sacrifice her own body and give life to a person who is dying. If you create a bond with a cow, if you create a relationship with Gau Mata, Mother Cow, and Gau Mata creates a bond with you, then even Yamaraja, the lord of death, must release you. I see these things directly with my own eyes.

That is why since ancient times, and even fifty years ago, when we were small and saw it ourselves, cows were kept in every house. Every farmer had a cow at home. There was hardly a single house without a cow. And fifty or sixty years ago there were no gaushalas, shelters for cows, because the cows were with every farmer. Cows were respected, people valued them. Cattle were kept and also used in farm work.

And what did this bring? Every household prospered. In families there were no quarrels and conflicts. There were no illnesses. All kinds of problems that arise in life gradually resolved themselves thanks to serving cows. Such families did not break apart.

For the cow has her own, quite special aura. Her aura is completely different. The cow is not an ordinary animal. When we look at her in the right way, she is actually the foundation of all the deities. She is the one who carries within her all the gods and goddesses. That is why serving Gau Mata and a loving relationship with her form an immensely strong protective shield for the whole family.

We see it every day. When someone gets into a really difficult situation, into great danger, and suddenly escapes from it, I look at it and ask: "What happened? How was this person saved?" And then the Darbar shows me that it was the merits gained by serving cows. So I ask those people: "Do you keep any cows? Do you have a cow at home?" And they answer: "Yes, Gurudev, we have cows. We keep two cows and look after them." And then I see that the merits gained by serving cows manifest and save the person.

Serving cows is immensely powerful. It is in no way less significant than serving one's own parents. Whoever has the opportunity to serve their parents should certainly also serve cows. Through this service, duties are fulfilled and one is freed from debts. A person is freed from debts, from karmic obligations towards their parents and from all kinds of other obligations. If a person cannot do anything else, if they cannot do something for the Guru or for their family, but nevertheless serves cows, then through this service too they can be freed from all kinds of debts and obligations. Four kinds of these debts are spoken of, and through this service a person can attain freedom from them.

The very word "cow" is so beautiful and loving. As soon as you say it, love begins to flow continuously from within you. It is enough just to hear the word "cow". But try saying "buffalo" now. Your mood changes at once. But when you say "cow", your mind calms down. By the word alone. By merely looking at a picture of a cow. When you look at a picture of a buffalo or say the name of any other animal, you simply imagine some animal. But as soon as you say "cow", the image of the Mother immediately comes to your mind. It doesn't even occur to you that it is an animal. Within you a feeling arises, love.

That is why gau seva, the service of cows, has immense significance. It is comparable to performing yajnas, sacred rituals. It is no small matter.

Gau Seva in America

And all of you who perform this service even though you live outside India, in America, are doing a truly great thing. It is no small work. It is truly enormous service. In our country anyone can acquire four, six, ten, fifty, a hundred or two hundred cows. But try doing it there, in America! Keeping cows there, holding people together, connecting the members of your community, connecting friends and involving them in serving cows.

That is why Purushottam ji is doing work that is even greater than the work of the ancient rishis and munis, sages and saints. And Sarita ji, you too devote yourself to it tirelessly. Both of you are doing work that surpasses even the activity of the rishis and munis. What you are doing is truly immensely significant. You hold everyone together. You connect all the people with these spiritual merits. After all, where do people there even have the space to keep cows? What you are doing is truly praiseworthy and deserves great recognition. And as for our knowledge and understanding, we are of course always at your disposal.

And I think that very soon, at the beginning of next year, we will be somewhere in Memphis, among all of you. Yes, Purushottam ji has already arranged all the visas for us and everything necessary is ready. For certain special reasons we cannot come yet. But in the meantime we have agreed with Purushottam ji that until we can come, we will keep in touch through programmes like this one. We will share our joys and worries with each other and continue developing programmes devoted to knowledge and meditation.

This opportunity was created by Purushottam ji, Sarita ji and their team. To their whole team, to all the friends who are connected with them and together form one organisation, to all of you we send, on behalf of Baba and the Mother, much love and many blessings. May you all continue on the path of dharma, and may you, even while living abroad, keep spreading the Indian flag and Indian traditions. I wish you all much happiness and all the best. Thank you. Thank you very much.

All this is the fruit of your own spiritual merits. All this is the result of the merits of all of you. It is precisely thanks to your merits that all this is possible. If you did not have these merits, it would not be possible. And all of you have so many merits gained by serving cows! The place where you are now sitting is a Gau Tirtha, a sacred place of pilgrimage dedicated to cows. It is a kind of sacred place of pilgrimage. And all of you have the merits connected with it.

And for us too it is great fortune, an immense blessing, that we can be in contact with you, that we can talk with you and that we can see all of you. So may you all always be healthy and happy. And if anyone has a special question, we can discuss it now. Otherwise we could move on to a short, ten-minute programme of meditative sadhana with music.

Very beautiful, thank you very much. Well, just imagine that cows spread all over America. All of America becomes a Gau Tirtha, a sacred place of cows. These memories and spiritual imprints will spread there too. It will spread, it will spread greatly. Very significant, but there is very little of it. Very good.

Whenever and wherever you want to hold a programme, we are always ready. We are ready even like this, through the screen. There is no problem with it at all, it doesn't matter at all. Just as if we were sitting right in front of you there, we are in front of you here too. There is no difference. And by the grace of the Mother of the Darbar and by the grace of Gurudev, wherever we are, the same work will be done. Just as if we were sitting right in front of you. And even though we are far away, the same will happen. Distance, that physical separation, has no meaning, because everything is connected. No real distance exists.

And the aim of the Darbar is exactly this – that you all be healthy. And when you are connected with serving cows, it is much easier for me to heal you and bring you into a positive state. It doesn't take long. It happens within a few seconds. When you have the merits gained by serving cows, everything goes more easily. I have already told you that service to brahmins, service to parents, service to the Guru, service to society and all other kinds of service are very significant. But it is enough for you to perform gau seva, the service of cows, and through it all these merits are fulfilled. So immensely great is the spiritual significance of Gau Maa, Gau Mata, Mother Cow.

How the First Human Was Born

I don't know whether we have ever talked about this together or not. Once I asked Baba: "How was the human being actually born? How was the very first human born?" And Baba answered me immediately. He didn't think for a moment. He said: "Son, the first human was born from the belly of a cow." At the time I let it be. I thought he had simply said it, and I didn't think about it further. I was a student of science; I studied the natural sciences.

But over time I began to understand further connections. When a human child is in the mother's womb, it is nourished by certain microorganisms. And when the child is born, there is also the mother's menstrual blood, from which, according to this explanation, our body arises and the whole human race continues. Our body is formed from the mother's menstrual blood. And yet people call this blood impure.

There are many saints, many people and scholars who consider themselves very learned. They have read many books, have become learned and think they already know everything. And then they say of the mother that she is impure, that she is defiled. And I say to them: "Brother, then you yourself are the most impure of all! After all, your own body arose from your mother's menstrual blood. So there is no one more impure than you!" A mother is, after all, a Mother.

And when the child is born, that same menstrual blood, according to this explanation, comes out of the mother's breasts in the form of milk. The very same microorganisms that nourished us in the mother's womb, thanks to which we could live in her womb, then come out of her breasts in the form of milk. The child drinks this milk and continues to be nourished through the same microorganisms. And then I began to understand that the same microorganisms that nourish us in the mother's womb also nourish us through mother's milk after birth. And these same microorganisms, according to this explanation, are found only in the milk of native Indian cows, desi cows. They supposedly occur nowhere else. And that is exactly why, when a mother has no milk, the child is given cow's milk. And it suits the child directly, the child's body accepts it well. And that is exactly why these people too…

So that is precisely the point. That was also the reason why all our rishis and munis went into the forests. Even though they had their homes and lived in society, they still went into the forests. And great wars were even fought over cows. Whether it was the conflict with Sahasrabahu, the events connected with Bhagavan Parashurama, or the conflict between Vishvamitra and Maharishi Vasishtha, truly great conflicts and wars took place over cows. Such immense significance did the cow have. Truly enormous significance.

But today we have forgotten this significance and the cow has disappeared from our lives. Very unfortunate are those people who cannot serve cows, who do not have the opportunity to perform gau seva. Those are truly very unfortunate people.

Divyabhumi Uttarakhand

I too sometimes think about the fact that, although we keep cows, personal, physical service to cows is also necessary. Now that we are staying at the math, I invited representatives of the local animal husbandry office, which comes under the government of Uttarakhand. They came to meet me. And now I have prepared a plan so that cows will also be kept here, at Mishri Math. So that this place does not remain without cows and so that we have beautiful, good-quality cows here.

In Dehradun there is also a large gaushala, and I am negotiating about it with the honourable Chief Minister of the state of Uttarakhand. It is a large gaushala which has, I think, a capacity of about ten thousand cows. It belongs to the government, but it is not run very well. At present there are only about seven hundred or eight hundred cows there. That is why we are considering taking this gaushala into our care. Negotiations about this are under way. If it succeeds, we will manage it for thirty years.

And as for this Devabhumi, this land of the gods… You know, Uttarakhand is called Devabhumi Uttarakhand, the Land of the Gods. But today we received a message from the Mother to change the name of this land. And so today, for ourselves personally, we named it Divyabhumi Uttarakhand – the Divine Land of Uttarakhand. Because the word divya, divine, means divinity, completeness, perfection. It is something that shines in everything, that contains everything, that is filled with light and that manifests in everything. That is divya, divine. It is something that pervades everything and is omnipresent. That is why this land is Divyabhumi, not merely Devabhumi. It is not just a land of the gods. It is a land of Gurus, ascetics, rishis and munis.

And that is why serving cows is the highest service. To maintain good physical, mental and spiritual health, gau seva is very important. Purushottam ji is already doing this work. It is a great undertaking. Taking on such an enormous responsibility is no small matter at all. That is why I wish you all much happiness and all the best. Continue with it and develop this work. You are all connected and are gradually expanding, spreading these things further. It is an activity that brings immense spiritual merit. And the next generation is also getting involved.

Milk That Arises from Love

I myself have seen what influence Gau Mata, Mother Cow, has. I have two sons, and from the first day of their lives they had the good fortune to be able to drink amrita, nectar in the form of milk from native Indian cows, desi cows. And to this day, wherever they go, they drink no other milk. Not only do they not drink other milk, but even if someone brought them any milk dish, for example rabri, a sweet thickened milk dessert, they will not eat it. They cannot eat or drink it. They say it smells bad to them. But when you give them milk from a cow, they drink it at once. That is how strong a relationship they have with it.

And I also realised how very fortunate we ourselves were. Because during my life I drank milk. I drank cow's milk and I also drank goat's milk. In Ayurveda it is said that if cow's milk is not available, you should switch to goat's milk. Then you can switch to buffalo milk or look for other alternatives. But cow's milk… Cow's milk is called mother's milk.

And cow's milk has been given a very beautiful description: "A fluid that arises from motherly love and tenderness." What we call milk, dugdh, arises from the feeling of motherly love. If a cow does not love her calf, her milk will not let down properly. But when she lovingly caresses her calf, her offspring, and showers it with tenderness, the milk lets down by itself. And then everyone quickly comes and milks, quickly, quickly. It is the same with a human mother. When her child plays in front of her and she feels even a little motherly tenderness towards it, her milk begins to flow. So milk is a fluid that arises from the feeling of motherly love.

But when you give a cow an injection, give her some preparation and then milk her by force, that is no longer milk. That is poison. Truly poison. That is why the most important thing of all is bhava, the inner feeling and disposition. According to the feeling with which the milk arose and came out, that same feeling settles in you too through drinking it. That same feeling remains in you. That is why cow's milk is amrita, the nectar of immortality.

Guided Meditation: The Three Granthis

Good, very beautiful. If you are all ready, we can now do a ten-minute meditative sadhana. Everyone get ready. Let your hair down if you have it tied up or braided. Now we will meditate for about ten minutes.

Everyone sit comfortably in a meditation posture. Whoever can sit cross-legged, sit that way. The spine must be straight. Raise your face and head slightly, like this, so that the back of the neck, the area of the medulla, and the spine remain completely straight. Do not let your head drop. Hold it slightly upright like this.

Now interlace the fingers of both hands and place them at the area of the navel. Interlace the fingers of both hands and place the joined hands at the navel. Close your eyes.

Everyone close your eyes and in your heart meditate on Bhagavan Bholenath, Lord Shiva. Bow to Mother Kamakhya, who is the embodiment of Shakti. Bow to the most revered Babaji and Guru Mataji. And bow also to Mother Mahakali, who is established in the Darbar.

Pray to Baba and the Mother: "We are trying to perform meditative sadhana, we are striving to master meditation. We are about to perform Kundalini sadhana. We ask you to graciously guide us and grant us your protection."

Om.

[A short unclear sentence.] May their past and future be halted, made still. May only the present remain.

Now focus all your attention on the navel. And keep in mind that at the beginning we have two chakras: muladhara and svadhishthana. Above them are two more chakras: manipura and anahata. And above them are two more chakras: vishuddhi and the ajna chakra. In each of these three regions there is one granthi, one energy knot. At the very bottom is the Brahma granthi, the first knot. The second knot, in the region of anahata, is the Vishnu granthi. And the third knot, between vishuddhi and the ajna chakra, is known as the Mahesh granthi. So these are the three granthis, the three energy knots.

Without opening them, without Shakti, without the Mother, these knots will not open. And to open all three, a special spiritual procedure must be performed. But because all these powers are already perfectly realised in the Darbar, they open by themselves.

So first you must focus your attention on Bhagavan Shri Ganesha. It is he who is authorised to open the gate of Kundalini. It is the same gate of Kundalini where the Mother dwells. And it is along this path that one also proceeds to Shiva, to his ajna chakra. When Ganesha refused to open the gate, it aroused the anger of Bholenath, Lord Shiva. And Shiva cut off his head. Later, as the well-known story tells, the head of an elephant was placed on him. The Mother dwells there.

That is why we will first pray to Bhagavan Shri Ganesha to open Ganesha's gate. So that we can make our Kundalini journey and continue further in meditative sadhana. Pray that this gate may open. Say three times:

Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah. Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah. Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah.

Then we will now bow to Brahmaji, we will bow to Brahma and recite the mantra. But first pray that he may graciously open the Brahma granthi for us. Then we will say three times:

Om Shri Brahmadevaya Namah. Om Shri Brahmadevaya Namah. Om Shri Brahmadevaya Namah.

Please open the Brahma granthi.

Now we will move our attention a little higher from the navel. We will slowly raise it to the region of the anahata chakra, to the region of the heart, exactly to the middle of the chest, where the anahata chakra is located. We will remember Bhagavan Narayana, Lord Narayana, who rests on the ocean of milk, Kshirasagara. We will pray to him to open the Vishnu granthi, so that we can continue on our further journey. And now say three times:

Om Namo Narayanaya. Om Namo Narayanaya. Om Namo Narayanaya.

Bhagavan Narayana, please open the Vishnu granthi.

Now we will slowly move our attention even higher. Through the vishuddhi chakra, through the throat, mouth and nose, we will raise it to the region of the forehead, to the ajna chakra. To Shiva's eye, which is located between the eyebrows, in the place where women and girls wear a bindi. On this eye of Shiva, on the kutastha, we will now focus our attention.

And we will pray to Bhagavan Shiva, to Bholenath: When we are worthy, when we have attained the necessary readiness and when we receive the command and permission of Gurudev, we ask you to graciously open the Mahesh granthi for us as well. Now say with me three times:

Om Shri Maheshvaraya Namah. Om Shri Maheshvaraya Namah. Om Shri Maheshvaraya Namah.

Om. Now please open the Rudra granthi. But may the region above the sahasrara remain closed, so that after the meditative sadhana everyone can return to their bodies. Because here on Earth there is still much work to be done.

A Journey Through the Universe

Now everyone settle your attention on the ajna chakra. Focus your attention on your ajna chakra. Keep all your attention right there. Take eight to ten deep breaths in and out. Breathe in really very deeply and then breathe out deeply. Breathe in very deeply and then let the air out slowly, very slowly. In this way take eight to ten deep breaths in and out.

Now the music will begin. You must concentrate on this music. You must direct your attention to it, all your attention. And you will find that you remain still, that you will not be able to move either into the past or into the future. You will remain only in the present. That is the power of the Darbar acting through me.

And only when you remain in the present can you expect some event to take place. Events take place only in the present. No event takes place in the past or in the future. So we will remain in the present and continue on our further journey. We will set out on a journey through the universe. The deeper your spiritual merits and the greater your practice, the faster you will progress.

So focus all your attention on the ajna chakra and at the same time keep full attention on the sound you will hear. The deeper your concentration, the more firmly and deeply you are connected with the music through your attention, the deeper you will enter into meditation. You must not lose this musical melody. You must constantly keep it in your attention. The better you succeed in this, the deeper you will sink into meditation and the greater bliss you will experience. So everyone pay attention to this.

Om.

The Return

Everyone now return to your ajna chakra. From this journey through the universe, everyone return to your ajna chakra. Again focus all your attention on the ajna chakra. Slowly, slowly bring all your attention back to the ajna chakra. Slowly, very slowly return completely to your ajna chakra. Keep all your attention on the ajna chakra.

Now we will slowly descend. From the space between the two eyes we will descend through the nose, mouth and throat. We will pass through the vishuddhi chakra and move our attention to the anahata chakra, to the middle of the heart region. At the same time we will remember Bhagavan Narayana. And then we will descend even lower, to our navel, to the manipura chakra, where we will settle our attention. Focus all your attention on the navel chakra. Absolutely all your attention.

Now we will say three times: Om Namah Shivaya. Three times: Om Namo Narayanaya.

Now raise both palms up to the sky. Everyone raise both palms towards the sky. Take a long, deep breath and then say the sound Om long. Ooooom. We will repeat this twice more.

Now we will say Om Namah Shivaya three times.

Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya.

Now we will clap three times. Clap three times. Place both palms on your thighs. And pat your thighs three times with your palms. Now rub both palms together. Rub both palms together. And then place them over your eyes. We will repeat this twice more. Then slowly, very slowly open your eyes.

Very beautiful. This meditation that we have just done together, you can practise every day. Just play this same music and devote ten minutes to meditation. You can do it together in a group or on your own. This is how you can practise it.

Celebrating Vijayadashami from Afar

So today's programme was very beautiful. Purushottam ji, it was very beautiful. I liked it very much. I too sat here with you very comfortably and pleasantly. I had the opportunity to celebrate Dussehra, the festival of Vijayadashami, with you. Today I was able to celebrate this festival together with all of you. That is why I thank you all very, very much for giving me the opportunity to celebrate this festival together with you. Here it is dashami today, the tenth lunar day, while with you it is still navami, the ninth day. Do you already have dashami?

And now, from which Indian states have people joined this programme? Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, South India, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat. But ninety per cent… [a short unclear English passage].

And do you know what will happen through this? Your spiritual merits will remain even more active. You will all live in peace and bliss. You will experience even greater joy. And at the same time you will learn about each other's joys and worries. It is precisely through these gatherings that you will all remain connected with each other.

Hari Har, Hari Har, Hari Har! How are you? We are doing excellently, we are enjoying it. It is good, it is good. That is good, very good.

Ancient Science and Young People

We will sit down together, talk about it calmly and develop this work further. We will move it forward in a completely new way. It is a great science and a subject that arouses curiosity, especially among young people who are seeking knowledge. I recently spoke about precisely this subject with several significant and well-known personalities in India. They too place great hopes in it and are very enthusiastic about it. So it is good.

When we sit down together and discuss this matter in more detail and in greater depth, we can decide how to develop it further and on what main theme to build it. It will be very good. It is also a good way to spread these things among people, and at the same time it is a good, creative activity. I think we will be able to work on it very well. It is a very good idea. Yes, truly very good.

In our country today, especially among young people, there is great curiosity about religion and ancient science. And this curiosity did not arise suddenly. It did not arise out of nothing. Gradually, a certain boredom and weariness with old-fashioned, dogmatic people appeared among young people. And precisely because of this, children and young people began to ask questions: "Is everything really only what is written in books? Is there also something beyond what is in books?"

Yesterday I was with a very well-known personality of India, Acharya Balkrishna ji. We had several programmes together, and so we spent about five to six hours together. And the whole time we discussed exactly these things. He expressed great sadness about it. He said to me: "I have reached such an age, I have done much research, I have met many people, thousands and thousands of people. But even so we have not been able to prove scientifically the things that belong to our Vedic heritage."

Then he said: "But what you are doing is something extraordinary. You do it with very strong evidence. It is wonderful. All of this should be recorded in writing. Research should be done on it. Scientific research papers should be produced. And from this research a great and valuable work should come. Everything should be presented in a verifiable form, so that it is possible to say: When you do this, this will happen."

It is the same as when you take a knife and cut an apple. When you cut an apple with a knife like this, it will be cut. That is certain. Whether it is an apple from Kashmir, from abroad or from anywhere else, it will be cut. Isn't that so? And this science is exactly like that. If people follow its procedures, the results must come. It cannot be that out of a hundred people who proceed in the same way, fifty get results and fifty do not. Then it would not be science. That would not be science.

That is why it is good that young people today want to understand things. They want to know them, they want to know how they work. And if they find real evidence somewhere, they will not give it up.

And as for a country like America, our brother Rajeev, our acharya, keeps telling me: "Gurudev, in a country like America there is one extraordinary thing. Ability and real qualification enjoy immense respect there. Truly great respect." Recently Swami Ramdev ji was also with us. And he said literally the same thing. He said: "Gurudev, real respect for ability and qualification is precisely in America. There is no doubt about that." He said it himself like that.

It Is a Science

That is why it is very good when something is presented in a verifiable form. And you have a great deal of evidence available. Truly thousands and thousands, even tens of thousands of pieces of evidence in the form of people who are healthy. All who follow the prescribed procedure, who connect with the Darbar through prayer and sankalpa and carry this energy within them, are undoubtedly very happy and experience great bliss. But as soon as they deviate even a little from this procedure and do something else, difficulties come immediately. Immediately.

It is a science. A great science. Earlier people did not know it. And so they just thought: "Maybe it happened because of this." "Maybe because of that." "Maybe something else caused it." They kept searching for possible causes. But now that they have understood this science, they see everything absolutely clearly. They clearly see: "Because of this mistake of mine I suffered harm." And just as clearly they see: "I followed this procedure and immediately gained this benefit." Everything is completely obvious.

It is a science. Everything is in accordance with science. It is the same as when you stand in the sun and feel hot. When you step into the shade or enter an air-conditioned room, you feel cool. That is absolutely clear. It is not that you feel hot in an air-conditioned room and cold in direct sunlight. Everything is fully in accordance with scientific laws.

So very good. It is good, it is a good idea. And surely there is some good reason behind this idea and something good will come of it. It is truly excellent. Continue with it. And whatever help we can provide from our side, we will provide. We will help you develop this work further.

Blessing

That is why I wish you all much, much success. I wish you all everything good. I also thank you all for devoting so much of your time to listening and conversation and for giving us this opportunity. It was very good. Thank you all very much. To all who joined this gathering via Zoom, truly, thank you all very much.

And I wish you all much happiness and all the best. May your life develop and rise. May you and your families be happy. May you all prosper. May you all attain abundance and prosperity. May you all fully engage in the work for the whole of creation and take part in creating. All of you, all of humanity, continue in creative activity. Because what the human race can create in the world, no one else can create. That is why all of you, continue in the work of creation.

To all of you we send, on behalf of Baba and the Mother, on behalf of the Darbar, much, much love and many blessings. May you all be healthy. May you all be happy. May you all live long lives. Thank you.

Glossary of Spiritual and Sanskrit Terms

This glossary explains the main spiritual, philosophical and religious terms that Gurudev uses during his talk and the group meditation. It is intended above all for readers and viewers who are only beginning to get to know the Indian spiritual tradition, tantra and yogic practice. The explanations respect the meaning of the terms in the context of Gurudev's teaching. Where Gurudev uses a specific spiritual interpretation, we distinguish it from the general meaning of the Sanskrit word.

1. Basic spiritual and philosophical terms

2. Consciousness, mind and spiritual bodies

3. Meditation and spiritual practice

4. Chakras and energy centres

5. Deities and spiritual figures

6. Sacred rituals, festivals and spiritual service

7. Guru, spiritual tradition and sacred places

8. Mantras used in the group meditation

Gurudev uses these mantras during the guided meditation to invoke the individual divine principles and to gradually focus on the energy centres.