Guru Poornima—Day of Aanand!

Today, on the festival of Guru Poornima, Swami Shyam gave satsang in the morning, then invited  everyone down to 'The Land' (his family's residence) for a traditional langar (communal feast) in the afternoon followed by an evening of music and chanting. Many visitors from various parts of India as well as from Kullu itself came to join the celebration. Gentle monsoon rains fell throughout the day. 

Swami-ji: [Swami-ji began the morning session with a lead-in to meditation in which he spoke first in Hindi, then switched to English . . .]
    You must have heard what I have said in Hindi: you don’t need these ears. By now, after thirty years, you have opened your inner ear, opened your inner eye, opened your inner understanding—just with the sound of the voice, you know where we are at.
    Therefore you knew it when I suggested in Hindi, "Let us watch Shyam Space which is amar and madhur, and that is our truth or real being who I say is free and pure."
    Even one word is enough: mukt—it means nirbandh [without bondage].
    This morning you are just you, because the thoughts are not going to divide you until the celebration is over. This is what we capture, especially on Guru Poornima Day.
    The name 'poornima' is fullness. Full moon it must also be, though I haven’t seen it this time. Fulfilled chaytna (pure consciousness) is called guru poornima. In all the hearts there is guru poornima. But we do not see it. We see only the thought and the thought creator, and that is division. If I continue speaking you will be in the field of division.
    Therefore I’ll stop and you, the Shyam Space, will automatically have its place wherever it is.
    I’ll be quiet for fifteen minutes . . .

The Garland and the Thread

Amarnath: (Offers Swami-ji a garland of flowers.)

Swami-ji: You must have come to know, Amarnath, what is the meaning of garland. Each flower is a devotee. But what is in all the devotees? A common thread. With that thread, they are all in one garland. The whole universe—which is mountain, river, sun, moon, forest, tables, chairs, sofa set, fridge, television, computer—cannot exist if God is not permeating. This means they are never separate.
    But as long as they think they are separate—one flower is basanti (spring), one is sanyasi (yellow), their colours are different, maybe their green leaves and stems are different?they could not come together if the thread was not there. They know they are one because thread is there. Thread could not reach them by itself. But Krishna reached, consciousness reached.
    Today is the day of aanand. It’s called Guru Poornima. If you call it 'fullness of the joy,' it’s alright. And if you are a human being, then why not think of living with aanand all the time? Because dukh (pain) will be there.
    If you are a human being, you have two legs. One leg is in hot water [laughter], one leg is in cold water. And both are painful. Ice water, cold, gives you pain. And hot water—too hot if not mixed with cold—gives you pain. Human beings have two of everything—two, two. Watch! When a child is born he has everything in twos. Eyes, two; ears, two; hands, two; feet, two. And that you have seen.
    All the waves and bubbles, eddies and whirlpools are water. But within a human being, if guru poornima is not there, then he is a-guru (non-guru).
    This is what we come to know.

The Kshatriya and the Cows

Swami-ji: Whenever we see a cow we will protect it; we will not kill. I’ll give you one very good example. Two hundred cows were being taken to be slaughtered. A Kshatriya on his horse was also going on this path, on his big horse, having his double-barrel gun. At that time they used to have those. So he saw the cows, and they were all lean and thin, and going to be cut. Some small, small cows also.
    He called out, "Who is taking this group?"
    The people taking the cows were very haughty because they make so much money. One said, "Who are you? Go your way!"
    He said, "Leave these cows."
    They said, "No. We have bought them."
    He said, "For how much money have you bought them?"
    "Very throw away prices: less than five hundred rupees—two rupees per cow—because those who sold them are so needy they don’t care whether they have life or not. So, in order to save their fodder, they just sell."
    Needy persons. No country should be needy. No man should be needy.
    So the Kshatriya said, "Well, I’ll give you double the price at which you bought them."
    They said, "No. We’ll make a hundred times more than what you are giving to me."
    So he said, "I am saying I will give you double of the price! Leave them!"
    They said, "No."
    He was Kshatriya. He took the gun and shot—all four persons they died. And he let the cows loose. They just had their joy of mukti.
    As you see with British beef. They put so many in the trucks that there was a movement in France to give them some space when they are transported.
    "Give them some space," they say, but then cut them anyway.
    I have many stories like this because I have a television. [Laughter] And when I am not in satsang, what can you do? You don’t study. When you have television you don’t study. You watch the cricket match!
    That Kshatriya chap was hanged because four persons he killed—as you sow, so shall you reap. Nobody can share your karmas. That is karma theory. Whatever you do, you will have to deal with the results.
    A patient in hospital had never been good to his relations. But on reaching the hospital he says, "Come and see me. Come and visit me." Who would ever go there? Therefore you have to be nice to each other. [Laughter]
    But guru chaytna burns all your karmas. Why? Because there is no relation. Bondage of relation is, for each person, acting and getting the result of their action. With hellish action you’ll get hell. With heavenly action, you will get heaven. You will have to live in hell that many years or you will have to live in heaven many years. But it is due to the action that you have owned and done.
    Everybody does wrong actions. So how would you get the result which is right? These many years—thirty years—have been taken for everyone to become right. Thirty years time! No guru waits for thirty years for making you right!
    You see how it works. The Kshatriya was hanged for shooting the four men. He was on the gallows; the order was given and he was to leave the platform and hang and die with that hanging cord, noose. But he didn’t die. He was hanging but he didn’t die. 
    The people were very surprised. They said, "Well, once he is saved. But second time?"
    Again they took him back, and again they dropped him.
    He didn’t die.
    Three times.
    It was the law that if you are saved three times, they leave you. So the third time, after he was hung, he was again standing; and he was again OK. So he was let loose. Raam was Kshatriya. Kshatriya! Bodiless! [Laughter]
    You try to understand with reason why it is. Reasoning power fails with a human being. Those who are dependent on reasoning power will meet the dead end of misery. Guru says, "There is no reason why the world is going on like this. There is no reason why the rain falls on Guru Poornima day."
    Who is that who is governing the whole thing? Who is that who is governing this? Who is governing that? Who is governing all these people? It is not known. And if you try to apply your reason, you will go crazy. There is no reason. In a minute, everything changes. What is the reasoning now? How does it change? We are living in day-to-day life. We are observing, and all this is happening.
    So the judge asked the Kshatriya, "What happened to you? How did you get saved? Everyone in this jail who was hanged before died."
    He told him, "Under my feet, whenever you released me, there were cow horns on which my legs were supported."
    Good karma! Even though he killed four persons!
    God knows how many karmas you have done, but they are all burnt. [Applause] Never repent. Whatever has been in the past, it’s all burnt. Therefore you remain mukt and free. This year, on Guru Poornima 2000, wherever you are, don’t become victim of the words and of the information of the people. Don’t believe in them.
    A man is a man because he is either into gain or into avoiding loss. What consciousness is this? It’s called raag (attraction) and dwesh (aversion). What is raag and dwesh? It is ‘I’, ‘mein’. What is ‘mein’? That which is found to be here in this body. I am here, you are there. According to my might and power, I am here, you are there. 
    One wave says, "I am belonging to Atlantic."
    Another wave in the same ocean says, "I am Arab Sea."
    And both are in the great ocean.
    One says, "I am Canadian."
    One says "I am Canadian Indian."
    One says, "I am English."
    One says, "I am French, Québecois."
    So everywhere there is duality. I am talking about worldly things, and you know it. And having known the changing minds of people, and the changing nature of the world, you should not relinquish your unchanging, your being. Guru is unchanging.
    Everybody wants to understand what is happening: what great-grandpa did, what the previous governments did, what the world organizers did, what happened in Fiji where hostages were released yesterday.  One day a man was Prime Minister, the next day a hostage. What happened? You cannot understand.
    Therefore what is essential? To give up this type of understanding which means rise above it. If waves are bothering, why do you surf-ride? Leave the board! That’s all. And that’s my stage.
    I tell you this on Guru Poornima: when something happens, only God knows what happens; it will not happen in a way which any person has thought.
    There is a shloka (spiritual writing) which says: "The devotee is the one who has attained sam [evenness]" 
    In heat and cold, he remains sam. With friend and its opposite he remains sam. With things and forms, with people coming and going, he remains sam. Who will remain sam? The one who is tuned in to guru. Guru’s vision is sam. In the vision there is no such thing as blue eyes or black eyes. Vision has no colour; it is sam. It’s not South American nor South African eyes, nor lady’s eyes nor man’s eyes. 
    The form—eyes—will have difference, but vision will not have difference.

The Guru, the Snake  and the Power of Discrimination

Swami-ji (relating a story his guru used to tell): In this village, all the children in the school were afraid of a black snake who lived nearby. The children complained to guru-ji, "Whenever we go to school, the snake is on the way. So we are afraid to come to your place."
    So the guru said, "OK. I’ll say the mantra."
    He repeated the mantra and the snake came before him. (When these people do not behave properly I call the snake!) [Laughter]
    So he called the snake and snake stood, knowing that it was standing before a guru.
    So guru-ji said, "Bhai, why do you trouble these boys?"
    The snake said, "What else do you want me to do except my nature? I have a fang! Whenever I see the boys I get inspired and I raise the fang and they are afraid. Of course, when I am in fan I cannot bite them, but they are ignorant, they don't know this. They think I’ll bite them so they are afraid by themselves."
    So guru-ji said to it in front of the children, "Well look, I am ordering you that you are not going to bite these children. You will just not bite."
    It said, "Fine."
    Often thereafter the snake would be inspired to come out of its hole, and seeing the children, it wanted to play with them.
    Many snakes play with the children. In Canada a child who was at teething period, five or six years old—they told me the story—he was in the cradle and a snake came over there. He caught the snake and bit it because it was teething period. [Laughter] He bit the snake! What is the reasoning?
    So of course the snake obeyed guru-ji whenever it came out. And the children knew now, that snake could not bite them. So they took their pencils and they started teasing him, teasing him, making so many holes in the snake with their pencils. [Laughter] Yes.
    So the snake went back again to guru-ji, "Guru-ji, can you withdraw your order? Because you told me, now I am bound to obey. But these children, they are ignorant—I told you already and you already know it. You can make them wise, but I can only play with them.”
    So guru-ji said, "What’s your problem?"
    It said, "Well, I have stopped biting and don’t do anything. And these children have come to know."
    Guru-ji said, "Where did I tell you that you should not raise your fang? You can raise the fang. Whenever they come to you, raise the fang; they will run away."
    So snake said, "Well look, I was acting according to my own concept. I thought that was your order that I shouldn’t bite."
    Now this is the problem in the world: if guru tells you, "You be nice," then wrong people take advantage of you. Therefore guru always leads your attention to become viveki [a person with the power of discrimination]. Guru says whatever is needed at that time.
    And these people have come to know.

Awareness You Are!

Swami-ji: Arjun was sitting in the chariot and his legs started shaking. His hands trembled. Bow and arrow all fell down in the chariot in front of Krishna.
    Krishna said, "What’s the matter?"
    Arjun said, "Well, you are seeing it. You have shown me my relations standing in the enemy rank against us. And they are our grandfathers for whom we have respect! There is Dronachariya whom we respect. And they will be killed—by me. I will be deemed to be killer and will get the result of the killing in hell. And because of that idea, my brain doesn’t work, my lips are parched, my hands are shaking, my feet are trembling, and my state of mind is very confused. Krishna, you tell me what to do."
    Krishna knew whatever state was there, because he is all-permeating in every being. He didn’t say, "Well, you are bad," or this and that. Many people say to the children, "You are not right. You are not doing well. You are not able to think well. Your thinking is absurd," and all that.
    So Arjun said, "Krishna, you tell me."
    The whole Gita—seven hundred verses—was Krishna's reply. And the whole world is getting the advantage and will get the advantage. Millennium after millennium it will remain. Its sutras (verses) are there. And I have interpreted it. I thought to decide: every day, three verses. And they will be complete. That’s my way of doing things. Sometimes one revelation, sometimes a second—all at one time I don’t do, but I do regularly.
    I meditated regularly.
    Guru-ji told me "If you meditate regularly you will never fail." He said, "If you meditate, everybody will like you and love you. If you meditate daily you will not fall sick." 
    That’s why I do guru pooja. Because he told me. And I accepted. 
Just daily. Even if you do ten minutes, five minutes, two minutes, but you meditate. In meditation what happens? The fourth state dawns by itself; the Krishna comes to your heart. The gyaan (knowledge) comes to your heart. Automatically. The highest power comes to your heart only in fourth state.
    But if you keep struggling and you say, "I should gain this, I should gain that," then your meditation will not be alright. 
    Therefore in meditation you just close the eyes and know that you are not dead. You are aware. Just aware. And now and then, keep checking: are you aware or not? Listen to the birds. They speak, and your ears hear. Listen to your mind: it will say something, some thoughts.
    Treat it that you are aware. And awareness you are. That’s what I say.
    I say you are awareness!