00:00Today, it is also a Happy New Year because our Hindu calendar changed today.
00:11It is a really an auspicious day to celebrate the beginning of Navaratri.
00:24The 9th day where Mahabharavati will be celebrated and of course will end with the birth of Lord Rama.
00:38When we see our prayer, how one is participating to it,
00:47the whole prayer, it is a state of surrender.
00:54Now we talk about surrender, we talk about love, we talk about trust.
01:01This is three things which our prayer hold upon.
01:08We are surrendered to so many things.
01:12When we surrender something, what happens? That becomes a priority. That becomes something.
01:18But in prayer, when we surrender, when you surrender in prayer, you become the one himself.
01:28When we look at the kalesha for example, the kalesha is just a pot of water, you know, and a
01:36coconut on top.
01:37But yet, when we are chanting the mantra, we are calling the Divine Mother, that becomes the Divine Mother.
01:49It may be an act to the outside world as an act of immaturity.
01:58But when we look at the beauty of Hinduism, we are surrendered to so many things, you know.
02:06We are surrendered to the sky, we are surrendered to the plants, to the trees.
02:12We surrender to the river, you know. We see, we call the river Mother Landa.
02:20And that becomes Divine, you know. For the outside world, it can be very strange to do that.
02:26But we perceive the Divine in everything, in that act of surrendering itself.
02:36Because that act happened not only into the mind, not only into the body, but it happened into the spiritual
02:45region of your heart itself, where the Divine resides.
02:49And it is from that spiritual region, where the Divine is brought throughout.
02:57We are not just chanting the mantra, because the mantra activates different aspects of divinity within your spiritual body.
03:07And when that happens, surrender manifests.
03:11When surrender happens, love, trust, all these things can happen.
03:17And for that we have to have the deeper understanding.
03:21If we don't have the deeper understanding, we value things differently.
03:32Once, a disciple of Guru Nanak Dev Ji went to him, and he said to him,
03:40As they were walking, they were arriving near to Pune.
03:44So, arriving near to Pune, that man found a wonderful stone on the road.
03:51That captivated his mind.
03:53And he was so much, oh, let me pick it up.
03:56So, he picked that stone up, and he was playing with it.
04:00So, they arrived in Pune, and they were sitting.
04:05He asked Guru Nanak Dev Ji one question.
04:09He said, Guru Dave, I've seen so many people come to you.
04:15But how many people stay?
04:17It's very few.
04:20You know, you talk about the value of life itself.
04:27But how many really come to the point of understanding the greatness of the Atma itself within the body?
04:35Very often we realize when it is too late.
04:39We realize the greatness of the Prana itself when we can't take it.
04:46We realize the greatness of life when we are lying on the dead bed,
04:51or we are full of sickness which can't be cured.
04:55When you have life itself, you live life in a very errant way.
05:01But there is no tomorrow.
05:04Forgetting that sooner or later, we are indebted towards that life.
05:09And sooner or later, life will be taken away.
05:14How it will be taken away?
05:17In a fraction of a second.
05:20And at that moment you realize how precious is that life itself.
05:25How valuable is that life?
05:27We value so many things.
05:29We surrender to so many things.
05:30But yet, to that Atma itself, which Bhagavan Mahavati have given,
05:36we don't value that.
05:39So, Guru Nanak Dev Ji said,
05:40people value things to what price they put upon.
05:46They value it according to their own understanding.
05:51He said, ah, look at the stone, you are playing to it.
05:55So, Guru Nanak Dev Ji said, go to the market place and ask the value of that.
06:02So, he went.
06:03First he found a potato seller, you know.
06:07And he asked the person, what would you value for that stone?
06:12He said, oh, I will give you one potato just to get rid of you.
06:18Then he went to a clothes seller.
06:23The person said, okay, I will give you some yard of clothes.
06:29Finally, he went to a jeweler.
06:31The jeweler looked at it and said, wow, I don't have enough money to give you for that stone.
06:38And he was shocked.
06:40I can't give you enough money for that stone.
06:43But if you wait, maybe a week time, I can give you much more than that.
06:49So, he started to think.
06:51He rushed to Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
06:54How's Guru Nanak Dev Ji?
06:55That same stone, in the market place, everybody value it accordingly to their own value.
07:04To their own value.
07:05What they have inside of you, they will value you.
07:08The same thing, you see.
07:09What you have inside of you, that's how you will value your life.
07:13What you have inside, how you will value the prayer itself.
07:17How you will value your surrender to the Divine.
07:21That's what you have to start thinking about.
07:26So, how precious is your life itself.
07:29That's what our old Rishi and Guni have taught us to realize the precious of life itself.
07:39And the moment you realize the preciousness of life itself,
07:43there will be only one thing that happens, that is surrender.
07:49Surrender.
07:49Surrender with love.
07:51Surrender with trust.
07:55And that sincerity itself.
07:59And it is not hard actually.
08:03Because surrender, when we talk about surrender, we think that,
08:06it's an act that I have to do.
08:10No, it is a natural state of a human being to surrender.
08:14That naturally you are surrendering.
08:16You are surrendering to your children, to your wife, to your husband, to your car, to your house.
08:21So, it is a natural.
08:23You don't ask to be surrendered to these things.
08:25Naturally, you are drawn to it, you surrender to it.
08:30Effortless you surrender to things that will make you miserable afterwards.
08:34But when something, when we say surrender to God, you find it as a burden.
08:41You find it as something hard when I have to do something.
08:45No, the same way you surrender to everything, naturally that surrender has to be also.
08:52And this is the state of mind which we call.
08:59We have to be ready to drop everything.
09:03We have to be ready.
09:05Because don't think that the state of dropping something is a state of weakness.
09:12Actually, it is not a state of weakness.
09:14It is a state of strength actually.
09:18Once Narada, on his traveling journey, you know Narada Muni was always traveling, singing the glory of Shaman Narayana.
09:29So, on his expedition, while he was returning from one such traveling, he felt really tired.
09:40And he found a wonderful big simul tree.
09:45Beautiful, huge tree with red flowers.
09:49Beautiful leaves.
09:51So, he decided, wow, such a wonderful place.
09:54I shall rest on the tree.
09:56So, as he lay down, he was looking at the tree.
09:59How majestic is this tree! How great is this tree!
10:05And he started wondering, does this tree have any weakness?
10:09That was in his mind, he started to think about.
10:12Does this tree have any weaknesses?
10:16So, as he thought about it.
10:19He asked the tree.
10:21That is a simul tree.
10:22You are so splendid, so majestic.
10:26Do you have any weaknesses?
10:30No answer.
10:32Then he started to think about, is the wind so strong that he can uproot this tree?
10:40So, as he was thinking about that, he heard a voice from the tree saying,
10:44No, the wind is not that strong.
10:49When he heard that, he said, Oh, what an arrogant tree!
10:54How dare he say, but the pavan, you know, is not that strong.
11:01So, quickly, you know, no matter how he is, rushed quickly to Indralog.
11:08And there, he meet pavan.
11:11He said, You know, I was on a travelling, and I met this tree.
11:15He's so arrogant, but he said, You are not powerful.
11:20You know how gossip goes, huh?
11:25So, pavan was very hurt, and came with full force upon that simul tree.
11:33So, as pavan was coming, the simul tree was very philanthropic, you know.
11:38He was very wise.
11:40Because, you see, when something is happening, nature changes.
11:44So, the tree knows what he did, he shed all his leaves and flowers.
11:51He stood like a thumb, just naked.
11:59Pavan came, blue, strong as it is, in all direction, and get tired, left.
12:07Nothing happened.
12:10After some time, Narana was passing by.
12:14He said, Now the tree is gone.
12:15You know, his arrogant and pride finished.
12:18Ankara, no?
12:20It's finished.
12:22So, as he arrived, he saw the tree standing.
12:28He was shocked.
12:29Narana approached the tree and said,
12:32How come, did pavan not visit you?
12:36He said, Yes, he did.
12:38And I told you, he is not that strong.
12:44He said, How is it possible that he is not that strong?
12:48He said, Well, look,
12:54in spite of all the beauty and splendor that I have,
12:59the moment I sense that I have to drop something,
13:05I drop all my leaves and the flowers,
13:08that would have been my weaknesses.
13:10I was ready to drop everything for something more.
13:16So, this is the same thing, you see.
13:20In the state of our mind,
13:22are we ready to drop something for something more?
13:27Or are we just here and now, we understood that,
13:31and then later on we forget about it?
13:35No.
13:36It is an ongoing journey of life itself.
13:39Because life itself has been given to you for that purpose,
13:44to realize yourself, to awake into that greatness of who you are truly.
13:52Throughout Bhagavad Gita Krishna spoke about that.
13:55Realize yourself, awake into that divinity which you hold inside of you.
14:00But yet, we are looking for divinity elsewhere.
14:03We go to temple, we go to church, we go to mosque, everything to look for divinity,
14:07but inside that temple, which is a real temple.
14:12We don't go there.
14:16And this is the call, you know,
14:18what our whole Rishi has called upon,
14:20to awake into that temple,
14:23where you become the temple of the Divine.
14:28where the Divine reflects through you,
14:31through that love, through that surrender,
14:33through that trust which you have in your life have given you.
14:38The moment you realize that,
14:39you will see that each moment of your life is Divine.
14:44Each moment of your life, Mount Bhagavati is with you.
14:49There is not a single place where she is not there.
14:52There is not a single place where God is not present.
14:55You go to hell, the saints are saved.
14:58You go to hell, you will find Him.
15:00You go to heaven, you will find Him.
15:02Wherever you go, you will find Him.
15:03But one place where He is dancing, you will find,
15:07is the heart of the divinity.
15:09So, that is the place where you can meet Him.
15:13You can interact with Him.
15:17So, dive into that ocean of love, yeah?
15:20And let this manifest frame.
15:23Enjoy the day.
15:24Enjoy the day.
15:25Enjoy the day.
