In the early afternoon of August 9^th, 2010, Radhanath Swami was invited to speak at the headquarters of the world’s most valuable company, Apple, located in Cupertino, CA.  The Apple Indian Association (AIA) hosted this special gathering of over 60 people, and they asked Radhanath Swami to speak on his “Life-Changing Journey Through Yoga”.

After being introduced by AIA host Deepak Chandani, Radhanath Swami began by explaining that yoga is meant to bring us back to the realization of who we actually are, which allows us to go deeper in life than just the external superficial appearances of things. He further explained that yoga is a science of that can give one the ability to  transform stress into a positive energy which inspires personal fulfillment and maximum productivity in whatever we may be doing in our life, because it connects to what we really are. Swami added that realization of yoga in this way can help us to harmonize our body, mind, and soul, and help us to truly process and transcend the difficulties we face in our lives.

Swami explained that if we can come to this deeper sense of harmony, we can find the real spiritual truth of who we actually are, and transcend the surface misconceptions and prejudices that exist in our world.  He revealed that it was this personal desire to transcend these prejudices and misunderstandings that led him to his own life-changing journey to understand the truth of yoga.

As he related the dynamic adventure of his journey, Swami shared how he came to be inspired by a passage in the Bhagavad-Gita which distilled the essence of the deep vision of yoga.  He shared from the Gita that “one who is actually learned sees everyone with equal vision, whether one is male or female, or any skin color. Whether one is from one nationality or another, even whether one is human or cow or a dog or an insect, where ever there is life, one sees the sacred presence of the soul.”

This passage helped the Swami on his journey to understand the depths of universal knowledge and love to be found in the tradition of yoga, and which gave him a deep insight into its ability to help everyone see through the surface tumults that life throws at us, including the harrowing presence of stress which effects life so acutely in the modern world.

“With a deep understanding of our soul through yoga”, Swami concluded, “there is a positive divine opportunity in every situation at every moment, if we can recognize it. The fact is every situation of life is a gift. Yoga, or spirituality, or true religion, is the process by which we can learn to see how everything is potentially a blessing.”

Below are some appreciative quotes from some of the Apple employees who attend the talk.

Shruti Chugh:  “I liked everything, especially the calmness it gave me, and the truth of Swami’s talk”

Helen Joseph: “I appreciated the need to see the integrity deep within ourselves, and the Swami’s calling for the greater good.”

Deepthi Gangasani: “It was amazing to get a chance to listen to someone with such great knowledge. It was an amazing lecture that made everyone think.”

Below is an excerpt from a talk Radhanath Swami gave at the Prerna Festival (a monthly gathering of approximately 1000 young men) in December 2011, at the Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai. 

“These days, I think almost everyone is ‘in tension’ (laughter). The only way that individually and collectively we can come out of this tension that we are in, is to understand how to develop good intentions and to apply them in our lives. An intention is the purpose or the attitude that is behind our actions and our words. The history of the world very much tells us much about the power of individual intentions and how they have affected human civilization. William Blake has written, “A truth that’s told with bad intent; beats all the lies you can invent”. It’s so true – a truth told with bad intentions can beat, or in other words, it can be more destructive than all the lies that we can invent.”

“It’s not just what we do and what we say but our intention that can empower us either positively or negatively in our own karma and how it affects people, the environment and the world. We have all heard the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Almost everybody really feels that they have good intentions. But the nature of the false ego is that it misguides one and can pollute ones awareness, ones consciousness, in a such a way as to justify what is wrong in the name of what is right.”

“One of my friends from Germany told me a story that was told to him by his father. It was a story about the person who Adolf Hitler appointed as the leader of the SS. He was in charge of exterminating entire races and religions of people. That was their goal. And according to history books they murdered about six-million innocent people. One day he was being massaged and he was telling his masseur that he was vegetarian. He said his reason for being a vegetarian was because he very strongly believed in the principal of ahimsa (non-violence). And he went on and on explaining the philosophical meaning of ahimsa and the glories of ahimsa. Afterwards the person massaging him asked, “If you really believe in ahimsa, non-violence, then why are you ordering the massacre of so many millions of people?”  He paused for some time and then spoke very gravely. He said “it is unfortunate but we have to do this for the good of humanity and future of the world”. So it appears that he really believed he had good intentions of serving humanity, but those intentions were clouded, polluted, corrupted by the false ego! The terrorist today, many of them, we can assume, believe their intention is to serve and please God, through the process of murdering people that they feel, are like pollution within this world. So they think their intentions are good. The way a human being thinks is very relative to our egoistic conceptions. Yes, the road to hell is very much paved by people who believe they have good intentions. What is very crucial to the world in the past, in the present and in the future is for people to develop a foundation of knowledge based on the universal spiritual truths and values. And to build our intentions on that foundation.”

“In the practice of Bhakti, it is said that the Lord accepts not everything we offer but the purpose, the intention, in which it is offered. The intention is the desire, the attitude of our heart and God is within the heart, seeing our purpose, seeing our attitude and seeing how sincere we actually are.”

“Sri Chaitanya said that Bhakti is like a seed. This seed is the intention to serve and please the lord in a favorable way without egoism or selfishness.”

“But along with that seed, which is so rare and so precious, many weeds may grow. Any of you who has done gardening would know how important it is to tend to the weeds. We may have a good intention in life but due to the conditioning of the mind so much negativity comes like weeds. Selfishness, greed and lust are weeds that can grow along with the seed of Bhakti. Subtle forms of these weeds are the desire for profit, adoration and distinction. The thoughts we choose to pursue are what will determine whether we water the weed or whether we water the real seed of bhakti or of love. Whatever good intentions we have are going to be regularly challenged and assaulted and the tendency is to be distracted by these weeds. And once we begin this cycle of making the wrong choices to give attention to the weeds, the unholy or negative thoughts, we become more and more bound and habituated to them.”

“If we are not very diligent, the weeds within our hearts can grow stronger, hungrier and we become more and more habituated to make choices according to the dictations of these negative, unhealthy thoughts and desires. And gradually out intentions become, straight down to the roots, very, very corrupted and we can actually even think that the weed is the seed – that it is the real plant that is going to make me happy in life.”

“We have to learn to distinguish between the real plant growing from seed of devotion and the weeds that are inevitably going to be growing around it.”

“That seed of our good and holy intentions needs to be cultivated and watered in three ways. First is satsanga – the association with holy people which gives us knowledge, protects us from distractions, and gives us proper conceptions. Then sadhana – our spiritual practices. And finally, seva – dynamic action or service based on that intention. Seva is the practical way of dedicating our thoughts, our words and our actions to those pure intentions. All of these are the water that nourishes the seed of devotion.”

A sea of over a 100,000 people gathered to join the annual Jagannath Ratha Yatra Festival at Shivaji Park, in Mumbai, India on 7^th January. The Jagannath Ratha Yatra (cart festival of Lord Jagannath) is a centuries-old festival which takes place in Jagannath Puri, India. It celebrates the return of Krishna (Jagannath) along with His brother and sister (Balarama and Subhadra) to Vrindavan, the place of the pastimes of His youth. Organized by the Radha Gopinath Temple the festival featured a 25-ft tall chariot that bore the forms of Lord Jaggannath, Balaram and Subhadra for the procession. A youth group from The Radha Gopinath Temple has been holding this event for the past six years.

The procession was launched by Radhanath Swami offering the worship to the deities and then the procession began it’s route accompanied by kirtan through the streets of Mumbai to Shivaji Park, Mumbai’s largest park, famous for it’s historical gatherings. The entire park was decorated with lights and a stage was prepared to host the event from which Radhanath Swami addressed the crowd. Below is an excerpt from his talk.

“I express my sincerest gratitude to all of you for sparing your very precious time to be with us tonight to celebrate Jagannath’s Rath Yatra. It is mentioned in the scriptures by Lord Krishna to Shri Narada that “you will find me wherever my devotees come together to remember me and chant my names and glories”. Today thousands of us have come together for the purpose of remembering God. In this day and age where there is so much conflict, hatred, greed and ego even in the name of religion, we have come together to honor Lord Jagannath. Jagannath means the Lord of the universe, the father, the mother of all living beings. Vedanta Sutra states “Janmady asya yatah”, that the absolute truth is one from whom everything and everyone emanates.”

“Real religion is that which awakens unconditional, unmotivated love for the Lord from within our hearts. The love for God, which is dormant in the heart of all living beings, can be awakened by chanting of holy names of the lord.”

“Srila Prabhupada very simply explained the meaning of Ratha Yatra. He said that Ratha Yatra is the meditation on bringing Krishna back into our hearts. Krishna resides within the heart of all living beings, but we have forgotten Him. The real purpose of spiritual life is to make our heart a suitable home for God to reveal Himself to us. If we are inviting God to reveal himself in our hearts it must be clean. But if our hearts have accumulated the dirt of lust, envy, arrogance, greed, anger and illusion then He will not be happy to reveal His home within our heart. The purpose of every great spiritual path in this world is to help one another to honestly and sincerely clean our hearts, to cultivate the character of humility, charity, love for God and compassion to all beings.”

“I want to thank all the wonderful people who have arranged this festival. They have worked so hard to create this wonderful experience for all of us. It is a practical example of how to serve by keeping God as a center of our life, irrespective of our qualification or position in society. The Great Maratha warrior, Chatrapati Shivaji, whom this park was named for, protected his people fearlessly, yet his heart always aspired to find shelter in the association of the great saint – Tukaram. If we chant God’s names in saintly association, we can learn to live in a spirit of service.”

“A new year is a land mark in our lives and a time for reflection on where we have been, where we are and where we want to go. It’s also time to ponder on our failures and mistakes in our spiritual lives. In the path of Bhakti every occasion and every thing is for the purpose of transformation. If the previous year bought sufferings in our lives we can take solace in the fact that all sufferings and punishments in this world are for our healthy rectification. Today we need to meditate on what I really want in life.”

“It’s very important for us, practicing spiritualists, to take regular inventory of our lives. To transform our consciousness and connect to the Lord of our hearts we need guidance and shelter. On this day let’s resolve to go, with determination, to where we really want to go in life.”

“To achieve meaning filled success in our lives, we need strength beyond ourselves and association of sincere souls. We also need to resolve to take shelter of the holy names of God and soberly remember that today we are one year closer to death. At the same time we need to meditate on our purpose in life and that will guarantee an eternal life, beyond the temporary existence of this world.”

The excerpt above is taken from Radhanath Swami’s talk to the congregation of the Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai on New Years Day, 2012.

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