Guruji's Satsang session at Montreal Advanced Course

Someone gave Guruji a gift wrapped in golden wrapping paper which lead to Guruji saying -
In the ancient scriptures, the Upanishads there is a prayer which goes 'Oh God, please unveil the golden package (and reveal the truth)'. Two things prevent you from knowing the truth - sorrow (In case of sorrow, you are not interested in knowing the truth) or charms and illusions of the world that keep you away from the Truth. It is neither craving for it nor being averse to it - simple recognition of the truth.

Most people are enchanted by the golden wrapping paper - they don't open it and thus remain unaware of the truth within. Then Guruji went about opening the gift and then said "The truth when revealed is not anything serious but it is fun!!!" and guess what was the gift a picture book of Lucy !!! (from the comedy series - I Love Lucy)

What is Gayatri Mantra?
It is composed of 24 syllables and reciting it postively affects each of the 24 vertebrae in the back. More importantly, it means - bring noble thoughts from all directions (?). Its actually an expansion of the sound Om.

What is the meaning of Om?
Om is the most beautiful sound in creation also referred to as the primordial sound. It is composed of Aa, Oo and Mm. When one goes on top of the mountain and listens to the sound of the wind, one can hear the faint 'Ommmmm'. When one carefully listens to the sound of the waves in the ocean, one can hear the rumbling 'Ommmm' in the distance. Also, reciting Om is akin to doing the 3-stage pranaayaams. The Aa part works on the stomach regions, Oo part works on the chest and Mm works on the upper regions.

What does Swastika denote?
It is a symbol and they are the people who make something out of the symbol. For eg, the 'Do Not Enter' symbol is only recognized in USA and Europe. It is not known in India and hence it has no significance. The Swastika represents the 4 time zones, also represents the 4 stages in life - in 100 years, first 25 years is for studying (studenthood), next 25 years is the life of a householder, next 25 years is the time to do service for society, last 25 years is the time for being a recluse - completely detached from everything. There are several such 4s like the 4 Vedas etc. The ancient symbol of Swatika was in the clockwise direction and signified the cyclical nature of time. Hitler changed it make it go in the other direction and preverted the meaning.

Order and Chaos
Sometimes you have to elbow your way and sing during Satsang. Some chaos is required. In India, I tell people that some order is required!

How to deal with arrogant and ignorant people?
Arrogant people are also ignorant. Arrogant people need to be challenged. If you want to tell them about the course, don't go like a mouse and explain. You can throw a challenge to them 'Maybe in 10 years, you'll be able to do the course. Now you're not mature enough!'

I smile at everyone. Some smile back, some don't. When they don't, I feel a contraction within.
Why do you expect them to smile back at you? One who cannot smile is a worm. You may be a worm in the gutter or a worm on a silver plate but a worm you are. Whereas a person who smiles, be he in the slums or in the palace, is a diamond. A diamond is precious no matter where it lies. Mullah Nasruddin's story - Mullah all injured and lying in the hospital - friend asks 'how're you?' - response - 'Only when I smile does it hurt' - friend 'How can you smile when you are in such a state?' - Mullah 'If I can't smile now, I have never smiled!'

Power of contentment
There is truly nothing as powerful as contentment. It gives you such royalty. In any case, there is only so much rain that you can catch. Can you imagine, running all around in the rain trying to catch it? In any case, you can only catch as much rain as the surface area of your head. You cannot catch any more.

Longing
Longing is the sign of love. So don't shorten the longing!

Vacation
People go on vacation to beautiful places and they come back tired and tanned. But the actual beauty is in your eyes, not the place. All people who live in Europe want to travel to Spain - they dream of going there. But the people in Spain - they want to go to the Alps! The people who live in the Alps - they don't find them so beautiful! Take the case of the dog who chews on the bone. It feels that the juice flowing in its mouth comes from the bone but actually, it is the blood in its own mouth that it mistakes for juice from the bone. This is mentioned in Ashtavakra. Everyone should listen to the Ashtavakra series.

Lust
Whenever I see a woman, I have a lot of lustful thoughts. Even in sacred places, even in your presence.
It'll go off. It may happen when you don't have a lot of work. It might also be because of some impresssions or samskaras you might have gathered in childhood or in your past births. For eg. in a burning house situation, would you run out of the fire or gaze at a woman's body? Fear and Greed also have good use. You can use them intelligently for getting over bad habits. E.g. if you smoke or drink , you can tell your self if I smoke or drink I will lose a million dollars. Similarly fear is important. If there was no fear then people would do anything they liked, they would have driven on whichever side of the road. It is required to maintain some orderliness.

How to pray? I was raised in a non-religious environment.
Meditation is the best form of prayer. In meditation you surrender, you say let thy will be done.You may light a candle, chant Om Namah Shivaay.

How come you're so cute?
Purely by accident! Not deliberate or pre-planned.

What is more important - career or family?
When you watch TV, what is more imporant - the scenes or the sound? Both! One supports the other. Similarly, when one has no family, what is use of a career? Career is for supporting one's family. To support oneself, a career is not required. Likewise, when one has no career, how can one support one's family?

Why do some religions advocate vegetarianism and others don't?
(All this is based on what some people said and didn't say... ) Religious authorities have been doing this since centuries. Playing on people's minds to retain power and superiority. For eg. some clerics in India have declared a fatwa on life insurance. They say that it's against Islam. This is wrong. Why should they ban life insurance? In olden times there was nothing like insurance, so how could some ancient code of conduct (Shariat) have banned something like that?