His Holiness Vishwaguruji lectures in Croatia
On Tuesday 18 December 2007, His Holiness Vishwaguru Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwaranandaji gave a series of Public Lectures on the subject “Spiritual Heritage”, in Zagreb, the capital of Republic of Croatia, organised by the Croatian Association of Yoga in Daily Life.
Though the organisers booked one of the city's largest lecture halls, with a capacity of more than 800 seats, the tickets were sold out within just two days. The public interest was so huge that H.H. Swamiji repeated his lecture three times (!) so that all who were interested could benefit from his words. Furthermore the entire lecture was broadcast worldwide via the Internet.
Among the many other distinguished guests attending, was the State Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, Mr. Nevio Šetiæ. Mr Šetiæ said: “Your Holiness, I salute you in the name of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports who, together with the Croatian Association of Yoga in Daily Life, have organised a three year program of non-formal education for school teachers that has been successfully completed. I would like to thank you for all your efforts for world peace and for all you are doing for Croatia. The world, and Croatia too, lack inner peace as well as external peace, so thank you once again for your help in our quest for that peace.”
H.H. Swamiji met also H.E. the Ambassador of India to Croatia, Mr Rajiv Mishra who expressed a very warm welcome to Swamiji on behalf of the Indian community in Croatia.
During Swamiji's stay in Zagreb, the Croatian language edition of the book, “Selected Pearls” was presented. This book contains selected extracts from public lectures with Swamiji from the past 20 years.
During his lecture, H.H. Swamiji said: “India has been known as the cradle of culture that has given to the world very precious cultural heritage. But, one of the most important and divine gifts India gave the world and is still giving is the Spiritual Heritage - Guru Parampara. Since ancient times that spiritual knowledge could be received only by appropriate and developed disciples.“
H.H. Swamiji also explained the principles of spiritual heritage and took as an example the holy river Ganga: “In this world there are thousands of rivers, but none of them could ever be compared with the holy river Ganga. That water which is flowing into its riverbed is called Ganga, no matter from where it is coming. But if some water flows out again, nobody will call it Ganga anymore. In the same way when the consciousness of the disciple merges into the master's consciousness the disciple becomes a master himself. But if the disciple loses his Guru Bhakti and leaves the spiritual path, he is again in darkness.”
Talking about his spiritual lineage, Swamiji explained that he belongs and is the successor of Shri Alakhpuriji Siddha Peeth, which dates back thousands of years to Shri Alakhpuriji who is believed to be immortal and lives from time immemorial in his pranic body somewhere in the Himalayas between Badrinath and Kedarnath. There flows the very significant river Alakhnanda that joins the Bhagirathi at Rudraprayag, and together they become the holy stream Ganga. In the Skanda Purana (a holy Indian scripture more than six thousand years old) this place is described as the place where the five Pandava brothers started their journey to Heaven.
The spiritual lineage of H.H. Vishwaguru Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwaranandaji is a “living lineage” and a “living light“ that presents the ancient wisdom of spiritual knowledge for this modern world.
Zagreb 2007
