 Okay. Hello, everybody. Good morning. Good to see you all. Welcome to our all day movie workshop. I'm Peter. For those who are new, I'll be hosting today. And yeah, we have a full day ahead of us. So, um, yeah, I'll just let anybody new know about how we run our movie workshop. So we're going to start with the movie with David. And then afterwards we have a 10 minute break. And then we're going to go into a breakout rooms where you can express any emotions that came up for you today. And after that, we have a 45 minute break. And then we have a Q&A session with me. So I'm going to pass it over to you now David. Thank you, Pete. Hi, everyone. Welcome. Welcome from all around the globe. We're broadcasting live from Lafayette, California, the Bay Area. And you'll see a little bit of that in the movie today. So it's, it's fun. It's, it's like a nostalgia thing to be broadcasting here from Northern California. It's known around the world as one of the hotspots for spiritual awakening and non-duality. So what a movie we have today. It's interesting. All the themes that you voted on, and you, you gave us the top themes that you wanted to experience and they are very, very deep themes for sure. Very deep. So it was a lot of prayer going into to this one. And I was actually praying with a group of friends in the monastery about what the movie would be for this week. And, and I looked out the window and a bald man walked by and we all looked at each other and we went, okay, we know the movie Jesus. Jesus always gives us a little symbol so we can't miss a bald man walking by the window. Okay, got it Jesus. Jesus, we know, we know now which one. So we're going to have an exciting time today. And it's going to be a deep dive. I think what touches me about the movie today too is it's such an example. I know a lot of us have done a lot of workshops, a lot of seminars. We've, we've read a lot of books. We've learned a lot of things in our quest for self realization and spiritual enlightenment. But I don't think there's anything that's more helpful to us than an example, then a living example, a living example is so powerful because when you see what the living example is up to you think, oh, I guess I can be open to anything. Look at that right in front of me. There's a living example and then we're so touched. And we think, yeah, I, I'm going to go all the way with this. I'm not going to hold myself back from reaching my remembrance of God from my remembrance of my true reality as the living Christ. So, here are the themes that you voted for in the order that you voted. The first one is called living from a giving state of mind. Payment first with 45 votes, living from a giving state of mind. Wow. If you can really sink into this experience and just realize that that's all that life is about is giving and extending. And then you have the trust to say, well, you know, in the past Jesus I've had this getting mechanism maybe I wanted to get a partner or a family maybe I wanted to get a house. Maybe I wanted to get a career maybe I wanted to get money wealth possessions. And of course, this, this world of time space is distraction bill so the ego has set up an intricate network of distractions at every angle, every direction you look their distractions, not just some many. And so, basically, when we go on the authentic spiritual journey we have to admit to ourselves okay we're facing distraction bill with our five senses and and our intuitive self is calling us deeper inward into the mind to go on a very exciting journey past a lot of thoughts and beliefs that are blocking us from from experiencing the light. So, if we think the adventure is in the world of the five senses. If you look out the famous rock group Bachman Turner overdrive. You ain't seen nothing yet. Bump, bump, baby, you just ain't seen nothing yet bump bump. Here's something that you're never going to forget bump bump, you know, Bachman Turner overdrive. Come on inside. Jesus is like in there going come on come on you can do it. Turn away from the five senses. I know it's, it's enticing, but I did it, I turned away, I know it's distracting but I did it, I turned away and you can do it to because we're the same one. We have the same source, and we can turn away from these five senses and we can actually go inside and hear the small still voice that's in our heart that's calling us drawing us like a tractor beam into the light. And, and that will will quench our thirst. You know, like Jesus told the woman at the well 2000 years ago, he said, he just looked her in the eye and he said drink of me, and you will never thirst again. Wow, imagine that light in your mind coming drink of me. You will never thirst again you think the set five senses are great. You ain't seen nothing yet, you will be blown away by the light when you experience the light. Our second theme is when I can't see trust that I'm carried. When you feel confused, trust that you will be carried when you when you feel depressed trust that you'll be carried. When you feel just down and out like you feel like giving up like, ah, this is just unfathomable, or this is, this is stressful, strained, difficult. Or just to trust and allow yourself to be carried. That's the time when you, you have to give up, you know, let go of your flailing arms and legs and fingers and go time to trust. I'm just going to be still here and let myself be carried. The third theme. Use everything as a backdrop for prayer. So, I would advise when you pray just just start to open your mind up to the idea of praying continuously. You know, we don't have to think of prayer as an activity. Yes, walking is an activity. Okay, eating is an activity sex is an activity, working is an activity. Parenting is an activity. Why not take prayer off of the timeline and say, I'm going to cultivate praying continuously. I don't want my prayers to start and stop like an activity like walking. Oh, I'm praying. You know, if somebody, if somebody looks at you and they see you in this quiet state of mind in the gaze and somebody says, What are you doing, you can always safely answer, I'm praying. And maybe if you say that enough, they might even leave you alone. They might think, Oh, gosh, all they do is pray all the time. Hallelujah. They pray all the time. That's the most glorious state of mind to be in a constant state of prayer for God. Here I am God. Here I am Lord. That was the four word prayer that Jesus gave to Helen Shuckman to give to Bill Thedford, because Bill's mind was always, you know, fluttering around and distracted so finally Jesus said to Helen, here's a prayer for Bill. Here I have Bill say, repeat in his mind, here I am Lord. Isn't that nice? Four words. That's not a long prayer at all. That's easy to remember. Here I am Lord, here I am Lord, at any moment at any time of the day, here I am Lord. Number four of the themes, be transparent, don't hold back. You have full permission to be transparent. Say what you need to say. Pray. You know, there's some situations where you may need to just be very prayerful, because you're not trying to change the world by acknowledging these emotions that you're having. You're just starting to be very honest with yourself about the emotions. You don't have to hide emotions from yourself. You can let them come up. You can let them come up. And if it feels like you're stuck after you've been praying for a while, then just talk to a mighty companion and say, you know, can I talk to you for a moment? I've got some emotions. The clouds are passing through my mind. I would love to be able to just share what's on my mind. And that's a beautiful way too of relaxing and clearing your mind. And finally, take one moment at a time. Sometimes people say to me that's easier said than done in this world because this is a world of past regrets and future worries and concerns and plans. But I think the movie today will be an answer to your prayer of how do I live one moment at a time, because the main character in the movie today. He's as present as Forrest Gump. He's as present as Chauncey Gardner in being there. This guy is present. He is just tuned into the present moment. But unlike Chauncey Gardner, who kind of has a more of a secluded life, the main character will be guided into many, many, many interactions and many holy encounters from this peripheral state. And I think that's a good example because when we listen to Jesus in the New Testament, he said, when you pray, go to your closet and shut the door. So Jesus is like, he knows we have to really go beyond the distractions of the world. He knows that if we get caught up into the ego's distractions, it's going to be that we're going to be like wasting time. If, if your life is full of distractions, that that would be an example of like wasting time. And when you are so prayerful and so tuned in and so aligned, then you might say you become a miracle worker. If you become a miracle worker, Jesus says, I will arrange time and space for you. You can relax. I'll handle all the details of time and space. What does that mean? I'll handle the details of where your body is supposed to be. What location? I'll handle the details if you need rest, if you need food, if you need partnership, if you need anything at all. So from that state of prayer, it will be given you. So that's why I always say, always put prayer as your top priority. There's a woman who lived in the 1800s and early 1900s who I talk about a lot. And her name was Mary Baker Eddy. Mary Baker Eddy's teachings were very deep and there was much confusion about her teachings. But I was one time was asked, can you summarize the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy? And I said, yeah, I can do that in two words. Pray first. Pray first. Let everything else come from the prayer. And really Jesus was a great example of that too. He always put prayer with his Heavenly Father first above everything. Above his time with the apostles, above a time with his friends and family. He put that above thinking about the Romans. He put that above being concerned where he would sleep or where he would eat. You know, he said in his teachings, take no thought for what you should wear or eat. Wow, you must be in a state of prayer if you take no thought for what you should wear or eat. I like that state actually. Today I woke up and I said, oh, Svava, go and pick a shirt for me. Today is yellow, mellow yellow. This is the shirt that showed up for me to slip on. I didn't make a conscious decision to wear yellow. I just said, oh, what kind of day is it, Svava? She said it's a bright day. It's a very bright day. It's yellow. And I could see why with this movie. If you aren't touched and moved with this movie, I don't know what touched you and moved this one. It makes me cry every time I watch it because of the love and devotion that's so exemplified and demonstrated. Our movie for today, and I'll move into a bit of a setup, our movie for today is called Hari Krishna, the mantra, the movement and the Swami who started it all from 2017. For some of you who follow me along, you know, I showed this about a year ago or so. But I'm not concerned whether I've shown anything before. I just pray on the themes and if Jesus wants to show the same movie five times in a row, I'm all right with that. Because it's always for me the first time when I see a movie, I'm in it for the first time. I'm not aware that I've seen it before. I'm just in the presence of the love. So, in alignment with our themes, this movie is going to show us a demonstration of a man called Prabhupada who basically he is living in India and the year is 1965. We'll see some great flashbacks from his life, his father, what impacted him in childhood. We'll get to see his guru, which is not a strange thing in India. If you're a spiritual aspirant to have a guru. It's kind of funny when I say the word guru because people have so many different connotations around the word guru. And I always was reminded when I asked Jesus, what is a guru? He spelled it out to me. He just went, gee, you are you. Gee, you are you. He's just saying, a guru is aware of the oneness, a guru is aware of the connectedness, and a guru is just a reminder that you're the whole thing. You are everything. There is nothing but you. Gee, you are you. That is a simple acronym of what guru means. Now, if you project other meanings onto guru, then you can project a guru is like some kind of an authoritarian figure or some kind of being that requires obedience. And what I would say is, if there's a presence of love that's constantly reminding you that you're holding complete. That's the kind of presence you want to be obedient to, because that's the spirit. And that's the whole point of listen and follow is being obedient to your higher self to your internal teacher. And a lot of times people get confused when they think of a guru as a body because a guru may seem to have a body but really doesn't. And they know it too. They, they don't really act like they have a body. The love that radiates from them is so all inclusive and so vast that, you know, you could close your eyes and feel the presence. You don't actually need an image of a guru, but in form they are just devices, the body is used as a device to remind you of your eternal nature it's a very loving presence. So in this movie, Prabhupāda will will start off in 1965. And that's where the movie kind of begins where he, he is prompted to come to New York City. Now, what I like about this is, at the time Prabhupāda is is 70 years old. And this is not like Paramahansa Yogananda coming over on a very nice boat in his young, young adult years and coming over very with nice robes and dressed and he's received in New York City and and he's established as a young spiritual teacher. This is a 70 year old man who hops on a freighter, a commerce freighter with no money and comes across the ocean all the way from India to New York City. This man had never experienced snow and he comes over in the winter. And one of the worst snowstorms. He arrives in New York City the worst snowstorms in the history of New York City. So there's inches and huge numbers maybe feet of snow all around. He's coming with no money. And I think he gets a winter coat and a winter hat and then he, instead of having giving talks and lectures he's just moving from one office building to another. And I'm sure that Indian experience helps. You've got to learn sometimes to be a squatter in India. Oh no problem squatter in the United States. That is not an accepted a squatter is not accepted, but he's coming with such determination such motivation. I think that's the bit I will say about Prabhupada is that we are going to be fascinated to start to really get inside of his heart and really get inside of his mind to see. Imagine yourself at 70 years old, being strongly prompted will say for some years to go to the West, like Paramahansa Yogananda was prompted by his guru, except you're 70 years old you have no money. And the people around you are not encouraging you to go either. Old man fool old man, you will die. Surely you will die. That's the kind of send off he's getting. So poor 70 years old, no money and fool you old man you will die. How's that for a lunch pad. You know this guy is lit up. You know the spirit of God is in him. Self in those circumstances and getting a prompt. The other thing is, he's not coming to the United States in the roaring 20s in the time of prosperity. He's not coming during the Great Depression he's coming in the mid 60s, mid 60s United States war protest riots nuclear test. Huge tension racial tensions. The Vietnam war is going on and there's people protesting all over the place. If you think the world situation is in a bad shape right now, you should try 1965. But it was wild. It was wild, and even in ego terms wild and here he is landing with no money. No connections, coming in on a freighter for days, a commercial thing probably carrying cargo, and he's landing in New York City, in that setting. He's going to have to face all the distractions, all of the, the seeming temptations, and he will be talking to his guru in his, in his prayers, like why did you send me to such a desolate society. He's probably used to prayers all day long. And then he goes across the ocean on a freighter and then he gets thrown into New York City in the winter with snow during one of the most tumultuous times in American history. Now that's what I like. I like to see a guru who faces the greatest adversities, throw me into anything. Lord, I'll serve you throw me into the worst situation the ego can come up with I'll serve you I will devote myself to you I will be a light for you. Hit me with your best shot. He was doing a Pat Benatar back in 1965. He was saying, I'm going to hop on this boat, even though people tell me I'm going to die. I'm going to hop on this boat, go to America. And then he's like saying, ego, hit me with your best shot. Come on, hit me with your best shot, you know, that's what I like now that's a guru. That's a guru who goes with nothing else, but prayer and faith and says hit me with your best shot, because he's there for the whole universe. He's doing this for the whole universe. He's not doing this for a person. He's not doing this for a country. He's not doing this for fame. He's not doing this for popularity. He's doing it for the glory of the Lord. Now, the Course tells us there's many pathways to God. For Prabhupāda, his Lord is a little blue man. For some of you, Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. And for Prabhupāda, it's a little blue man in Krishna. But I'll tell you, he is devoted to the presence of love behind this little blue guy. This is a little blue guy that has lit his life up. This is a little blue guy that he would do anything for. I mean anything, absolutely anything, because the form is not the Lord. It's the presence of love. It's the presence of God's love behind the form, behind the Krishna, behind the Jesus, behind the Buddha, behind the Ramana Maharshi. There always is this bright light. And as Jesus tells us, there's many pathways to God. The Course is just one form of the universal curriculum. So, in his mind, he's there for Krishna. And that may be a bit abstract, because Krishna seemed to live centuries ago, like Jesus lived centuries ago. But actually, we're going to find out that Prabhupāda has a guru of, as he grew up, you know, his father was so supportive of him. You're going to be amazed at the father of this guy. This has got to be the all-time biological father in history. Instead of saying, be successful at business and be a good successful person in the world, his father is basically saying, just devote your life to God and give your whole life to God. Wow. What would we be like if our biological parents had just told us consistently through childhood and teens and beyond? Just devote yourself to God. Education. Just devote yourself to God. Family. Just devote yourself to God. Imagine having a father like that. Now you're starting to feel what Prabhupāda's got underneath him. His dad was like, really, just devote yourself to God. You know, that's it. And then he was inspired by Gandhi. Anybody else here inspired by Gandhi? I was. He was inspired by Gandhi big time. The only thing is, he reaches a point in his devotion where he realizes he starts to feel the depth of, oh my gosh, God is not political. God is not about India or Great Britain. God is not about some culture or country dominating people in another country. God is not about trying to get people in or out of a country. God is not about overthrowing a government. God is not about fighting. And Gandhi's essence was non-violence. And then he still had a bit of the political in there about get the British out of India. But I think Prabhupāda was drawn to Gandhi's light and then he meets his guru and then the guru is, ooh, guru is beyond politics. The guru can't even understand politics. When you meet the guru, when Paramahansa Yogananda met his guru, that's all she wrote. That's all she wrote for this life. The guru stands for what is good for the whole, not what is good for India, what is good for the country, not what is good for the family. The guru is a representation of what is good for the whole. So the words that come through the guru's mouth are for the whole. They're to bless the whole. They don't bless the part. They bless all the parts by because they bless the whole. You see how vast that is. When the guru tells you something, you don't take it as a man or a woman speaking to you. You take this as God speaking to you, God guiding you. That's the reverence of what the guru is in India. The guru is like in Western world, you know, it's like, oh, I've heard that a spiritual teacher is an author. Do they have any books? Whoa, guru is beyond books. Whoa. The guru understands that there is only one author and that author is God. And God is the author of reality and God authors in spirit. And that means all other authors are non-existent. Words are non-existent in the presence of the Lord. You go into that light and you realize there are no other authors but God. God is the author of who I am and God is the author of reality and there is no other. You see how, wow, that's what the guru is. So the guru is going to say something to Prabhupada and we're going to discover what that is. When the guru gives an instruction to you before the guru passes away, whoa, that instruction is going to stay on Prabhupada's heart. He will never be able to escape that instruction because that instruction is for the whole. That is not a personal thing. Just like with Paramahansa Yogananda, when the guru, his guru appeared in his mind and said, go to the west. Actually, that was the last thing that Paramahansa Yogananda was ready to hear. You know, he was having a, he had a school, a school of happiness over in India. Beautiful Indian children that were so attentive, trying to learn to live a happy life. Paramahansa as a young man, you know, as a young adult, he had everything going on in India and then, whoa, the guru appears in the mind. Go west, go to the United States. You do not question the guru because the guru is for the whole. This is not some author who's who's been on TV and written a few books. Whoa, no, the guru is the presence of God. And that instruction from the guru is for the whole universe. It's not for a person. It's not for a country. So we're going to see this in action. This is a dynamic that a lot of people that live in Western countries. They don't even know what it means. They just have ideas from past learning of what a guru is. They have ideas from the past. And all guru is, is a man or a woman is to be revered and sit at the feet of the guru and all this mess. Really, that's not it. That's, that's like trying to find the guru by going to a shopping mall and deciding what to buy. That's what I have to do with God. God doesn't have anything to do with commerce. God is the presence of I am this. It's prior to time and we're going to really start to feel this depth of India this depth of spiritual practice that that is really there. And, and for those of you practicing a course of miracles. It's these kind of movies that give you an opportunity to see the presence of God in a deep way shown to you as a demonstration. When you see a movie like this, I, my prayer is that your heart is stirred up from whatever you were struggling with, and, and you just allow your heart to be kind of lifted up into this freedom, this vast experience that is so vast that it just leaves a state of stillness and then any instruction that will come to you is for the good of the whole. If you're guided to go somewhere, it's for the good of the whole. If you're guided to eat something or not eat something, it's for the good of the whole. Like Jesus says in the workbook of a course of miracles, everything I think and say and do teaches all the universe. I'll say that again, everything I think and say and do teaches all the universe, because who I am is everything. Who I am is not a personality who I am is absolutely everything. So when you are, are following your inner guide you're doing this for everything. You aren't doing this for a specific reason you're just doing everything that you think say and do for the good of everyone. So that's a guru that's, you might start to accept yourself as a saint in training. I like to tell people, you're just a saint in training. They go, that's the first time anybody use the same word with me. I said, yeah, I'm doing it you're a saint in training, because I do see that that's what everyone is it's just a saint in training. Some really good tools for our saint in training hood. We, we've got a really great. We've got a great inner teacher and we have great great tools, music, anything we need to to realize this. So, sit back and enjoy this movie because I think you will be inspired by what you experience I hope I pray that you will be inspired. So I'll pop in very soon.