The purpose of a spiritual path is to lead the practitioner to happiness. The authentic and time-tested traditions work – they deliver the goods. But the false religion of consumer capitalism cannot bring the happiness we seek in it, and we are living proof of that. We got everything the ideology promised and were not made happy as a result. This videocast is taken from a public talk at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

Can we prove that our spiritual teacher or guru is an Enlightened Being? Do we really know for sure, somehow, that our teacher is not a Buddha? Our preconceptions about what an Enlightened Being should look like prevent us from seeing our teacher for who he or she really is. The process of “guru yoga” is learning to be the teacher. If you see the teacher as perfect, you will become that. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the winter of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: : http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

The real secret to obtaining true happiness is not just wanting it. We have to create the causes for it. Being happy is not a trivial goal. It is the precondition to being able to be compassionate toward others. And the only way to be happy is to worry about someone else’s happiness, and not obsess all the time about our own selfish desires. This videocast is taken from a public talk at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

We cannot be happy while carrying grudges and resentments about what others have done to us in the past. We must forgive them – unilaterally and pre-emptively. In order to do this, we have to understand what forgiveness is and isn’t. It isn’t just forgetting, it isn’t about whether the offender deserves it or has apologized, it isn’t an act of weakness or capitulation, and it isn’t for their sake. Forgiveness is for us; it is in our own self-interest, for without it we’ll never be happy. This videocast is taken from a public talk given at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

It is possible to eradicate anger entirely. But it’s not easy. We need to have a “smackdown with anger” to overcome it. Lama Marut here tells us how to do this in three steps: 1) at first, you’ll need to just “run away,” that is, get yourself out of the situation if you can’t restrain yourself from retaliating; 2) when you get stronger and are ready, when the provocation starts you just take it without responding to anger with anger; 3) after practicing for a long time, instead of getting angry when someone is angry with you, you love them and feel compassion towards them. This videocast is taken from a public talk given at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

We can’t achieve the happiness we all are seeking if we continue to create the causes for suffering. We have to let go of the scissors with which we are cutting ourselves; we have to renounce the idea that our happiness (or unhappiness) comes from any place other than ourselves. No one can make us happy, and no one can make us unhappy. Our problems derive from our true and only enemies, the three main “mental afflictions” of desire, aversion and the ignorance that underlies them. This videocast is taken from a Tibetan Heart Yoga Teacher Training course held in Tucson, Arizona, in September of 2007. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

The Bhagavad Gita is linked to the early texts of the Indian Mahayana Buddhist traditions by its emphasis on the three “yogas” of devotion, compassionate action, wisdom, and devotion or bhakti. In Buddhism, the pan-Indian devotional movement found expression not only in the notion also found in Hinduism that the divine is imminent, familiar, and appears all around us, but also in the figure of the bodhisattva whose compassion for other beings is so overwhelming that he or she would do practically anything to get enlightened in order to help them. “Karma yoga” in the Gita means selfless action, action done without regard to “what’s in it for me,” reverberating with the Buddhist emphasis on compassion and loving-kindness. And the “yoga of wisdom” teaches us that there is a reality beyond that of mere appearances, a concept found in many, if not all, of the world’s religions. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html . For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

Why aren’t we doing the things in life we know are the most important? What’s preventing us from developing the “joyful effort” we need to progress in our spiritual lives? The main obstacle to working hard, happily, for real and lasting happiness is laziness. Laziness can mean “just not feeling like it” – always procrastinating and putting off what we know we should do. But laziness can also involve keeping so busy with unimportant things that we don’t have the time and energy to dedicate to our spiritual lives. We must learn to “get unbusy” with things that don’t really matter in order to joyfully work hard for the things that do. This videocast is taken from a Tibetan Heart Yoga Teacher Training course held in Tucson, Arizona, in September of 2007. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

Lama Marut continues the delineation of the main obstacles to working hard, happily, for real and lasting happiness. “Attraction to things that are bad” or bad habits means, among other things, watching TV instead of spending time more profitably. And feeling discouraged, low self-esteem, or depression – which has increased in proportion to our own affluence and is due to thinking about ourselves all the time – is another major obstacle to our spiritual progress. This videocast is taken from a Tibetan Heart Yoga Teacher Training course held in Tucson, Arizona, in September of 2007. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

Lama Marut discusses the three worldviews we use to explain how and why things happen to us in life. #1. Things happen for no reason. #2. God is micromanaging the Universe. Or #3. Everything is in the web of causality. We conveniently mix and match these worldviews to explain our circumstances, but a true believer of worldview #3 takes responsibility for everything that is happening in their world. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

God can be understood to be a transcendent figure, outside of us, or as very close, right here in our lives. In the Bhagavad Gita, God is presented as Krishna, the guru and close friend of His devotee, Arjuna. We too can have an intimate relationship with the divine in the form of our religious teacher, but we must first must recognize the guru as our personal portal to the sacred and surrender ourselves to Him or Her. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the winter of 2008. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

The spiritual path is meant to lead to “freedom,” liberation from suffering and unhappiness. But until we are enlightened, we don’t really know what true happiness would feel like. We are entrenched in suffering, no matter how materially comfortable our lives are. Recognizing our own unhappiness is a necessary precondition for starting on the path. We have to first get serious about the fact of suffering if we are going to be liberated from it. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. For Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html For other teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org and http://www.lamamarut.org

We are living miraculous lives, but what are we doing with them? We are mostly taking them for granted instead of taking full advantage of our amazing opportunity. We have are living the lives that millions of traditional practitioners have prayed for, and should not just sleep walk through it. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Reality can be divided into how things appear and how things really are. Things exist “deceptively” in that they appear differently from how they really are. It seems that things are “out there,” independently and objectively. But actually they are “empty.” Things do exist, but only as projections coming from us due to how we’ve treated others in the past. Humans see a cylinder as pen while a dog might see it as a chew toy due to different karma. Because things are ultimately empty of self-nature, everything is perfectible. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Many people in the Western world seem to have forgotten that true goal of every spiritual tradition is the highest happiness – bliss or ecstasy. Every authentic spiritual path leads to this goal, and on the way to that goal the practitioner should be getting happier and happier. Non-spiritual paths like consumer capitalism do not bring happiness, and the proof of that is that we all got everything the materialistic worldview promised. Instead of happiness, our prosperity just brought more depression. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

What qualities should you look for in a spiritual teacher? Lama Marut reviews the list: You should have a strong attraction to them and they should be happy (since that’s what you want them to teach you!). They should be ethical, good at meditation, and intellectually know the nature of reality. Their spiritual qualities should exceed yours, they should be happily working hard to teach you, and they should know the spiritual texts that they are teaching. They should have a deep realization of ultimate reality, be a master instructor, teach because they love you, and not get discouraged and give up on you. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the winter of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Because things are “empty” of self-nature, both the perception of ourselves and that of the world around us are infinitely perfectible. Our sense of ourselves (that little inner voice we are forced to listen to) and of the world around us are both filtered through our subjectivity. What’s crucial is to learn what causes us to interpret our reality the way we do so that we can change it for the better. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Karma yoga in the Bhagavad Gita means, among other things, “selfless action” – learning how to act in the world without creating negative karmic consequences or repercussions. How do we do this? Primarily through selfless action – compassion action in the service of others. Taking the self-interest out of action defuses negative karmic fruits. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Doing something for others – preferably anonymously – everyday is one of the secrets of happiness. Helping others is actually the best thing we can do for ourselves. Altruistic behavioir is the cause of our own happiness and is therefore in our “enlightened” self-interest. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us how to act properly in a messy, imperfect world. First and foremost, we must understand the real principles of causality – which is one element of what the Gita calls “karma yoga.” Everything is in the nexus of causality and change. There are no “things” in the world. Everything is just movement or process; everything is coming from karma. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org