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A disciplined day and time management help dissolve stress

A morning satsang on discipline, ethics, and spiritual practice.

"Yoga begins with discipline. This word of Patañjali was also used very much by the well-known politician Indira Gandhi. She used to say... 'Discipline makes the country great and strong.'"

"Through the practice of yoga, you can tranquilize your brain waves, your thoughts. Patañjali knew that humans would have stress all the time."

The lecturer addresses a yoga seminar, weaving teachings from Patañjali's Yoga Sutras with observations on modern life. He discusses the foundational role of discipline (anuśāsanam) in success, from business to personal life, and critiques ethical lapses behind the global financial crisis. He explains how the second sutra, yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ, guides the use of prayer, meditation, and mindful yoga as remedies for stress, leading to peace.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

This morning is beautiful, though very hectic, and it began at seven o'clock. It is a hot day, but the temperature has gone down—did you notice? Suddenly it is a plus, whereas yesterday was a minus. So, a very nice good morning once more, and blessings to all. We know we always come to the yoga seminar. I must tell you that you are all practicing very punctually and disciplined, at least those who were in the practicing halls. One can see that you do not neglect your exercises. But there are some who don’t practise and move here and there. That’s good, because we need guards for our cars and at the gate. So at least we have unpaid guards who are just moving here and there. A thief might think, "Aha, so they are probably guarding it." So, everything has its sense. We come to our sādhanā. You know, I always mention these two beautiful ślokas, these sūtras from Patañjali. First, Patañjali speaks about discipline. Atha yogānuśāsanam. Yoga begins with discipline. This word of Patañjali was also used very much by the well-known politician Indira Gandhi. She used to say in her lectures often, "Anuśāsan deśako mahān banātā he." Discipline makes the country great and strong. Psychological research arrives at the same conclusion. A well-known company in America, called Caras, I think, creates programs and seminars for top management courses. They promise their managers will never fail and will be the best. They also have this slogan from Patañjali: the key to success is self-discipline. It means even in business life you need discipline. When you see this global financial crisis, if you think about it, it is the discipline that was missing. Business done without ethics will fail one way. And a business that you give just into the hands of your employees only cannot be successful. Therefore, there is always a quality supervisor. But the supervisor should be a good supervisor. Otherwise, you need a supervisory advisor. There is a real story from about 50 years back, in the last century after the Second World War. In India, they introduced European cows because they give more milk. Humans are greedy; they want to have more and more. Cows and animals are meant for the family only. In India, it used to be said: milk and children you cannot sell. But since the tea and coffee business came, they began to sell milk. When I was small, a long time ago, milk was not sold. Almost everyone had a cow or buffalo and a goat at home. Those who didn't would automatically get half a liter or one liter of milk from the neighbors free of charge every day. But now, because of coffee and tea shops, they don't serve for free. People said, "When you take charge of the money, then we will not give you milk free." And so the system began: milk has to be sold. The human population is increasing, and people lost their love towards the animals. Now, even in cities, you cannot have cows. Many people don't know where milk comes from. I gave a lecture in Washington about 15 years ago on the vegetarian diet, and I told how animals are killed for meat. There was one young lady, about 35 years old, and she began to cry. She said, "I thought meat is available only in the supermarket. I did not know that so many animals are killed." Our dear Krishnanant from Hungary has a five-year-old granddaughter. Someone else told me their grandchild believes ice cream is produced in the fridge because the parents bring it and put it in the fridge. The child says, "I want," and they take it from the fridge. So many people have lost their relation to nature, and that’s why new diseases are coming—because of greed. They said European cows give 40–50 liters of milk per day. One family cannot consume 50 liters every day, so it becomes commercial. The cow becomes a milk factory. Nowadays they give injections because an animal, like a human, produces milk when she has a child. When a mother gives birth, milk automatically appears in her breasts. When the calf is with the cow, with the mother, the udder automatically fills with milk; otherwise, it does not. But they take the calf away and give her an injection instead. In many, many ways, we are torturing the animals. That’s not good. We are abusing them. So the business began. An Indian introduced the European cow in India. In Rajasthan, one of the kings imported a European cow. He was a strong man. Someone went like Savitri, and she said, "Well, let us enjoy." So all three drank. It’s a real story. It went to five observers. The one observer who was sitting by the window, only looking at who was drinking, said to the king, "Can I taste how it is, King?" Then again, he got the message. The king said, "Remove all the supervisors." It was only one glass of milk that was drunk by the one who did the milking, and now, because of the four supervisors, five glasses are gone. So it is better to lose one than five. This shows that when the owner gives things into the hands of others, there is always some "leakage." I spoke to one minister and I said, "Why are people talking that you are taking corruption, corruption, corruption?" He said, "We don’t take, we don’t take." But there is one principle, a logic, very good. And there, we are not the guilty ones. Okay, explain to me. Swāmījī, suppose from the top position, from the prime minister down to a clerk, there are about 25 or 50 people, from lower level to high level. Now we are standing, all fifty in one line, and you give us in our hands one kilo of ice cream, without a pocket. You give it to me and tell me, "Please pass it on." I take it carefully and give it there. That person takes it carefully and passes it further. One kilo of ice cream. It comes to 15 hands. That means 100 hands—everyone has two hands, so 100 hands let it touch. Certainly, 40% of that ice cream will remain on those hands. What can we do about it? We can only lick it off our own hands. Nobody wants to take the ice cream intentionally, but it simply sticks to the hands. That’s how it is. That’s very good, what you say in Europe: "Too many cooks spoil the soup." This is how the global crisis began. The top managers are sitting somewhere, and they have only secretaries working on computers. But in reality, what is going on in your factory, nobody knows. And it’s not easy to get work done. Besides this, there are many human rights, labor unions, workers’ rights, employer rights—many, many things—and work is not done. So why? Anuśāsanam. Discipline is basic. There were people who worked in some companies like their own company, with a heart, with an ethical feeling. So, anuśāsana. Discipline makes one successful. It’s very simple. You are employed in a shop. You look at the watch. At six o'clock, you have to close the shop. As an employee, you will definitely close the shop five minutes before, if not ten minutes before. As the owner of the shop, you will close ten minutes after. This is the difference. That’s a gap, and it’s very hard to fill. So even in business life, you need discipline and ethics. The same thing applies in your relations and family life; you need the same principle. And the same thing is for yoga. I think Patañjali, great Patañjali, is the father of psychology. Till today, no psychologist or scientist has described the human being as truly as Patañjali. Great, great, but unfortunately you don’t get proper translations. Therefore, you should study more Sanskrit at Prague University and Brno University. You should request the Indian embassy to bring more professors. Okay? Language, so you are going as boys? Hurry home, bye-bye. This is Prasāda for Hamburg Ashram. Go, don’t miss your train. I will finish my lecture very quickly. So, Patañjali said first: make it discipline. It means to put things in order. For practitioners and persons like you who stay at home—I don’t stay at home; this is a problem. I am nearly every third or fourth day in another bed, in another room. Sometimes, due to jet lag, I wake up and I don’t know where I am. Habit is the second nature of man. At home, you get up automatically; you know your bathroom is on the right side. And in another place, you wake up, and the right side is a window. You go and see where you are. Often it happens: you sit on the bed and think for half a minute, "Yes, I am in some other space." It happens many times. But for people who stay in one place, it is very important to organize the program. You have 24 hours. You know, when you fly from San Francisco to Tokyo, you lose two days. I flew from San Francisco and sent a message to Tokyo that I would fly and arrive on a certain day. When I arrived, nobody was at the airport. I was waiting and waiting. Everything was written in Japanese. I couldn’t telephone. One lady came to me and said, "Excuse me, sir, I think you need help." "Yes," I said, "I want to know how to telephone." She explained to me, and I telephoned. The people were not at home; they had gone on holiday. Anyhow, the second day they phoned me back and told me, "But you said you would come two days before." So you know the date line. From there to Japan, you lose two days. And when you go from Japan to San Francisco, you gain two days. So this is how things are. In the morning, get up and fix your time. In 24 hours, when you fly 15 hours, it’s an endless flight. You often look at your watch, look out the window again, relax again, look at your watch. Fifteen hours is so long. Now ask yourself: in these 24 hours, what are you doing? Sleep eight hours. Who is a lucky one today that can sleep eight hours? Even if you would like to sleep, you cannot because of duties and work. But allow 8 hours for your bedroom. What are you doing for the other 16 hours? Okay, eight hours for work. Who is so honest, working eight hours? If you really worked, then there would be no financial crisis. But consider your eight hours of working time. What are you doing with the other eight hours every day, not just one day? In eight hours, you can fly from here to New York—an endless journey. What are you doing with eight hours? Shopping. You cannot shop for eight hours. Cooking? Who cooks for so long? So let’s say shopping, cooking, eating—three hours. But still, you have five hours. When a doctor gives you an injection, it is only for a few seconds. But five hours is so long. Time. From five hours, let’s say two hours for your friends, telephoning, and so on. Now, three hours you have free to practice every day. Three hours. Utilize your time for the best. So design your program from morning till evening: when and what will you do? This is the first step to organize, which means discipline. There are exceptions; anything can happen in between, but follow it at least 90%. Then second, Patañjali said very nicely: Yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. Through the practice of yoga, you can tranquilize your brain waves, your thoughts. Patañjali knew that humans would have stress all the time. Stress creates many, many physical and mental problems. For stress management, there is no medicine. Stress can cause diseases, even like cancer. There was research work on the two hemispheres. When they came to the stress point, they found no medicine. They gave the three best treatments: prayer, meditation, and yoga practice. These are the three best remedies against stress. When you pray, you go to the ashram, temple, church, synagogue, mosque—anywhere. You pray, and in the prayer there is a scientific movement. When you come and bow down, some say, "Oh, we don’t bow down. We are human; we are not slaves." What a stupid thought. Scientifically, to move slowly to make a praṇām means more circulation towards the head. When a Muslim makes the namāz, they slowly go down and have specific postures. At that time, a lot of fresh blood flows towards the brain. All the jñānendriyas—eyes, nose, ears—are located there. And when you come back, you feel fresh. So after prayer, after meditation, before coming and going, it’s not that you don’t want to bow down, but it is for your own benefit. If you are just standing and only doing like this, then nothing is going up. In Christianity also, there is prostration. Satsaṅg and vat praṇām before giving initiation. Many things are lost. So, prayer. When you pray, either you are really praying, or you can’t. Really praying means you give your total confidence to God. "Now I can’t. Lord, I give all to you." It is like having a co-driver. You are tired, you relax, and the other one will drive. So our co-driver is God. We are tired from the whole day’s activities, and we give the driving of our life into the hands of God. "Lord, I give all the responsibility of my life into your hands. My loss and success are in your hands." Therefore, when you go to the ashram, temple, church, or mosque, people should not be talking. When you come to the church, you see everybody talking: "Yes, how are you?" and "Is it the church near the cup of tea?" And then they would have a cup of tea. Can you do that in the church? You cannot do it in the temple. You cannot do it in the mosque. When you enter the mosque, you have to wash your hands and mouth and everything. When you go to the church, at the gate there is holy water. So why do you make the ashram like a club? The same principle. The ashram is a spiritual place; this is a church, this is a temple. Discipline is lost. Gossiping, inner troubles are there. So, every yoga teacher must know this. But when yoga teachers themselves begin to joke, then no wonder everybody will begin to smoke. So, we have to do with God. When we pray, then all the stress goes. One day, Holy Gurujī asked me, "Why, when we begin to pray, suddenly we are yawning like this?" I said, because we are tired. Gurujī said, "No, no, no. We are like a little baby. When we are praying, we are in the hand of God. Like a baby finds eternal peace in a parent’s lap, similarly, this Jīvātmā finds peace in God’s hand." And sleep comes because you are happy and relaxed. Scientifically, you cannot sleep and you cannot relax until the stress is removed. Similarly, when you meditate and use a mantra, if you don’t use your mālā and mantra, you cannot manage your stress. It doesn’t matter what you think. So mālā and mantra are keys to enter into the peaceful chidākāśa. Therefore, meditation is the best remedy to remove all sorrows. And when you practice āsanas and prāṇāyāma, it’s not that you are doing bodybuilding or muscle movements. Nowadays, many people like to do something quickly, quickly. Again, you are creating stress. Peacefully understand the body movements; it’s called cosmic dance. When you concentrate and feel your body, stress is gone because all brain waves are moved towards that particular function. Quicker is easy. Slow is difficult. That is what they call Tai Chi. It’s not easy to move slowly like this, but when you make a quick movement, it’s like an electric jolt to your whole body; the brain gets a shock. When you do it slowly, then it’s beautiful. So meditation, yoga, and prayer: these can solve many, many problems—restlessness, sleeplessness, anxiety. So please make discipline. And then, practicing will purify the stress from your thoughts and consciousness. Therefore, citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. It doesn’t matter which profession you have; you need this. So I wish you all the best. The next program we will see in June. I’m going now again around the world. But you will have seminars here; we have many sitting here—many sādhus, swāmīs, bhagavāns, bhaktas, sādhakas. Vivekpuri, and you also many. But please practice. Make a discipline that in the ashram is silence. Wednesday and Thursday we have this Śivarātri program. Śivarātri is celebrated on Wednesday night and Thursday the whole day, and then there is still a constellation till Thursday after sunset. Then comes the constellation Amāvasyā, but it doesn’t matter. Any time we can celebrate and perform abhiṣeka of Śiva for good things. All constellations are good. And for bad things, no constellation is good. So in Vienna, we have a Śivarātri program. But make sure there is no possibility of sleeping. We wish Vienna could have a big ashram like Strelky. But then we have to buy the Schönbrunn. Who knows? It can be, okay? So, I wish you a good journey, all the best. And wherever you go, wherever you are from, many blessings to all bhaktas. We came to practice. We come to find peace and good health, and that is our aim. God bless you.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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