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Part 1: I Am the Bubble, Make Me the Sea The words to this chant are in English. It is a group chant, so everyone can feel free to sing along. The song title is "I am the bubble, make me the sea." The words go: "So do thou, my Lord, so do thou, my Lord, for thou and I are never apart. Thou and I are never apart. I am the bubble, make me the sea. I am the bubble, make me the sea. Make me the sea, oh make me the sea. Make me the sea, oh make me the sea. I am the bubble, make me the sea." Please feel free to sing along. Alright. Can you hear me? Everyone hear me? Good. Be healthy. Sarveṣāṁ śāntir bhavatu. Peace be with you. Sarveṣāṃ maṅgalam bhavatu. Sarveṣāṃ pūraṇam āchīva. Vokāḥ sukhino bhavantu. Śāntiḥ. Śāntiḥ. Shanti. Meditation on the cosmic light. Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. Omniscient and omnipresent. Omniscient and omnipresent. Bokha Sukhino Bhavan, Bokha Sukhino Bhavan... How does one live in peace or in harmony in this hectic world? Well, it was always very hectic. It was always troublesome. Do you remember if there was ever complete peace in the world? Maybe yes, sometimes, somewhere. But human nature is different from that of other creatures. Once someone asked a person, "Sir, how are you?" He said, "Terrible, because my neighbor is very happy." So there are many people who do not like that someone is happy. Therefore, a person who has immense negativity and fear within oneself cannot relax and cannot live in peace. They always try to find some excuse to create trouble, and they are known as troublemakers. But thanks to God, not all, very few. Still, it is said one ill fish destroys the whole pond. For many, many ages, there were always some people who did not like this or that. The problem is that they always think they are right. There is one book written by a good writer. He writes in this book: One mentally disturbed person went into a residential area, and at midnight he was screaming every day, making a lot of noise. So someone called the police and asked, "Please, can you tell this person not to disturb the sleep of many people here?" The police came and stopped him, and said, "Excuse me, sir, why are you here making noise?" He said, "I am not making noises, I am hunting the elephants away from here." The policeman said, "But I do not see any elephant here." He said, "Yes, you cannot see because I hunted them away." And so we invite the troubles, and we think we are right. Who is right? Only God knows. We have to learn how to continue our daily work, our daily life. This will always happen. A tsunami will come. It is not only the first time. A person told a story about Mahātmā Gandhījī, that Gandhījī was travelling by train somewhere in the eastern part of India... Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā... Okay, then we shall write quickly, because what I am thinking, we will miss it. He said, but you see, you do not know what is happening. He said, "Yes, but why should we miss the time? We should continue our work." And so it is that if time is full of troubles, we should not stand, we should not stop, we should continue our duty, we should continue our work. This will not be a peaceful world. We wish very much. And many great personalities of the world have even lost their lives to create world peace. But unfortunately, there are some ill fish that again create a bad smell, the stink. When it is very good, fresh air, good smell, we do not notice chobhas. But when it begins to stink, then everybody says, "Oh," and opens the eye. So, the yogī said, "I know there is trouble, and it is always happy." You see the time of the Vedas, the time of the Upaniṣads, the time of the Rāmāyaṇas, the time of the Gītā, the time of Jesus, the time of Muḥammad. Śrī Śrī... Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam Mahāprabhujīp Karatā. Deep inhale and exhale. Breath gives us energy to relax. This is your first technique. Second, imagine the whole day’s activity, what I did all day. And now, the third step: imagine yourself in a comfortable, warm, cozy place, where you are living at home. My home is my castle, and now feel safe, sure, and peaceful. If you believe in God, say Lord. Whatever I did, physically or mentally, intellectually, purposely or unpurposely, please forgive. I surrender all my actions into Thy hands. And let me be one with Thee. Make me the bubbles in the ocean. You know, because in reality, there is no difference between the bubble and the ocean. We see the bubble, but there is no bubble; it is ocean. No ocean, no bubble. So, no God, we are not here. Therefore, find the peace within thy heart. So, feeling in this part of the body, in our head, it is a machine, a computer, where a lot of activities are going on. And now slowly bring thyself into your heart, then the next step, relax. There is no better meditation in the world than just to relax. When I searched within me, then no one was worse than me. So first you have to project negative feelings in you, and then you seek negativity in others. If you have to see the green or blue, first you have to put the green eyeglasses on; you have to put the glasses on your eyes first, then you will see blue, or yellow, or green, or dark, whatever. God did not give you that you will see blue, dark, and like this. God gave you very pure visions, and your inner self, the Ātmā, is looking through your eyes, and God shows you all this reality as it is. But if you put some other lens on the filter, then you will see it like that. There was one cow in India; they brought a western cow from England because that cow gave more milk. But in England it is very green, with green grass, and in Rajasthan everything is dry. The cow was very unhappy, and she gave up eating everything, even dry grass. So they called some psychologist for animals and some veterinary doctor, and what to do, what to do? The cow does not eat, and so on. Then, one wise person, like all of you, came and said, "What happened to the cow?" So someone said it is like this and that. From where is the cow coming? Because it was the first time in India that such a cow existed. He said, "From England. How is it in England?" Oh, green meadows and everything. Aha, okay, good. They put green glasses on her eyes, and they made big green glasses, like sunglasses, you know, and they put them on her, and she saw grass and began to eat. That was the treatment. She begins to eat. She enjoys eating. So, what kind of glasses do you have now that will color what you see outside? So first, you have to know. What I am talking about is my feeling. Śrī Śrī... The things from the world will not disturb us. Yesterday I was flying, and there was some turbulence in the aeroplane. And one person was sitting in a hording chair. Of course, life is dear to everyone. I also will hoard, but I was thinking, it does not matter how tightly I will hoard my chair, but if it will help or if it will follow that aeroplane, neither he, neither me, no one will survive. So let it be on the guard. We had a bed, sitting peaceful, but still there was a lot of pilot put on the side, passed on the seat belt. Of course, I did it, I also had to. The inside is hard, it is very hard. Then, you know what I imagined, me, yesterday? I was imagining, some of the roads in India are not so good when you are travelling. Oh, it is more than this. I was thinking, I am sitting in my car on this rough road, you know. So it depends on how you can create within you a positive feeling. So we learn, we should learn. I try to always learn to be positive and think positively. And through that power, I am surviving. The minister said to the king, "Yes, your highness, the most joyful thing is to go to the toilet." Always, you make jokes with me. You think I am stupid. Dismiss the minister and go to your home. But that minister was so wise, so clever, very good. Without him, all the work of the king was blocked, stuck. After a few months, the king asked the minister to come. Three or four years later, one day, the king invited some other kings for a big audience, with some dance and things like that. It was a nice party. Now the minister was thinking, today is my chance to show the king what a joyful thing is. So the minister told the king, "Sir, we do not know when we will have a little eating again, and like this." You will sit there, and then people are singing nice songs, and there are nice presents, and somebody is singing, and somebody is dancing, and all are sitting. You cannot eat between some things. So you should have a little bite. It is a good idea. So he gave him a little of what we Indians call pakodā and samosā. I do not know if many of you know, because there are a lot of Indians here. And in this pakoda and samosas, and in chutney, like some dip, marinara sauce, he put one special Ayurvedic herb that is called Sonam Ghee. And that Ayurvedic herb we give mostly for people to clean the stomach. If you take it in half an hour or forty minutes, there is a spasm in the stomach. You have to run. So the king got his eating, and they went there, and all many kings and many people came, and music began, and so on. And the king said to his minister, "Which side is it?" So the minister said, "Yes, your highness. What? Did you say sorry?" Oh, I must go. He said, "This is a joyful. Toilet is not a joyful." The king said, "Yes, you are right. Three years ago, you taught me this." But you are right, please lead me where the hell it is. So our body, our body is our joy. Our body is our life. If the body is here, everything is here. And if the body is not here, nothing is here. Does not matter, we will say in yoga and in many philosophies, the body is immortal, the ātmā is immortal, and that is only light is the truth and this. Yes, but if someone comes and takes your hand and says, "Come, I will take you to the light, give up the body." Say no. We pray, "God, please come. Please, God, come. Please, God, come and take me." And then God comes. "Yes, I am here. Let us go with me." I did not mean it like that. So we love our body because we are our body, and therefore we should do something which is good for our body. For that, a beautiful set of exercises is designed, which we call yoga. Part 2: Yoga in Daily Life: A Path to Harmony In this modern world, with its advanced technology and immense medical progress, alongside developments in sports and other techniques, the world has become a small village. Many excellent techniques from China, Japan, India, Africa, and the entire world offer something good. These are the things we do for our body. I wouldn't say only yoga; I would say yoga is one of them, connected to these practices to keep our body healthy and well. All these techniques are for the well-being of our physical body. Our ancient saints and yogīs designed two primary things for human health. First, as someone said, "Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health." They designed perfect, balanced movements—not one-sided ones. Thus, yoga postures, yoga exercises, and psychosomatic movements influence our body, psyche, mind, and emotions. To further support our body, we have what we call our diet. All the different creatures in the world, which God, the one Creator, has made—including the many kinds of plants—follow natural law. They eat as God made them to eat. But we humans do not eat as those great saints advised us. Today, I received a book as a present called Earthly and Divine. Our body is earthly, and what lives within the body is divine. I was surprised by how beautiful vegetarian dishes look. It is complete with nature and health. We must think deeply about this. Regarding the body—I am not a doctor; if a doctor is here, please correct me—as long as our body is comfortable and without pain, we are happy. When something is wrong with the kidneys, heart, liver, intestines, lungs, spine, muscles, joints, and so on, we are unhappy. Therefore, Yoga in Daily Life is designed so that everyone can practice, young or old, healthy or ill. Everyone can find beneficial exercises for themselves. That is why I call it Yoga in Daily Life—not Maheśvarānanda Yoga, or any other specific yoga, but Yoga in Daily Life. You practice yoga. Many yoga teachers from other schools are here; I welcome you. Many friends, sisters, and brothers here practice different yoga systems—very good, I welcome you. So, every day, whatever kind of yoga you practice, if you practice daily, that means yoga in daily life. However, this system mentioned here has a structure like a preliminary school, middle school, college, and university—a step-by-step, gradual practice. Now, people often want to practice quickly: ten days of yoga, then finished. That is not possible. If you wish to be healthy and happy, it is not for one week, one year, or ten years, but for a lifetime. You need to breathe for a lifetime. When you stop the breath, you stop life. You need to eat for a lifetime. If you do not eat, you are finished. Perhaps there are a few individuals who consume nothing, calling it "light food" from the light itself. Out of millions, maybe one person exists, and there is a technique someone teaches. But if everyone did this, many companies—food companies and others—would go bankrupt. To be frank, we like to eat. It is also a joy. Eating is happiness. When you can sit with family or friends and enjoy a nice salad, a good vegetable soup, and such, it is a relaxing feeling. God gave us the stomach and our digestive system, the digestive fire, for that purpose. Similarly, eating, drinking, and breathing are like movement. Our destiny has written how many breaths we will have in this life. Śvāsa par śvāsa likhā huā hai, itnī hī śvāsa is jīvan mein hai. That many breaths are written for your life. You can save them, or you can lose them. Therefore, yogīs advise against exercises where you breathe very quickly. If someone walks very fast and breathes heavily, they are losing their breath. Your account, your bank account of breath, is large, so save it. In yoga, you breathe slowly. So, find out: who is that mind constantly talking within? "I am, I am." Yes, you are. But who are you? Sit down and come to that point: "Who am I?" At that moment, your entire body will relax. Your body will say, "Aha, thanks to God, now he is occupied somewhere else, so I can relax." You will let your breath be free. Automatically, the breath will manage itself to become slow, as in sleep. The breath's activities will also release a little so that all tension disappears. You want to know who I am. Śaṅkarācārya said: "Ko’haṁ? Katham idaṁ jātaṁ? Ko vā kartā? Asya vidyate?" Who am I? From where have I come? Why did I come? And where will I go? This "I" is a big question mark for us. Where is it? Is it in the heart? In the brain? Or somewhere else? The Self, the "I," is in the entire body, but it is centered in the heart because the most sensitive part we feel is our heart. Of course, it is connected to this Brahman, this universe. In this universe, Brahman resides, and here resides the individual. So your individual self is here, and your universal Self is here. They are both coordinating, and the entire body is connected with that cosmic Self, that divine energy. Therefore, in these turbulent times, we can relax ourselves and give our body and mind a chance to be free. As I always say, helping hands have more value than folded hands. We should help others. Help. If you cannot help, then at least do not disturb. If you cannot give something good, do not take away. Try. You are the one who can create a new world. You can create beauty in everyone's heart. You can. If a small child comes, we all say, "Oh, hello, nice baby, nice child." It doesn't matter if it's a dog, a big baby, a little bird, a human baby, or a sweet one. The baby doesn't tell you to be happy because it's coming, but the radiance from the baby is so pure, innocent, and clean. Now, consider if an aggressive tiger were coming. One tiger stands at the door, another in the corner, and a third is here, getting ready to jump on you. Would you be relaxed and happy, saying, "Oh, this aggressive tiger will jump on me"? No. The tiger's radiance is aggressive, hiṃsā, full of violence. Purījī, Purījī... Peace is the way to peace. If you do not have peace within yourself, you will frighten everyone. But if you have peace in your heart, you will join again with all. Who are you to say something? Who are you to judge someone in any way? Have you judged yourself? No. Why? Because you are afraid of yourself. We are afraid of our own deeds. So we always try to run away and throw our inner negativities and dirt onto others. Then we think, "Aha, we are happy." A man in New York said four or five years ago—I read it somewhere—"We live in this world: use and throw." But where to throw? This is a problem. So, do not use and throw. You use something, and if you think it is bad, you can clean it, like your plate, and use it again. Keep it for yourself. Therefore, yoga is a philosophy, a way of life, and exercises. That is why we speak of harmony of body, mind, and soul. Yoga and life are designed for physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. So, my dear brothers and sisters—or, in other words, my dear sisters and brothers (three days ago there was a conference at the United Nations, and someone asked why we don't say "sisters and brothers" first, so I am learning to say it too)—this is my message for this evening. Now, I think we should meditate a little, if you like. Thank you for listening, and God bless you. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best: good health, happiness, harmony, and a long life. God bless you. If someone needs to leave, you may go. If you wish to stay, please do not stand up during the meditation. Thank you. For about ten minutes, relax completely. You may lean on your chair if you wish. Remember, we will not attain liberation through posture alone; we attain it through Guru Kṛpā, through knowledge. Place your hands on your thighs, with the index fingers and thumbs together—either like this or like that. Look at anything you wish in this hall now. After I ask you to close your eyes, please keep them closed. Adjust yourself comfortably and close your eyes. We will chant Oṃ three times together. During the chanting, withdraw from the external world. Come into this hall and feel the peace, harmony, and presence of the Divine deep within. Relax your facial muscles. Relax completely from your toes to the top of your head, and from the top of your head to your toes. Just relax. Simply be aware that you are inhaling and that you are exhaling. Relax the body, relax the breath, and be aware of your presence here in this hall. Come to the heart. Once, direct your awareness to your toes and legs; they are relaxed. Check your back muscles; they are relaxed. The entire trunk of the body is relaxed. Also, check your elbows, shoulders, legs, and facial muscles. Now, if you have a mantra, you may repeat it silently, or feel it within. But the main thing is simply to relax the body and breath. Cultivate in your heart love for your father, mother, brother, sisters, or best friend. Let these beautiful feelings arise, and send them out into the whole world, the entire creation. In your vision and feelings, let there be no differences—only equal vision, divine vision. Whatever positive, divine message you wish to give the world, try to send it from your heart.