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With salutations to the cosmic light, the omniscient and omnipresent source of our life, the Almighty God, may He bless us with good health, long life, spiritual development, harmony, and mutual understanding. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters, respected Mayor of Leonhard, the Mayor of this city, Langenstorf, the director of the community college, the director of the schools, Stockerau, respected Dr. Hackel, President, engineer, heartfelt friends, all my dear friends. Good evening. I am very pleased to be here again today in the beautiful banquet hall in Langenstorf. Our goal is Yoga. Through yoga, we can achieve, preserve, and accomplish something positive, good, and spiritual in our lives and through our existence in this world. Yoga is a science of the body, mind, soul, and consciousness. It is an ancient, spiritual science or teaching of the yogīs, who developed this system. Yoga means union, unity, and balance. It is said that the entire universe is balanced by a certain power. Whether this power is God or an energy, a specific function of the universe, these principles that maintain balance throughout the entire cosmos—stars, planets, visible and invisible elements—this energy is called Yoga. Where there is balance and a healthy state, one feels well physically, mentally, and spiritually; that is harmony. Where there is harmony, there is unity—in family life, social life, with oneself, in nature, in the atmosphere, and everywhere. When there is harmony, there is union. Union has many meanings. When the yogīs conceived the idea, they gave it the name Yoga. In Sanskrit, Yoga comes from a state of balance. There is a word, a yoke, where two horses or oxen pull a cart. They have a piece of wood on their neck. Both should have balance and proceed together in harmony. If one walks faster and the other slower, then one suffers. That is Yoga. Thus, Yoga means a balance, a harmony. When a man and a woman in a family share the same feeling, opinion, and path, they have harmony. If they have completely different opinions, both suffer, and the children suffer as well. This applies not only to a family but to our entire society. The second meaning of Yoga comes from union: the union of the individual self with the cosmic Self. We have multiple bodies: a physical body (the food sheath, bound by the five elements), a mental body, an astral body, a spiritual body, and a causal body. Within these five sheaths exists a certain sphere of light, called the soul. The soul is the witness to our karma, our actions. Everything we do, through our actions and presence—please turn off all mobile phones—is recorded. As we say, the soul wanders, comes, lives in a body, and leaves the body. Within the soul, there is still a light, and that is the true Self. The light hidden and safeguarded within our soul is the true part of God. We all have that. We often say God is in the heart. The qualities of this inner Self, which dwells in our souls, are bliss, joy, happiness, or love. In almost every language, it is said: God is love. Love is God. Every living being seeks joy, bliss, or love. No one wants to be sad or to suffer. The soul is like an egg; it is not astral, not visible, but it carries our reality with it. Everything we have in our life, what we receive, what we call sukha or duḥkha (happiness or unhappiness), destiny—this happiness or unhappiness has not been given to us by God or anyone else. It is the result of our own actions, what we have done in past lives and in this life. Our lives, our illness or health, accidents—everything that happens is our karma. We are responsible for our own destiny. As long as our soul is not united with the divine light, as long as it rises and dissolves, there will always be an individual life. One can speak of rebirth; many believe in it, many believe in nothing. But the reality is that belief cannot change reality. I may believe a path leads to a place, but I am not sure. Faith alone is not enough for spiritual development or for human consciousness and intellect. We must experience it in reality. The Self in the form of a soul wanders. It is beautifully said: the soul flutters on the waves of time, from space to space, to light and darkness, where it develops relationships, remains for a while in the juice of those relationships, and then moves on again. We are all travelers. We have millions of milestones behind us and perhaps many more ahead. We come, we play a game as father or mother, children, relatives, colleagues, friends, and then we move on again. When will the end of our journey be? It is when we cleanse our destinies, our karmas, in unity, in purity, in the divine Self—through spiritual living, praying, meditating, and positive action. Spiritual life does not mean merely praying and meditating, but everything that is created by a human mind, through a human body and intellect. How the human being exists in this world, how he acts in this world and with the surroundings and living beings—that is important. No step is ever lost. Every step is accounted for, whether positive or negative. As a result, there have been numerous sacred divine incarnations, holy monks, both female and male, in our world. In divine consciousness, in spirituality, there is no attribute, no dualism of feminine or masculine. In reality, as Ātman, as the true Self, there is only one. Therefore, both can be sacred, both can be an incarnation of God. We have witnessed a dance of the Holy Mother, the Goddess, the Śakti, Durgā, Kālī, Lakṣmī. She has many names, and she is God Himself. It is nature and consciousness. Consciousness alone cannot create anything, and nature cannot act without consciousness. A man cannot give birth to a child by himself, and a woman cannot create anything alone, not even to have a child. There are always two principles involved: Puruṣa and Prakṛti, nature and consciousness. It is the same power that comes and acts in two different aspects. All the saints, according to their experiences, have given a direction. They have shown their disciples, followers, or students a path. For some, it has become a religion. Religion means we are related, connected to the divine Self, to universal worship. We are all children of God because we have the essence of the cosmic Self as our Ātman, which exists within our soul. So every path of religion, whoever believes or follows, is good. What is important is that one should follow 100%—not only socially, not only for a Sunday. Prayer must not be a day reserved only for Sunday. Work is worship. My work is my prayer. Every day we should work and also pray. This is the path where the Self can liberate itself from a net, in which it was imprisoned like in a wasp’s nest. So, the union of the individual self with the cosmic self. It does not matter through which path, through which practices, meditations, prayers, reading, or work. What is important is that we reach our destination. God’s qualities, if I may say so, the quality of the Cosmic, is purity, love, light. If we wish to be one with God, nothing is possible for us as long as we have our own qualities. Consider the quality of water. Here is a glass of water. Unfortunately, the glass is not transparent today; otherwise, everyone could see. I take a sip of water. It is pure water, but inside there is salt. Those who brought the water thought, “We will give Swāmījī salt to drink today.” And one sees nothing at all, because one does not see salt. Someone mixed in ten grams of salt, a spoonful. The solid form of salt has dissolved and transformed into liquid. Those who brought it thought that salt and water had become one. But unfortunately, no. When I drink, I feel there is salt in it. When salt loses its salty qualities, I will not say that salt is inside. This is an example. Salt is our Self, we, our soul, and God is water. When we think or believe that after death we will become one with God, I despair. Perhaps it is not possible. Why? Because of the way I have lived my whole life. Was I selfish? Was I an evil person? Was I jealous? Was I greedy? Was I negative? Or was I full of love, devotion, understanding, clarity, and tolerance? The result is how we have lived. Everything will be accounted for afterwards. If someone works for many years and then wants to stop, they receive all the money they are supposed to get—a pension, early pension, severance pay. So the entire account of our life will come to pass at the end. Now, our soul—does it possess qualities that correspond with God? If not, then we continue to exist as individual selves. The individual self then receives its karmic blows; it is rolled back and forth, it wanders, it swings from room to room, from one plane to another, from one life to another life. The yogīs have realized and discovered through meditation, prayer, and knowledge that the individual self, although a part of God, nevertheless has qualities. How can one cleanse or get rid of these qualities? It is like a snowball. We make a snowball and let it roll. It rolls, but it keeps gathering more snow; it grows bigger and bigger. Life is running; we roll, and we create the karmas. Therefore, in every religion, in every culture, it is said: be good, be kind, extend your love to all living beings, protect everyone. A person is an owner, not a destroyer. A human being is a fence around the garden of God. The fence stands here to protect the garden. If the fence itself destroys the garden, what is the purpose of the fence? A human life is just as ordinary as that of other living beings, but human beings have special qualities and abilities. This is called Buddhi, intellect. Therefore, God has given human qualities to humans. Human qualities are divine, sacred, but we do not use our true human qualities. This is a part of yoga, which yoga philosophy speaks of. The philosophy of yoga is one of the oldest I know. The oldest books we always claim to find are the Vedas, and the Veda also speaks of Yoga. Every incarnation of God also speaks of Yoga. Yoga’s principles are devotion, love, prayer, faith, goodness, positivity, effort, spiritual life. Through this, I believe all religions, whatever religion exists in this world, have the same principles. Either yoga comes from these religions, or religions come from yoga. When I look back, Yoga is the oldest, the most ancient of all. The goal is to realize that a soul lives in the human body, lives in the human mind, and that in this life it can bring its life to perfection, it can liberate itself. That means to be liberated. Therefore, it is said: one believes there is no second life, no rebirth, because the person, the soul, is born as a human. But he must be human. A saint has said in a poem: there are millions of people in the world, but very few human beings. There are millions of humans in the world, millions of people, but rare are the true humans. When one is such a true person, then naturally, of course, there is no rebirth. There, one has become united with God. This is a lifelong work for a person. So, how are we supposed to achieve it? Our life is very short, and we should live life. Therefore, the point of health is the most important point in life—not only for us, but for all of nature. Just as we say, the first wealth is health. Where there is health, everything is possible; without health, everything is nothing. They developed two systems: one, proper nourishment; and two, movement. Movement keeps us healthy. Movement is also divided into four parts in yoga. First, movement is something we naturally do every day: going to sleep, getting up, washing, going to work, cooking. This also keeps us healthy. If you lie in a hospital bed for a week and then get up, it is difficult to walk; the muscles need time to regain strength. The second type is fast movement, a series of sports exercises: running, jogging, marathon, intense sport. This is also good for the body, but not forever, only for a certain period. That is why many athletes come to yoga after 40 or 50 years. One person said, “For 35 years I tormented my body and was actively destroying it. Now I have decided to heal my body again through yoga.” The third type is stretching exercises. The fourth is dynamic movement and a posture, a bodily position in specific poses. That is Yoga. Practicing slowly is more effective than practicing quickly. Yoga is psychosomatic movement; it affects our body and psyche. It calms. We saw two types of movements earlier. One was the dance. The dancer danced very beautifully, wonderfully, perfectly. Even if we start practicing immediately, nothing comes; we get out of breath. Despite her training, after half an hour or three-quarters of an hour of dancing, she was completely exhausted and had to catch her breath. The others, who performed the 20 minutes of yoga exercises at the beginning, middle, and end, were completely relaxed. There was a calmness, a peace with these persons. It is very important that we practice every day for our physical well-being. It is important whether one believes in a God or does not, whether one believes in a particular religion or no religion at all—we put that aside. First, we consider whether our body is healthy or not. Second, nourishment. We often talk about food, but nowadays it is unfortunately very difficult to obtain healthy nourishment. The worst food one can take, as the yogīs always say, is eating meat. Now you see how many animals are afflicted with diseases. I believe I saw in the news yesterday or the day before that even in Austria there are these diseases that the cattle or cows had in England and so on. This is prepared everywhere. God, we protect ourselves from such illnesses. But we should say: we do not live for food; we eat to live. We should not be slaves to our sense of taste, slaves to our tongue. Other food, healthy food, tastes even better. Someone asked me, “If you have healthy food, how do you find it?” I said, “I don’t know how; I already like it.” He said, “As long as you chew, the longer you bite or chew, the more intense the taste becomes. It becomes more intense, increasingly fragrant at the beginning.” I said, “Yes, that is true. The more you chew certain herbs or sesame seeds, grains, the more flavor will develop.” I have never chewed or eaten meat, but whoever eats meat should chew it slowly here and see if there is still any taste. Suddenly, a boundary arises where there is no taste in it at all. I do not want to use such a harsh word, but when I speak today, I say it as well. Please forgive me if anything was displeasing to anyone. Hans, should I say it or not? Of course, not say it. Say. Okay. That was an example someone also told me. When someone dies in families or at home, what do we do? We try to transport the corpse to a mortuary or to the burial and so on. One comes and offers a field of purification, a field of purification where one has died. But in the modern system, it is the opposite. One immediately carries the corpse of a person out when he is dead; that is okay. But then they bring many corpses home and put them in the refrigerator, preserving them. A corpse is a corpse, whether of a human or of an animal. A dead body has a very negative, a very joyful energy that is radiative. That creates unrest in family life, in the home, destroying harmony. So, the yogī says vegetarian food is important. It is your decision, please. Yoga in daily life means living every day according to Yoga. Think positively, work positively and well, be honest with your fellow human beings, with your colleagues, with your employers, with the employees. Pray, meditate, do something good every day, and very importantly, help. When I see in Austria and also in various European countries where Christianity is present, they have built numerous hospitals and nursing homes. Most often, the many sick are cared for by spiritual sisters, nuns, who work so hard day and night—not for a salary or for money; they could have obtained money in other ways—but as Seva, service. Our folded hands have less value than helping hands. Folded hands do not hold as much value as helping hands. This is the yoga that helps us: to help all those who suffer beside us, whether they are human or animal. Help is the very first, highest principle in spirituality or with God. That is why God Himself also incarnates; He comes to help humans and other living beings. Yoga in daily life is not just physical exercises. It encompasses everything on how we can lead our lives positively, more healthily, and happily, and how we can help others. I am very pleased that many friends have come and participated in today’s program. I wish everyone all the best and above all, good health. Please move around, go for a walk, hike, or sail. Now comes the winter, but not too steeply from all the high mountains where avalanches are active. Practice yoga, go for a walk, or engage in other types of exercise, meditate, and perform breathing exercises. See that we can lead our lives in such a beautiful, harmonious, and joyful way. Also the children. The children are the culture of the morning. The life of children is very dependent on their parents. Just as parents provide upbringing to their children, so they become. Parents who have not given or cannot give proper upbringing—children of such parents end up with drugs and in activities that we do not accept. Why? Because that is negative; it destroys life. So I wish you all the best; perhaps I am the very first to wish you all the best and a Merry Christmas, as I will soon be flying to India and also into the new year. I wish you all the best and thank you. We will have 15 minutes for one question. Perhaps there are some questions. You are warmly welcome to ask any questions you may have about health or yoga or philosophy or anything like that. Please, feel free to ask. It was a woman from Tyrol. Unfortunately, she has passed away. She once told me, “Where there is no question, there is no answer.” And so there were no questions. I am glad that everything is so clear, that you no longer need to ask anything. You have your yoga teachers; they will give you all the answers and exercises. Yoga in Daily Life is a scientific system; it is scientifically proven. It is utilized, practiced in health centers, rehabilitation centers, health resorts, and so on. As Olga said earlier, a yoga book about Yoga in Daily Life—before, we only had individual parts, scriptures. Now we have given a whole in one, a book, over 400 pages with almost 800 or over 800 images inside, very beautiful. The book is currently at the bindery; otherwise, we would have brought it with us today. The book Yoga in Daily Life has been published simultaneously in eight languages. Therefore, we have also encountered some difficulties. They translated the envelope from Croatian to Slovenian, and so the Slovak envelope was then handed over to the Hungarian one. The technique is very good, but at the moment we are not yet developed enough to be able to trust people one hundred percent. You see that in America, they want to count the cell phones there. So this also happens, please, even in America, where they say everything is very perfect. But our book will be finished by November 29. You can buy or have a book there. The presentation will be there; the yoga lecture will be there. I will be happy to see or welcome you there. The first book that was completed was the Croatian book. The Croatian President invited me; I was with him, and he received the very first copy. Secondly, in Slovenian language, I was in Ljubljana over the weekend, and the Slovenian President also received the first edition. Now our German language edition—the first edition, I believe Mr. Klestil, the President of Austria, is supposed to receive it. Tomorrow we will call him to see if he has time, when and how we can give him the book. It is a beautiful book. Please, you should have the book. It is a beautiful Christmas gift to share with others, if anyone wishes. November 29th, warmly invited. Now I would like to express my heartfelt thanks, especially to our dear Olga Zek. She truly always creates beautiful programs. I must say, it is not easy to organize such beautiful programs with yoga in Austria. Because, no matter what one speaks and says, one has certain, differentiated feelings associated with culture. Whatever culture comes from whichever country, I feel it more strongly than you perhaps do. One feels more deeply when one is truly a foreigner. I have been living in Austria for 30 years now. In my many years of life, I have been in Austria. But I always feel when I am wearing special, different garments. Not everyone sees negatively, but those who do, say so. It is the same when one travels to India from Austria; those there all say, “Oh, there is a foreigner here.” So in Austria, it is difficult to create a multicultural program because there is a lack of people who can properly explain what it is. Therefore, I find it wonderful and truly very beautiful that numerous mayors from various places have come, along with the authorities of the schools and the adult education centers. This is very important and very beautiful, through which we unite the world. At the end of August, there was a conference, the Millennium World Peace Conference, with spiritual and religious songs at the United Nations headquarters in New York. I was also invited. We were about 1,000 spiritual or religious people from all over the world, from all religions. Everyone spoke. The Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan, was there, and he personally said that he turns to the authorities of religion and spirituality because he knows that nothing is possible without world peace. Religion should unite us, not divide us. Religion should have freedom. Religion should not become dominant. Now through all the media, we know what multiculturalism is, where there is beauty, everywhere. Every child says, “My mother is the best mother in the world.” Every child says that. So I wonder, then which mother is not the best mother in the world? All are good. All kinds of food are good, but I only like to eat vegetarian. Others do not want to; they only want to eat meat. So it is his or her decision. Therefore, a very important step was taken here, either through Olga’s efforts and her natural demeanor, in a natural way, and as she explains, having a good relationship especially in Lower Austria, in this part of Lower Austria, Waldviertel and Weinviertel, where she is very active. It is admirable. My yoga activity began 30 years ago in Lower Austria. I always held programs and seminars in a rectory in Garsamkamp, because the priest Mantler was truly a very spiritual person, a very open-hearted, open-minded person. We practiced and discussed together for years, meditated, and tried prayers in the sea and the European ones and so on, in a parsonage. The parsonage sisters always cooked so well. There, they had me with Grischmann—I didn’t know anything about what Grischmann was. But unfortunately, Father Mantler has not become a vegetarian until now. Unfortunately, his brothers and family have acquired this pig farm or something like that. He himself has bred some hares and so on. But they said, when I, the Swāmījī, come, then the entire rectory will be cleansed and all the meat from everywhere will be removed; there is only vegetarian. He told me, “Swāmījī, do you know what is the most beautiful thing for him?” I said, “No.” He said, “If you come for the weekend and leave on Sunday, so that I can get my meat in the evening.” So, we have had a wonderful time together, and I see that Olga has done her work. I believe this is the second or third time we are here. I hope that we will meet again in this beautiful festival hall of Langenstorf. We will see each other again, if God wills, or if our destiny allows. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I wish you all the best for a lovely evening and a wonderful time. Good night. Farewell.