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Yoga has been, and remains, an educational system for the development of human life. It concerns the human body and human consciousness—the mastering of human life. It means mastering and purifying the human mind, mastering the human body. This was the era of Patañjali, a perfect psychologist. Perhaps a perfect master knew what kind of problems arise in the human mind and what can be the cause of suffering. Therefore, he gave definitions for certain problems of the human mind. Patañjali speaks extensively about discipline, and we know that when we disobey discipline, problems arise. There will be no success because you break the discipline. It does not matter in what sphere; anything we do in this world requires discipline. So Patañjali said, "Anuśāsanam," discipline, is the most important thing. Therefore, ātma yoga anuśāsanam—you cannot begin, and you cannot be successful, if you have no discipline in yoga. It is not a one-day job, nor a one-month job. It is not for five years or for ten years. Sometimes I think, now that I have been practicing for 50 years, I still haven't gotten anything. Should I give up? If I give up now, the Czech newspaper will come with a big photo: "Swamiji gave up yoga." So I cannot do that either. I asked Mahāprabhujī, "50 years?" Mahāprabhujī just smiled. That is nothing. So I do not know how long he will let me wait still. It is a lifelong process. But Patañjali said problems come to your mind in two forms: either as thoughts, as thinking, or as desires. These two are very problematic. Some desires are so strong that you become totally blind. You think it does not matter; you will do it. Sometimes thoughts are so intensive that your deep beliefs—their roots are very deep in you—but your thoughts are so strong that they pull all the roots out. The roots of your belief are pulled out. And you know, when you pull roots out, when you pull a carrot from the earth, it does not come out alone; it takes earth with it. So your doubts, your thoughts, pull the roots of your belief out, but at the same time, they take some part of you and leave a wound inside. This is the difficulty aspirants face on the way. If you had followed the principles of discipline, then your roots could not be pulled out. What kind of discipline? Do not let the thoughts come in. Whatever you think and feel comes from the external world. Avoid certain discussions. Avoid certain situations in life. Understand: nothing in our life happens only from our self, nor does anything happen only from outside. There are always two factors. If I were not here, I would not have this problem. If I am here, I can expect this problem. You can make a sound with two hands. With one hand, you cannot make a sound. And if you want to make a sound with one hand, then you need someone's cheek—and that we do not want. So, Aṣṭāṅga Yoga anuśāsanam—discipline, yogic discipline. Through this discipline, you will be successful. And if you cannot follow the disciplines, you will not be successful. Why can we not follow disciplines? What is that discipline? "I will have discipline. I will follow discipline. I will do all. Swamiji, please, I want to go to Kumbh Melā. You will see there how you will be hard or not hard. Still, you do not know. Or it will be very beautiful. Be ready." When you want to travel somewhere, you should expect that some difficulties may come: you may miss the train, or you may miss the bus; or you catch the bus, but on the way the bus breaks down. It is cold, snowy, windy, and no other transportation is there. You are sitting in the bus and freezing. You forgot your coat at home because the bus is air-conditioned. "Very soon you will come home," but you did not expect the bus would get stuck somewhere. So if you go on a journey, you should expect the negative as well as the positive. When you are born in this world, you should expect both things. Whatever happens, we are the cause of it. If I am here, then everything is here. If I am not here, nothing is here. If I am here, then for me there is East and West, North and South. There is up and down, front and back, because I am here. But if I am not here, there is no East, West, North, South. There is no up and down, nor east, nor west. One devotee, full of devotion, goes to the temple, to God's altar. It is said that when you go to the altar, you should always bring something, flowers or something. He comes in front of the altar and sings a beautiful prayer or song: "Lord, the flower which I wanted to offer to you, I could not find that flower. I was wandering from mountain to mountain, from rivers to rivers, from the bank of one river to the bank of another, through forests, valleys, parks, and gardens, through deserts, through deserts, through deserts. Not searching enough, but perhaps I did not seek enough." So that blessing to give to God is that devotion. Perhaps God is waiting for that. He does not need anything. He does not need flowers, he does not need fruits, he does not need money, he does not need clothes. He does not need incense. He does not need candles. He needs nothing. Whatever we put there, we take again ourselves. We need it. We learn to give, and we learn to take. God does not need anything, only pure love. "I am here, Lord, that is all. Lord, I want to sing a beautiful song to you. But how can I sing now? Because the string of my sitar is broken. The string of my mind, devotion, that sitar is broken. There is no resonance. There is no sound. My trust, my belief, my confidence, my love is broken. Now I would like to sing. I can sing, but still not like that. I could sing with that instrument, which is only my help to sing, which is the only help for me in the song." So, always, whatever happens—mistakes, problems—we bear the temptation of that. We bear the object of that. We are here. But Lord, it does not matter how I am. I am here. There was a very great saint of the Sufi religion. He lived in Turkey, in Konya: Mevlānā. His very famous sentence was this: "It does not matter how you are. Come as you are to me. Come as you are. Do not hide your reality. Do not play with artificial things. Come as you are. If you are a sinner, if you are a thief, if you are a murderer, or you are a saint, or you are a good person, or a bad person, just come as you are. Just come as you are." That is very important. Do not escape, or do not play that He does not know. God knows everything. Even if we try to hide, He knows. We shall surrender to Him as we are. But we cannot, because there are some problems. Vṛtti. Vṛttis are our thoughts. We are thinking too much. We are making arguments in our consciousness: "If it is like this, why cannot it be like that? If it is like that, why cannot it be like this?" Before accepting anything, before understanding anything, before realizing anything, we begin to argue. These are our vṛttis. Suddenly, your thoughts take you away somewhere. Therefore, yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. There are two meanings. Through the practice of yoga, you can control your thinking process so that you can convert negative thoughts into positive. You can make a restless mind calm if you will use your intellect, your positive knowledge, or your wisdom. To control or filter your thoughts will be very easy. Let us say you are thinking something stupid. Now, use your wisdom and tell yourself, "Do not be so stupid." If your wise wisdom tells you that, then the mind will say, "Yes, I think it is stupid to think like that." But if someone else tells you, "Do not be stupid," there will be a volcano breaking out. "This one tells me, do not be stupid. That stupid one told me, 'Do not be stupid.'" Immediately, so the best thing is to use your own wisdom. And you have so much wisdom; you are the master, you know how to help. If someone has problems and comes to you and asks for advice and help, you can talk so well—a perfect psychologist, a perfect master. It seems all holy books are in your library: Gītā, Rāmāyaṇa, Qur'ān, Bible, Yoga. You are the best advisor, but the problem is there. When you yourself have some doubt or problem, then the mouse falls into the water. It is in cold water. "I do not know what to do now." So, Patañjali said that through the practice of yoga, you can control your vṛttis, your thoughts. Vṛtti means just thinking. You are thinking this, that, this, that—so a hundred thousand things. And he says that without purifying and controlling your vṛttis, you cannot be successful in your life. So it is both: you cannot be successful without controlling the mind, the vṛttis, and those vṛttis you cannot control without yoga. It is really complicated, no? Where to begin? You cannot have success and begin with yoga without controlling the mind. And if you control the mind—without controlling the mind, or through yoga, you can control it. Complicated. Once someone told me that when you wanted to go to Austria, you had to get permission from your employer. And the employer says, "First, you should get permission from the bank." And the bank said, "You must first get permission from your employer." The employer said, "Well, then you get permission from the police." And the police said, "Well, you must get permission from the bank." After all this, you are still not sure that you will come to Vienna. Those were the vṛttis, nothing else. Those were the vṛttis playing. And these vṛttis are in the human mind. With the division of the people, dividing people into different religions, creating borders—there are no borders on the earth. These are the borders in the human mind. These are the dualities, divisions in the human mind. If the human mind will be satisfied and become one, there will be no problem. And the same vṛtti divides you between partners, friends, and all life situations that we get. This is only our vṛtti. So sometimes it happens like this. I had several situations in India where they say, "You get the ticket, then you will get the visa. When you buy an air ticket, you will get a visa." And then when you go for a visa, they say you need permission from the bank. And the bank says you will get a confirmation when you get a visa. The embassy says, "No, we cannot give you a visa unless you have the ticket." And the travel agency says, "We cannot issue you the ticket unless you have the money or bank permission." You know, any Indian traveling abroad must ask for hard currency. But you had, in your country, sometimes called two sexes, two sexes, yeah, that is it. Still, we have this two-sex problem. So, it is a complicated game. You can get it, you will get it, but there are certain problems. And then you go to the bank, and the bank will say, "Bring the clearance from the income tax." Income tax, clear it. And income tax, when you go there, they say, "From where did you get this money?" Now you give up everything. You will say, "Thank you, better I go and stay with my family, and I will not travel like this." Problems are coming one after another, one after another. These are the vṛttis. Now you cannot meditate. And whenever you meditate, you think of the ticket, you think of the visa, you think of the bank permission, you think of the clearance, income tax clearance. Then you are thinking of how, what to show, from where I got money. Now, there is no meditation. That is what Patañjali means here: citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. As many things you have, that many problems you have. As little problems you have, less things you have, less problems you have. That is stress. And that stress does not let us solve problems, not even meditate. So, Patañjali says, try to limit your needs in life. And do things which are absolutely necessary. These are instructions for those who stay in one place, practice, and develop in their life. Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. Through yoga, you can control your vṛttis. And through the controlling of the vṛttis, you can develop further in the yoga path. Because yoga means oneness. And oneness means to become one with yourself. You are not two. First, get union with yourself. Agree with your thoughts, agree with your intellect, agree with your heart, your emotion, your intellect, your ambitions. Many things we have in our body. So we are not one with ourselves; we are split into thousands of pieces. So first, ask, "What do I want? First, who am I? How am I?" First, try to know your life situation. Then you will know everything. Then everything will become easier for you. Otherwise, it will not become easier. So the problem is in our mind. And that creates unnecessary thoughts, the thinking. That creates unnecessary feelings. Many times, I get a problem. I get a problem where I look very seriously, but an arrogant person on the new team is the kakova arrogant on device. My maca se God, why does he smile like this? If they say hello, I say, "Yes, hello." God, it was so greeting from the heart, and he says, "Yes, hello." So our problem is, again, what to do? If you do this, they do not like it. If you do like that, they do not like this. And many people are suffering because of this situation. And without knowing the reality, when we try to project from our own mind, when we try to project from our mind, then we create problems for ourselves and for others. Any thought comes to your mind, any feelings come to your mind, do not judge immediately. You know the great philosopher Einstein, Albert Einstein, he once got a letter and he had to answer it. So immediately, Albert Einstein took the pencil and paper and wrote the answer in five, six pages. And at the end, he wrote one sentence: "I am sorry to write you such a long letter. Because I did not have the time, I am in satsaṅg." So, I am sorry to write you such a long letter. Writing five or six pages takes time, but he said I did not have the time. It means I did not have the time to overthink. I acted so quickly, and I wrote it. When you write anything, then read it the next day. Really, do you want to write this? Let it be later, one day more. And then I read again, do you really want to write this answer? Third day, it is stupid. Once Gurujī was writing one letter to me. One day Gurujī wrote a letter to me. He was a little angry at something. A teacher can write to a disciple clearly, in a way that helps us with our mistakes. And I was angry. I said, "This is not true, and how can you say this? I do not want to accept this." And I kept the letter with me because it was evening, and I thought, "Tomorrow I will post it." And before closing the letter, I read once more. And at the end of reading my letter, I put it in the vestibule. I write this answer to my Guru, to Holy Gurujī. He is more than my father, mother. What he gave me in my life, no one could give. Always, he is ready to support me, and he just taught because of my ego, perhaps, something. And I answer like that? No. So this is how God gives us right thinking. Sometimes, so Mahāprabhujī said, "Do not dive to search for pearls in the ocean when the waves are too strong, stormy." Otherwise, you will break your spinal column. Therefore, vṛtti. The disciple is asking, "Master, why is anuśāsana so difficult? I will follow the anuśāsana. Where are the problems?" He says, "The problem is the vṛtti, my dear." The problem is our vṛtti, and you never know. It is like a bird sitting on the roof of your house, and you want to catch it. You do not know which vṛtti will come to the mind of the bird. And so to control the mind is to catch the bird which is sitting on the roof. Slowly, slowly, my mind. The gardener gives water to his plants every day, but the fruits will come only when the season comes. So the success will be only then, when the time comes. Therefore, the British have destroyed many, many people. The British have created wars in the world. They are only in the mind of the people. My culture, my land, my people, my religion, my caste, my race. These are vṛttis. Do not destroy them. Through your vṛtti, the beautiful work and things in the world will be destroyed. If not others, then at least yourself. So, our self is, in reality, split. Only our vṛttis can control. Calm down. Then God will help us. Then what will you think? If any restless thought comes, think of God. If you believe in God, if you do not believe in God, then think what you want in your life. You cannot be successful for that thing if you cannot control your vṛttis. If you go to some office and get some work done, though you do not like those people who are sitting there. Maybe they are unfriendly, and you hate them. But still, you have to show at least your humbleness. You still have to show some modesty, humility. If you start yelling at them, they will not do it for you. Or they will constantly tell you that something is missing. And they will say, "Come tomorrow. Take the ticket and wait." You have to wait. We will call you when we finish. Really, problems will come. Why? Because you could not control your vṛttis, and your vṛttis will let you act. So, wise men said, take care. Your vṛttis can one day be your world. Your thoughts can become words in your mouth, and when you speak this or write this, it may have an effect like a gun. Wise are they who control the vṛttis. Therefore, it is said, more hearing and less speaking. In many situations, do not act immediately. Otherwise, you are mistaken. Do not judge someone without knowing 100%, otherwise it is a sin. That is it. Citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. Therefore, Patañjali said, take care of your vṛttis. Vichāra hai. Vṛtti is Sanskrit and vichāra is in Hindi. So you can ask sometimes to your friends, what do you think about this? Should I build a house like that, or like that? Father, what do you think? Should I study architecture, or should I study economy? Now you will see what vṛtti father has in his mind. So, if it is your father, he only wishes good things for you. He will say, "Well, my son, my child, it does not matter what you want to study. For me, all is good. Only, I wish that you will be successful and happy." What a beautiful vṛtti the father has. Very neutral, very positive, full of love. It does not matter what you study; I only wish that you will be successful and happy in your life. This kind of vṛtti from the mind or the brain of the father, mother, friend, or master, that vṛtti is like a blessing. Such a divine vṛtti we should have. Well, we will continue. Very nice. Very nice. The next vṛtti, is it okay? And this we will have in the afternoon. He is going to say, as your vṛttis are, like that you will see yourself. And as you see, like that you will be. So, what do you imagine? What do you think? And like that, you will feel that. But it is not only like that. It is more perfect psychologically; it is guiding the disciple in the path of perfection. A disciple has to listen and obey. Freedom is in your hands. Why is the master telling this? He does not want anything from you. He wants to help you. You know, I am telling so many things to you: practice, be good, be nice. Do not be jealous. Do not be angry. Think over. Be positive. Do not harm anyone through writing, through speaking, through thinking, through physical acting, or through social position. Why am I telling this? I can say, it does not matter, do what you want. It is your problem: to die, to live, or to be killed. In German they say, it is not my coffee. It is the coffee. It is my living, and it is then thy living. But this kind of acting is not my master's action. And father, mother will not say like this. So, only that you are helped. For what are we born? Or at least, for what am I born? Does not matter who is who. I will never say, "Just die." If you are ill, it does not matter. Never, never. Even I know that someone is very ill and will die. But we should not tell this person that he will die. Because you cause a big pain in his or her psyche. Until the last minute of the life of a person or creature, we shall give a hand. Our warmness is never late. You can always help anyone. To help is difficult. To construct something is difficult. Destruction is very quick. Climbing up the hill is hard, but falling down does not take long. Therefore, humans are protectors and not destroyers, because humans have God, intellect, buddhi. Through intellect, one is human. Are there all feelings that we animals have also? Everything that we animals have also. Smelling, looking, hearing, tasting, speaking, talking—everything animals have also. But their intellect is very, very limited, unfortunately, and man has this buddhi. If someone tells you something, then one says in India, the listener should be wiser than the speaker. I wish you a good appetite. A very good rest. A very good afternoon. We will see again in the afternoon or evening program. I have created so many vṛttis in your mind. You have many vṛttis already, and I put again so many vṛttis. But I hope through my vṛttis, some of your vṛttis are purified. And through my vṛttis, some of your vṛttis are activated. God sees through everything, and the truth is, God sees through everything. So I cannot see your vṛtti, and you cannot see my vṛtti. But I can see my vṛtti. And if I still cannot see, God sees.