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This program was very nice, and we have renewed our acquaintance with Patañjali. I would say Patañjali is the father of psychology. It is he who understood and put it into words. He understood, but greater than Patañjali have been the great ṛṣis. When we study those ṛṣis, there is immense wisdom hidden. The question is, we have very little time to read about them. But we will work on this. We will work on the Upaniṣads and on other works of the ṛṣis. So, Patañjali is only one of them. There have been many great sages. What they write about the human mind, what they speak about human consciousness, talent, nature, and the universe is indescribable. Their approach, their research, and their knowledge about the cosmos are unbelievable. But everything goes through discipline. One has to dedicate one’s life to sit down peacefully, at least half an hour a day, and dive into the ocean of the wisdom of the ṛṣis. You may read only half a page, a quarter of a page, or one sentence. An immense amount of wisdom is hidden in it. Likewise, Patañjali says, "Discipline. Control the vṛttis, and become one with yourself." Only your own mind and thoughts are your obstacles. Sometimes we say that you are the obstacle on your own path. You are one of the stronger barriers. You can’t cross the border; you can’t proceed because you are standing in your own way—your emotion, your attachment, your doubts, your jealousy, your anger, your hate, your complexes, your greed, your ego, your weakness, your doubts. These are the obstacles, and you can’t proceed. To simply cross those borders or remove those barriers, the best way is to understand Guruvākya. Follow the guru ākhyā, guru sevā, and then you will get the guru kṛpā; that is very important. People who talk against, who criticize, simply do not know and do not want to know. They don’t know, they don’t want to know, and if you follow them, if you follow their words, then you are worse than them. Therefore, you have to give up the doubts, sit down, and dive into the ocean of wisdom—the holy consciousness of the ṛṣis. They spent hundreds and thousands of years. That time was Satyuga. It is said humans had a long, long life. They could maintain life for several thousand years. They had enough time to wait, to marry, to overthink, and to have children after some thousand years. And you are not able to wait even a few thousand days. They had time. And they said that in Kali Yuga, human life will be short, within 100 years, and their mind will be restless. They will not be able to control or master their desires. Their desires will destroy their lives and shorten them. So, you have to come to Jñāna Yoga, Jyoti, the light of wisdom. You have to analyze yourself, determine what you want, and work for that. You have to be very clear with yourself and with the world. Don’t behave, and don’t be depressive. Don’t fall into depressions, schizophrenia, nervousness, and emotional problems. Wake up in clarity. Who am I? From where do I come? Why am I here? Where will I go? What am I thinking? What did I think? Why did I think? What should I think? And why should I think? Finally, who am I? This I should think. So, vṛttis. When vṛttis are in control, Patañjali says, "tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe ’vasthānam." At that time, the seer becomes established in his own nature. Become sure. Like when you go to your house, your room, your flat, you close the door and feel now you are at home. You are within your territory; now you do what you like. You are there. Similarly, you enter within yourself. That is very important. But again I tell you, you have to be very awakened, creative, active, conscious—not introverted, not slow-minded, not drowsy. "Swāmījī, I don’t know what to do. Should I change my work, or should I change my flat? Should I work here or in another town? What should I change?" Change yourself. Change your thoughts. Change your mind. Change yourself into better things. Become conscious. If you help yourself, then God helps you too. But if you don’t help yourself, God cannot help you. First, you have to make this step. You have to come nearer. You have to say what you want, and you have to work for it. So you have to become very conscious, very alert, very clear, very awakened. That is a yogī. A yogī is not like a half-dead fly. Did you ever see me like this? "How are you, Swāmījī?" "I don’t know." Alert—you have to be alert. And it is true, Nature attacks everyone. There are minerals in life. There are situations that push you down. But you must say consciously, "No." You should be like a football. No one can press you under the water. And if it presses you, as long as the hands are away, it will jump up. So don’t let it press you down, and don’t remain down. You must have the air inside—that’s energy, prāṇa, śakti, mantra śakti, kriyā śakti, kṛpā guru, kṛpā śakti, the śakti of your faith, the śakti of your peace, Yoga Śakti. So show me next time how active and creative you are—but in a positive way, not in a destructive way, please. Don’t show the complexes. And tell us, don’t create doubts, don’t create fear, don’t create conflict. Create love, harmony, peace, understanding, tolerance. That means now you are one with yourself, and you are sure about yourself, and you are safe with yourself. I am my own self. I am my own self. I am that one. I am without any suffering and attachment. I adore my salutation to myself. That my Self is the Self of the other self too: willpower, clarity. That is only when you have mastered the thoughts and you concentrate on one way. Yoga, that is life. Swāmījī, praśna. That’s it, that’s life. After that, it comes when all the vṛttis are in control; then it is like a kevalya sthiti. You are in one. Then it is said, "vṛtti sārūpyam itaratra." It is said that at that time you become like your vṛtti. That is very important. You become as you are thinking. If you think you are holy, you become holy. If you say you are a demon, then you become like a demon. If you think you are a thief, you become a thief. If you think you become a brother, you are a brother. If you think you are a sister, you are a sister. So you become as you think. You are happy if you think happy, and you become unhappy if you think unhappy. So when you think that I am Sat Chit Ānanda Ātmā, then you become one with that Ātmā. Your consciousness dwells in your real self. Everything becomes clear. Therefore, vṛtti-sārūpyam—that you become at that time, or in other times, the draṣṭā, the seer, is acting and behaving as he is thinking. As long as you did not purify or filter your thoughts, as long as you did not analyze each thought, until that time, the practitioner will behave and understand himself as he or she is thinking. A psychologist tells the patient, "You are not ill. You should not think like this," and you are listening, but you don’t change your thinking, and that’s why you are ill. So what? They give you some therapy: every day you think, every day go and look into the mirror, "I feel better, I look better, really." That’s a kind of therapy they give you. And what is this therapy? Self-Inquiry Meditation. Patañjali’s instructions. So you will behave, you will feel, and you will do as you are thinking. What you think about your Master, like that you will feel. And how you feel, like that you will be. So what kind of price value you have in your mind for things or for someone? It is you who can completely change the weather, the environment, because you are the one who can. Completely change the environment, the time, the situation. Therefore, we will work on this until the next seminar. As long as you will not be able to control your thoughts, you will feel and behave as if you are like this. If you are thinking you are unhappy, then you will be, and you are unhappy. As long as you think that you are alone and lonely, yes, you will be. As long as you think that you are ill and that no one can help you, yes, you will be ill and no one can help you. As long as you think that no one likes you, yes, no one will like you, or at least you will feel that no one likes you. Then why don’t you change the way of thinking? It’s you who can make friends, and it’s you who can make enemies. It’s you who can create love and harmony, and it’s you who can create hate and a destructive atmosphere. So, when you are the slave and dependent on your thinking, until that time, Patañjali says, you will not be able to realize your reality. Until then, you will not know what is the reality. Therefore, again it is said, chitta vṛtti nirodha is very important. It is the first duty of the yoga practitioner to control the vṛttis. Vṛttis means thinking. Change the thinking like that. Then you will see completely other beauty, other happiness. And there are different kinds of vṛttis. He is modifying. "Vṛttayaḥ pañcetayaḥ kliṣṭāḥ akliṣṭāḥ." There are five kinds of vṛttis, and they are divided into two groups: kliṣṭa and akliṣṭa vṛttis. Some vṛttis make you unhappy and create problems, troubles, and unhappiness. And there are healthy vṛttis which create happiness, health, harmony, and joy. And which are these five? I will tell you next time. I gave you enough work to do now. Yoga, citta, vṛtti, nirodha, ātā, yogānu, śāsana, and draṣṭā, tadā, draṣṭu, svarūpī, avasthāna, vṛtti, svarūpī, iti, tatra. That’s it.