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Part 1: Meditation: The Path to Enlightenment Guru Maa, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo, Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt, Paraṁ Brahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ. Jñāna Mūlaṁ Guru Mūrtiḥ, Pūjā Mūlaṁ Guru Pādam, Mantra Mūlaṁ Guru Vākyaṁ, Mokṣa Mūlaṁ Guru Kṛpā. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. Salutation to the Cosmic Light, Lord of our hearts, Omniscient and Omnipresent. In His Divine Presence, very good evening, dear brothers. Also, many blessings to our brothers, sisters, practitioners of yoga and daily life, and spiritual seekers around the world. Wherever you are, good evening or good morning. Nearly one month has passed, and we have not seen you through our webcast to welcome you. This blessing is coming to you from the beautiful city of Brisbane, from the Ashram in Australia. Many warm greetings and blessings. The subject today is meditation, practice and theory. So enjoy, and God bless you. Meditation is one of the best ways for humans to achieve their life goal. All great incarnations, all great or holy saints achieved their enlightenment through meditation. If you hear about Buddha, he meditated for a very long time, and through meditation, he came to enlightenment. His name was Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, and he began to meditate. He writes that through his meditation, it was for him very clear and possible to travel into his past lives. It means that the consciousness or the soul, consciousness and the soul, which was divided or given to every individual. So Buddha said that he went through on this planet from where his consciousness begins. And so he went from the stone type, to the stone, coal, metals, then what we call the vegetation, sea life, birds, animals, and humans. As well, he traveled to his future, and he saw through his meditation. He came to the point that after a certain time, there was no future anymore. How do we understand "no future"? There are two different kinds of futures. One is when we will travel as individuals in different lives, in different parts of the universe. Second, there is nothing, no more individual existence, only bliss, only the divine, only oneness, no separation, no dualities. Dualities exist only when two are together. It is said the path of love is so narrow that two cannot walk together. Two have to become one, then you can come through; otherwise, not. And that path is so fine, very fine. It’s like a very fragile thread. There is a poem said by Rahim: "Prem kā dhāgā mat todo, Siddhā." The thread of love, do not break. Out of your ignorance, don’t try to stress more. "Tuta fir jure nahi." If it is broken, you cannot join it again. "Jure gant par jaya." If you try to join it, then there will be a knot between. So when the knot is there, it will always be something, an obstacle. Like you have a very nice bowl of salad, but the inside is some sand. You can’t enjoy your salad. Similarly, misunderstanding and ignorance begin when there is duality. So, Buddha sees his future as only what we call enlightenment. Buddhi means the intellect, and Buddha means the enlightened one. That intellect, that knowledge, that consciousness is enlightened, meaning it became one with God. So there was nothing. There was nothing. There was only one that’s called Ānanda, the bliss, divine, supreme. Similarly, other saints who went through meditation also wrote many things about their experiences. They gave time, they had time, they withdrew themselves into the forest, somewhere in huts or in caves or in monasteries or ashrams, and they went there. As soon as they got the light of knowledge, the happiness was indescribable. Not that kind of happiness we see here in this material world, but that was a happiness of oneness, freedom, and everlasting bliss. Within you is an ocean of bliss, within you is a fountain of joy, within you is the immortal one. "Kill this little eye and lead a divine life." Swami Sivananda said this. So meditation is only the way to find our self and work on ourselves. Meditation we cannot do unless we have two kinds of devotion. You may call it devotion, you may call it love. So the first devotion is towards thyself. First, we have to learn to love ourselves. It is meditation that will bring closure to our self and our life situation. Then you have to decide what is necessary or important in your life and what is not important. Vikṣepa, Kleśa, in this world there will always be disturbances. In this world, this is a world of changes. This is a mortal world. Who came will go, what was created will be destroyed, who was born will die. So this is a transaction; this is a planet of transaction where we are living. But the permanent place for our existence is the entire universe, which has no boundary and which has no suffering. So, through meditation, working means first we should know what we want. If you have some problem or disease, you go to a doctor. You know that you have a disease or you have some pain. Now you know, and you would like to get treatment, then you go to the doctor. So similarly, this individual soul is traveling from many, many ages throughout the endless universe. On the waves of time, fluttering, experiencing happiness, unhappiness, darkness, light, pain, and pleasure. Finally, the soul, the individual soul, enters the human body, or gets a human body, and the human body ought to be the last birth out of 8.4 million different kinds of creatures. The creator has created on this planet 8.4 million different kinds of creatures. It is divided into three categories: Jalchar, Thalchar, and Navachar. The creatures which are in the water, on the earth, and in the air. Out of all this, one is the human. One is the human. Humans and other creatures are different in that humans have a powerful tool, and that is intellect. This intellect has a decision to make, to give the result, and to see with the inner eye what is wrong and what is... This human intellect drives the soul, the attention of the soul, towards the heart. The heart is the temple of God. It is what we call the confession that is in the heart. That love which cannot be compared with any other love. That love has no challenges, no conditions, like a mother or father and a child. They do not put the conditions. In such and such a case, we can love our child; otherwise, not. This question will not be known by a mother. It does not matter how the child is. Between her and her child, the love, and that is love, is above everything. Because there is no expectation, and so is the father. Between their love for the children, nothing can come between. Nothing can come between. It doesn’t matter how it is, and so that seed of love in the heart speaks in different cultures or religions. God is love and loving. So that kind of love is God, and that is within us. So first we have to learn to love ourselves, which means to support ourselves, to come out of this 8.4 million life cycle. Now, we are standing only one step, one step far from the door of liberation as a human. We make one step, and we are in liberation, and we are in that everlasting divine consciousness. Or, we make one step back, only one step, and we are far again. That means again lost in doubt, again lost. All the situations which we had, we don’t know. Even we don’t know what our situation was last year. On this date, the 7th, how should we know what was 7 lives before, 8 lives before? There is one story, and the story is about one king. He had to go to the battlefield, and there was a war between two kings, and the king... He lost. One of the kings lost his soldiers; many were dead. And he, the king, ran away, or he went away somewhere into the bush and spent... Pending the time, in the bush, at night, he used to sit on the trees because of the wildlife. During the daytime, hiding behind the trees, it is very hard to find food. After ten days, he saw a farmer’s house. So he’s going to the farmer’s house to ask for some food because he’s so hungry. Ten days, he didn’t eat anything. This is a dream. In the battlefield, fighting, he sees wounded soldiers, blood flowing. And he sees enemies have surrounded him, and so somehow he managed to escape. Painful situation. And this dream he had for his rest, where he went after lunch to have a rest for one hour, and that was a dream about 15 minutes. In 15 minutes, there was a war, a battlefield, everything. And suffering for ten days somewhere in the forest, he came to the farmers. He asked, "I am hungry, please, can you give me something to eat?" They did not know that he was a king, but of course they gave him bread, butter, cheese, and something like that. He asked them, "You know, for the last ten days I didn’t wash myself. Is there somewhere with water where I can wash, and then I will eat?" They said, "Yes, it is beautiful here, near the lake and waterfall. You can wash yourself. It is about 300 meters away." So he’s carrying his hands in some leaves or some basket; that time there was no plastic bags, okay? So he’s carrying, and then what is happening? Destiny, what is it showing us through the dreams? A big dog came, and the dog was also hungry, and the dog attacked the king to take away the food. The king was so weak, he couldn’t fight against the dog, and he fell down. The king is falling down on the ground. While falling down, he woke up in a beautiful sleeping room, a peaceful situation, no dog, no battlefield, he was not hungry. Now the question came to him: what is the truth? What is the truth? Is the truth what I saw? So many days I was suffering, one week I was fighting in the battlefield, ten days I was hiding myself there. Is that really the truth of my life, or is this the truth of my life? So he begins to ask the questions, and then he met one master. His name was Aṣṭāvakra. He had eight defects in the body; he was like a paralyzed person. His back was round, and his hand was short, and eight—Aṣṭāvakra. But he said, "The river has the... Curves, not the water. It doesn’t matter how your body is; the knowledge, that is important." Then he told the king, "King, are you sure that you have seen meditation, or was it a dream?" He said, "Yes, very clear. I can write, or even I can paint." "Really?" "Yes, yes." And were you aware in the dream that you had a kingdom and were a king, that you were king and this and that? Of course. That was my problem. I was suffering. I have to fight my kingdom, my family, my people, and so on. She also said, "Yes, very clear. Who has seen that dream? Me." And who was in the dream? Me. Part 2: The Path to Truth Through Love and Practice The truth is neither your kingdom, your people, and all this, nor is the truth a dream. The truth is that which is present all the time. Whatever happens to you, wherever you go, at all times you are thyself. That is the truth, and that truth is called brahma-satya jagat-mithyā. All is the one truth, that is God, and this world is changeable; it is not permanent. So, through meditation, our aim is to come to that truth. But first, we need to love ourselves, or we have to make a very clear point about what we do. Then automatically you will come into meditation. Otherwise, you may sit and close your eyes, and then your knees start hurting, and then you are sleeping, or you think, "I have no time, no interest." But when something is very important, then you will not move at all. Yes, I have to sit here because of this, so this is the inspiration for us. So God is that love which is unconditional love. And that unconditional love means love to God, love to thyself, and love for all creation. Other kinds of love, between your friends or your colleagues, your dogs and so on, that is your individual love. That is your attachment. And where there is attachment, there is disappointment. And where there is love, there is no disappointment, because where there is love, there is no expectation. Just only the love, that’s all. But we have to find the time for it. People used to say, "I have no time." Well, you have no time. That’s not true. Look, 24 hours, the one cycle of the day, from sunrise to sunset and again sunrise, is 24 hours. Take eight hours for your sleeping. Who is the happiest one now in this modern civilization? Have time to sleep eight hours. So, you have still the time, eight hours, for your bedroom, for your bathroom, for your sleeping, and for your family members, eight hours, which is not little, very much. When you fly from here, from Brisbane to Singapore, it is eight hours or nine hours. You say, "Ah, so long! I can’t sit so long. I have to buy the ticket, a business class ticket or first class ticket, or something like that." How many times do you look at the watch? It’s eight hours. Sense of this. Okay. Now, still you have sixteen hours of work. Eight hours is for your work. If everyone would work a full eight hours, the global financial crisis, the economic crisis that is here, would no longer exist. An employee will never work timelessly. Which employee will look, okay, now it’s eight o’clock, I have to close my office. Five minutes before you come, or I close my shop. But if you are an owner, you will not go far. You will wait very well; maybe in five minutes, some customer will come. This is different. But eight hours for your work, okay. Now you still have eight hours. What are you doing with these eight hours? Going shopping, cooking, eating, spending time with friends. Count these four hours. Very, very good, very rich. You have three hours, more than three. What are you doing with this? How much time we waste with the telephone, or looking here and reading some newspaper, and then looking at the television, and then we don’t know what to do. So, we have enough time, but we do not have devotion or love for ourselves. We see only the present situation; we have forgotten the past. And because we don’t know our future, we don’t care how we will be. It is only that we have a few points in our life about which we are concerned: about our family, our existence, our money, and the fear of death. Death is sure. One of the truths of life is death. Sure, one day we will die, and who will be the first, you cannot say. It does not depend on age. It does not depend only on illness. There are many people lying in a coma for many, many years. Still, the soul is inside. And for death, it doesn’t matter how you die, but the main thing is that you die. Death is very cruel. Maybe we are not afraid of death, but we are afraid of the process, the pain through which we have to go. How will we die? In fire, through an accident, under the water, or by some fish, what you call your Australian, very good sharks. They manage to free you very quickly, but still, we don’t. Pain, we are afraid of the pain. How will it be? Though the body is not an everlasting or immortal form, when we have this love, whatever happened in my past lives, but this life, no matter how hard it is or whether I have time or not, I will meditate, or I will do my practices for an hour. So yoga is a very ancient, very, very ancient practice, and I would say it is one of the first techniques and theories in the world, or in human societies, that is called yoga. It is how to pray, how to meditate, and how to lead life, what we call, and for that. So this is the one part of the theory, a little today. Now we come to the practice. And the practice of meditation first needs physical exercise. It means you can sit comfortably. Now you can meditate sitting on the sofa, you can meditate sitting on the chair, you can meditate sitting on the beach, you can meditate sitting on the floor. The main thing is you have to sit comfortably without disturbance, so that you are not disturbed. There was one yogī sitting on the beach for about two hours, meditating. Nearby, there was a farmer who also came there, and he was walking here and there, eating, and then coming back and going. But he saw that one man is constantly sitting alone there, the farmer, a good-hearted person. My God, this person must be very unhappy, must be very lonely. Hours and hours he’s sitting there, not moving. It must be something. I should go and help him, to speak with him. So the farmer comes to the man who was sitting there. No answer, no answer. After a few minutes, the farmer said, "Excuse me, sir." "Yes, please." How are you? He said, "Very good." How are you? Actually, I came to you to ask you something. Yes, please. Sorry, but I have to be direct. He said, "Yes, please." I think you are very unhappy and lonely. Yes, you are right. I was one with myself for the last two and a half hours. But now I am lonely, and things will disturb me. Now, I am not anymore one with myself. And so these disturbances make our life miserable. So have some time, minutes, where you can feel the inner peace, inner love that is God. Then this love which you have in your heart, what we call God is love and love is God, that will reflect and show you your destination, and that destination is the final truth. Then you will have the love to reach that, the love to achieve that. And so we have to sit, and through posture we will not find self-realization. Through posture we will not find God. Postures are only there because we have to concentrate and remain without distress. Suppose there is one glass, and in the glass there is half a glass of water. The glass is lying on the table, and the table is motionless. It means the glass is also motionless. When the glass is motionless, the liquid or the water is also motionless. When water is also motionless, then it is a very clear vision through the water of what is on the bottom of the glass. So the world situation is the table. See our surroundings; all our situations should be calm, peaceful, not disarming. Number two, then your body doesn’t disturb you, because the body has certain pain. And if the body has pain, then train with nice exercises. You have yoga in daily life. Exercises are very carefully designed, from nursery school until university. It means there is safety in slow movements. For example, you know that because you are practicing yoga in daily life, when you first come to the class, your teacher will tell you, "Please stand up," and you do one exercise. This is in the first part of yoga in daily life; you move your shoulder like this, up. Then, next one up, repeat again, repeat again, and then both up and down. And then, like this, you come home and your wife or your husband asks, "How was your yoga class?" Ah, boring. Why? Oh, it was just like this. I thought I would be headstanding, stretching, holding the neck, and sitting in the lotus. If your teacher had given you this exercise, you would not come home, but you would already be in the hospital, the orthopedic hospital. Therefore, we should not overstrain our body. Let’s say someone had an accident and broke their shoulder, and now the therapist comes after the operation. The therapist asks you, "Please move your shoulder a little," and says, "Oh, please slowly, please move up." Can I redo this tomorrow? I think it’s too hard for me. So, we know how many muscles, joints, nerves, and ligaments are involved in this very simple movement. And so, all these movements train our body to feel comfortable, so that you feel very pleasant under your skin. You feel very pleasant with your body. Then you become the friend of your body. Then you sit and meditate. Today, we will now have meditation, okay? So, before we do meditation, you can stand up a little and stretch yourself. Walk on the toes, interlock the fingers, yes, interlock the fingers, stretch your body, stand on the toes, yes, and walk around on your blanket. Interlock the fingers, yes, and now walk on the heels, toes up, very good. Very good. Legs apart. Remain wherever you are. Interlock the fingers. Stretch your hands up. Palms facing upward, and bend as a little strong wind. See how the trees are moving. One. Other side. Two. As far as you can go. Try to keep your legs more apart. Go ahead. While exhaling, bend down. Sidewards. Inhaling, up. Very good. Okay. Remain with legs apart, hands down. Now, interlock your fingers and let your hands hang down. Slowly bend your knees and sit on the chair. Don’t go too down, not so much. Your chair is not so low, lower. Like a dining table chair. One, two, one, very good. Next together, hands sidewards, body. Now, slowly inhale and raise your hands up above. Lean back a little and look at the ceiling. And slowly exhale and inhale. Inhale, look up, a little bit. Siddha Purījī, Siddha Purījī,... Slowly bend your right knee, go down, bend your right knee until your left knee comes to the ground, if you can, and try to come up slowly. Turn in the middle, and now turn to the left side, bend your left knee. Feel your breath, feel your body. Slowly move your fingers. Close the fist, open the palm. Close the fist, open the palm. Close the fist, close the fist... close the fist.