TV Channel

Om Śānti, Śānti. Meditation to the Cosmic Light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In his divine presence, good evening, dear sisters and brothers. The blessing is coming to you from a beautiful place called the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. I wish you a very nice weekend. I greet you all, my dear brothers and sisters around the world. The subject this evening is how to lead a life without stress. Yes, one who speaks about stress is also in stress. It is easy to speak when you know the taste of fresh milk, and then the taste of the milk which goes to the dairy, and then it comes to the bottles or the plastic bags and remains a few days lying somewhere, and then comes to your kitchen, and then you drink that milk. It is a day and night difference. So it is good to speak from one's own experiences. How do we manage a peaceful life in this stressful world? It is very easy, but it seems very difficult. This morning there was a talk on meditation theory and practice, on creative meditation: Śiva active meditation during work or walk, and so on, and passive meditation to sit down, close the eyes, and meditate. I spoke this morning about obstacles, and we spoke about Patañjali. Patañjali, the father of psychology, has researched truly the human emotion, intellect, consciousness, the human body, and the entire phenomenon of the human from the beginning of the existence of all this in the endless universe, which is fluttering on the waves of time. Throughout the universe, experiencing sometimes happiness, sometimes unhappiness, pain and pleasure, light and darkness, that individual self which is within us is a witness of everything. As soon as all this is manifesting in some form and comes in touch with these five elements and this living planet Earth, we forget our past experiences. We came here to find peace and to continue our spiritual, positive, harmonious work for our further journey, which should lead us into infinity, into that oneness of the cosmic consciousness or the cosmic self. That is what Patañjali very nicely explained in the Patañjali Yoga Sūtra, where I told that we are our own obstacles. Any kind of progress we would like to have, we always say, "Oh God, there are so many problems, there are so many things." Only thinking like that is also one obstacle. Therefore, yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. Through the practicing of yoga, you can purify your citta vṛtti, meaning the unnecessary thoughts. Otherwise, we create an obstacle for ourselves. We are a heavy rock on our own path, which will not let us go further. How do we create, with our own thinking, some problems? That becomes a big stress. There is one story, and on this entire story, one little book is written very nicely. I will try to tell this whole book in a small form. These problems have many, especially now in this modern way of life. So there is a dentist. Do you know the dentist? Do you have a dentist on the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast? Is there a dentist here? Okay, otherwise I have to turn a little different. The dear dentist was about 45 years old. He had a problem: he could not find a partner. Many persons came to him, but the relation broke in ten days, in one month, in six months, and so on. You know all, that is also your story. I need not go further. Someone told him that he should go to a psychologist, and that psychologist will find out why. Why can't you manage this, or why does the person come to you and go away? He said, "Yes, that's a good idea." So now he is going to the psychologist. Psychologists ask many, many questions: this way, that way, this, that. Then the psychologist said, "Dear doctor, I think there is a little bit of pride in you, or ego, that disturbs you and others." He said, "What do you mean?" The psychologist said, "No, no... not like that. But always you think you are right." He said, "Yes, I am saying it because I am always right." The psychologist said, "Yes, sir, you are always right. But you know, a person who comes also has some kind of rights. Do you want a wife or not? Okay, okay... okay." One day he found a beautiful person, very kind, very humble, and somehow they became friends. So one day he invited her for dinner somewhere in a restaurant, and they were talking. The psychologist had said to the doctor, "Whatever the person will tell you, you should say, 'Yes, wonderful, yes, I like that.'" So they were sitting, the menu card came, and he asked her first, "What would you like?" She said, "Oh, I love to eat this special cheese, the salad which is made in Greece. Very nice. Greek, in case." Greek is a case: the feta and olive. He said, "Oh, that's my favorite one," though he does not like all that feta, okay? And then they ordered some food, and she said, "Yes, I like that. What would you like to change? The candle has too much smoke, please." After, he asked her, "Which kind of music do you like?" and she said, "I like the Mozart, that and that symphony, or what you call." He said, "That is my dearest favorite music," and he does not like it. He said, "Even at my home, I have this from Mozart, the disc," but he knows he does not have it. Then they were talking, "What is your hobby? Interest?" and so she said, "I like paintings, and I like very much pictures from famous painters." He said, "Which one is your favorite?" And she said, "Yeah, there's one painter from Austria, very famous, called Hundred Waters, Hundert Wasser." He said, "Wow, that is something extraordinary. I have in my sleeping room that picture from him." She said, "Wow, original." He said, "Yes." Okay. After they said goodbye, he asked, "You can come to my dinner, I mean my home, tomorrow, and we will motor speak." And so she said, "Okay, I'm coming." Now, this doctor was in stress. He had no music of Mozart, and he did not even have a disc player or gramophone. So, he organized everything. He telephoned many, many shops and got some music from Mozart, and then a gramophone and the picture. So, there was no picture. Luckily, in one museum, there was one photo, and he said, "It doesn't matter how much money you want, just for 24 hours, please, can you borrow me this photo, this picture? With great security, I will give you back." So they said, okay. The director of the museum was his friend. He brought it home. She ought to come at seven o'clock in the evening. He was already there at five o'clock at home, and he put all the equipment and everything. And now it is already six o'clock. He opened the picture and wanted to have it in the sleeping room. There was some other photo. He took it away and wanted to hang it there. He had a nail and everything, but no hammer. There was no hammer. He said, "No hammer." He searched everywhere. No hammer. Then he said, "Now the stress begins. I can borrow from my neighbor." Why not? And now he is thinking, "My God, my neighbor is some hand worker, and I am a dentist. I go begging, 'Can you give me the hammer for a while?' No, I am a doctor." See? No, I will not go. Because when I have to ask someone, then I have to show myself surrendering. I will not. Sweating. It is already 6:20. Okay, doesn't matter. I go and ask him if he can lend me the hammer. He comes to the door. He is at the door to open. I say, "No, no, I can't go for begging." The market is closed because in Europe, the market closes at 6 o'clock. Finished, no shops are open. Now some shops begin to be open, otherwise, 6 is fixed. Sunday is finished, no shops open. Saturday at noon, finished. I don't want his hammer, he said. He went again into his room, and now the stress is growing. Now only 20 minutes remain until she will come, perhaps 7 o'clock, he said. Now he is sitting there nervous. If my picture is not hanging here, she will think I was lying. My friend, she will break again. I don't want this lady to go away disappointed. No, I don't want his hammer. Now he is thinking of the hammer, and he was sitting on the chair holding it, and he stood up. But how should my neighbor know that I don't need his hammer? The poor neighbor doesn't know anything. He is angry. I must go and tell him, "I don't need your hammer." So he went, very angry, and he knocked on the door, and the neighbor said, "Yes, sir, please, I don't need your hammer. You can hit it on your head." Never say, "We, Peter, what, please, you know, I don't need your hammer," and went away. This is the way how sometimes we create inner aggressivity. We create within us the stress unnecessarily. So the bell was ringing. She came, and he put on his music very loud, Mozart. And for that picture, he said, "Yes, yes, you sit down. You see, I will show you just a picture." He did not dare to take her into the sleeping room to show. He said, "Look, this picture is here. I will take it off, and I will put it back." She said, "I want to see how it looks on the wall when it is this way." He said, "No, no, the room is still not so tidy, so it's okay, please." She went away after having some lunch and dinner. He was so nervous, he could not sleep. So he went at one o'clock in the night into the street where the residentials are, because he was also in the residential area. And he begins to shout, just shouting, laughing, shouting. So, some person telephoned the police and said, "Please, there is some crazy man making so much noise, we can't sleep." So police came and said, "Good morning, sir." He said, "Yes, good morning." The policeman said there are some complaints that you are making some noise, so please, can you be silent? He said, "What do you mean?" The people said they were shouting. He said, "Yes, why? Because there are so many wild elephants here." Policeman said, "Aha, but I don't see any elephant here." That's why I was shouting; they went away. That's why I don't see. So the policeman said, "Okay, they went away, so you can go to sleep. Or, come with us, we will have a little coffee." He said, "That's a good idea, anyway." So, from an ant, we create an elephant. From little things, this is our inner problem, and this problem we create a stress. We have work, we have many other obligations. The world is getting quicker and quicker and quicker, speedy and speedy, and everything is getting smaller and smaller. The distance has become nearer and closer. Therefore, the best technique for anti-stress is called Yoga Nidrā. If you practice Yoga Nidrā and after that you sit up, your thoughts will become very calm, clear thinking, or the meditation. And so, in meditation, when you imagine too many pictures, then you create stress again. So the best meditation is to not imagine too many pictures. All yogīs or monks who are living in the monasteries, in the ashrams, or in the caves, or somewhere in a remote area, they meditate. And if you ask me what they are doing, they are doing nothing. Only the name of God, mantra, or their prayer; we have mantra. Or many Christian daily prayers, they say Jesus' mercy or Holy Mother Maria's mercy; we say Aum or the Guru mantra. That time, all the waves which you have in your Siddhakas, they will come down. If this is not, then when you come home, you have your dog. You know how happy your dog is when you come home? He or she will jump to hug you and kiss you here and here and here. You will say, "That's enough, enough, stop." Or your cat comes and touches your calf and goes like this, with the tail here and there. It is like anti-stress. In your garden, your birds, your flowers, you come, open the windows, go and give water to the plants, the room plants or garden plants. Or you sit down, take a deep inhale, and say, "Thank you, God, for your divine protection. Whatever happened, happened. But Lord, I always feel your divine shelter over me." Whether you believe in God or not, then say, "Thank you, my good luck. I'm happy now. I'm relaxed, and I did my duty. I did my job. Whatever happened is gone. Past is past. It will never come again." When you go to swim in the river, on the beach, in the ocean, you can bathe only once in that water. You cannot bathe again, because when you dip in and you come out, for the second time when you want to dive, that water is gone. Now there is new water. Life is flowing like a river, constantly. So what is water is gone? It is already far. You are standing there, a new coming. So what is past is past. Who is crying for the past? Who is fighting for the past? This is the past. Look how your future will be. Your future will be as your presence now. You do positive things now, and your future will become positive. If you do negative things now, your future will be negative. We are the creator of our own destiny. Do not blame God for anything. God has done nothing. It is our self. We did, and it is our self that we face these beautiful or unpleasant things in life that will go with us. Those destinies, but things will not come back. It is gone. It is difficult to understand for us, attachment, a very big attachment. One young lady, and her husband died. She was very sad, very sad. And her husband was buried in one cemetery or graveyard, but she could not realize that he is dead. No, he is not dead. She is sitting there day and night, crying and saying, "My darling, come back. How long will you sleep? Come back." And people tell, "He is not here. He died." And they say, "How do you know that he died?" He did not die. I know him better than you. He liked to sleep very long. He is sleeping already two, three months. They call some psychologists. They call many persons, but she is there, sitting and crying, and so waiting till he will come back in that village one. A wise man came, and people spoke with that person. What happened? He said, "Well, it is difficult to explain to someone who has attachment or love or fixed ideas, but I will try to show her or make clear that, yes, her husband died, he can't come back." He took one ceramic flower vase with him, so big. And he went also to the graveyard, and she was sitting there. And this man said, "Oh, my dear, oh, my darling, oh, my flower vase. Oh, you are so beautiful," and so going and walking and coming. And she was looking, "This crazy man." And then he was walking about 30 meters away. He let fall down the flower vase, and the flower vase was broken. Now he is sitting there, "Oh, my flower vase! Oh, my flower, come back! You are not broken, come back." Screaming, crying. She looked and she looked and she said, "Crazy man, this is broken, look." No, it is not broken. We'll come back. He said, "No," she said, "It's broken, cannot come back anymore." He said, "Yes, my dear, sorry to say, but your husband also died and can't die." She said, "Yes, and he's gone somewhere." Prayer for him is like that. She said yes. Then she came home. Of course, she was sad, but she accepted. So sometimes to accept something which was in the past is very hard. Because we would like the same thing still with us or to have here. And that's life. So stress we can create through ourselves. We can create stress through some other persons, through the weather, and many, many different things. Psychic problems, many psychic problems, which we have to understand why they are happening. There was one couple. They were very good together. They love each other. Very harmonious, but they had one problem: they could not go together to some festival, they could not go to some party, they could not go to the restaurant together. Whenever they went out of the home, within 10-15 minutes, 20 minutes, they begin to quarrel, and one of them took the taxi to come home because they were so fighting, and when they came at home after one hour, everything was okay. They were very happy, very happy. Whenever they go out, they were sad, they were fighting. So that man went again to the psychologist, and they asked him many, many questions but could not find a psychic problem. His wife also went to some psychologists and could not find a problem. They went together to consult with some good psychologists, and he asked them many questions. And it took him about one month to complete the question list asked him from his childhood, and he said, "Oh yes, I remember one thing, because my mother, she went to the bathroom, and in the bathroom there was a towel which was an old towel." Using it for floor cleaning, I was playing outside, and the door was not locked inside. So suddenly, with the wind, the door opened, and my mother took this towel suddenly and put it on her body. I was thinking, "This towel must be special for... Here, after washing and cleaning, why did she put this dirty towel on her body? That must be beautiful. That must be something good." Now the psychologist gave the judgment. When do you have a problem with your wife? Whenever we go outside. That's very clear. Because when you go outside, then she dresses with different makeup and so on. But you don't like that. When she comes home and again takes the normal dress at home, the house dress, then it's okay. He said, "Yes." So this was the problem from childhood. It went into your subconscious, and that disturbs you again and again. But you were not aware of this problem. So, go home and give your wife a beautiful dress, and she should wear it at home also. She wore a good dress; she had no problem. Next day, they went for dinner outside, no problem. The problem was forever solved. So, certain fixed ideas which we have in our subconsciousness disrupt us. And that we have to clean out. So anti-stress meditation is the best. You sit down and relax and ask yourself, "What am I thinking? Why do I think again and again about this point or problem? Where are the roots of my thinking? The cause. Come to the cause." Okay. Your neighbor's car alarm was disturbing you all the time. But now today you are sitting on the Sunshine Coast in a beautiful, peaceful place. Why are you still angry with your neighbor? It was there. So, it is not necessary to think about that alarm now, in peaceful times. This is an example. Why am I thinking? What is the cause, and what should I think? So, what am I thinking, why am I thinking, and what should I think? Asking these three questions, suddenly you will become tired from this, and you will give up, and you will relax inwardly. So, avoid all thoughts slowly, slowly. The day has passed. I have been working physically and mentally hard. But now it is time to be with myself and relax. Relax, my friend, relax. Just for the time being, relax. You will suddenly feel some different energy in your body, which is supporting your entire body to relax. And more energy in the body, more strength, more willpower, and Ātambal, the willpower, you will get up as a different person. And that's why meditation is created. Now, physical exercises, that is also very, very good as an anti-stress exercise. Some people go for a walk, some go for swimming, some play football or tennis, some go for jogging, and so on, or cycling. And the same goes for practicing yoga, performing yoga postures. These are three kinds of exercises: dynamical movements. These are for warming the body. They will warm up your body. Then comes the stretching, which will create flexibility in the body. But do not do stretching immediately without having body warming exercises, like a khatuparanam. That is especially very, very useful. Or different, there are many exercises. After the stretching, then you perform the postures. Means you remain in that posture for some time. One minute, two minutes, half a minute, three minutes. You feel the circulation of the energy like a flood of energy coming. That time when you feel and you perform the next posture, then I call this cosmic dance. You feel yourself in the air, above the ground, because tiredness is heaviness. And energy and happiness are not heavy. It is uplifting your soul, your feelings. How are those feelings? You cannot imagine. Ask the elephant. An elephant can give you the answer. You know, the elephant's body is very heavy. And when the elephant breaks his leg, his life is finished. He can't get up. Such a heavy body. So the elephant is so heavy. He is always looking at the birds, and sometimes he envies the birds. He is looking at the deer, how they are jumping and running. He sees the rabbits, the wild cats, how they are flexible. And humans also. One day, that elephant came to a very beautiful, very big, and deep lake, and he went in the lake. His body was lifted. He went deeper and deeper. Oh, oh, I am so light. My legs, he can move without anything. His joy, first time experiencing the body's light. Now he is washing himself. He takes the water, fills up his trunk, and then he pushes it on his head, taking a shower. So in your bathroom, your shower technology is coming from the elephant. How nicely. Similarly, when you meditate on this self-inquiry meditation of yoga and death, step by step, practicing this system from the very, very beginning—gentle exercises till the postures—you will feel light and without stress. Now the elephant is so happy, very happy. He was washing himself, swimming for two hours. He came on the beach, and he stood there, and again sat in the water. And again, he was washing, and he was putting his trunk around his body and looking up. Oh, wonderful. Now the elephant came out of the lake, and he began to walk towards the forest nicely with his heavy body. And he took with his trunk the dust, and he threw it on his body. The person who was looking at this elephant must be crazy. First, he was cleaning, washing, enjoying the bath. And now he came out and put the dust again on his head. The person asked his friend, "Why are you doing this?" It's clear because of the mosquitoes, flies. He said, "No, no, no. The elephant's skin is so thick, it doesn't feel the sting of the mosquitoes and flies. What is that? Then he doesn't like a clean body, perhaps." The third one said, "Don't make your own arguments, and don't give the judgment. Go and ask the elephant, why are you putting dust on your body after having such a bath?" So they went near and said, "My dear brother elephant, we don't dare to come near to you, but we have a question." The elephant stopped and did like this, "Yes, what do you want? Why do you put dust on your body after bathing?" He said, "You don't know?" They said, "We don't know, that's why we are asking." My dear human brother, I put dust on my head. I believe maybe in some past time some holy man walked here on this earth, and the holy dust of his feet, when it comes on my head, I will also be liberated. I am searching for that one, my human brothers, which you are also searching for. And therefore it is said, even the animals, birds, and other creatures have the same feeling and love towards God in their way. It must not be like we are doing. They have their own way to believe. And so, in the same way, we feel the blessing of God when we meditate. Each breath for us is a great blessing. Can you imagine without inhalation? After a few minutes, our first is our brain will die. No oxygen. We know what this oxygen, prāṇa, means for our body. Similarly, the stretching and doing slowly and then coming into one posture is immensely purifying for the body and circulates the energy, which will create tranquility in our thoughts. There is one little example which we can do now to experience. We did it many times, but now we can do it again. Take your left hand like this. Show your left hand and look at your left hand. Yes, it's a beautiful hand. Nice and clean. You have very good lines in your hand. Oh, good future. It was a little tension in your past life. Good, Bob. Now, put your thumb in and close your fist tightly. Keep it. And now, with your right hand, hold your wrist tight. Hold it. Keep it, and slowly open your left palm. Look to your palm. We have done nothing. We blocked the circulation of the blood. You see, the palm is a pale. Yes. And now look at your palm from the tip of the fingers till the end of the hand, the whole palm. And now, slowly release your right hand. How do you feel in the palm? Look to your palm. What is now? Compare both hands. Different feelings? Now, take your right hand and just do like this. You don't feel that much because that was too quick, so we do it for the right hand also, otherwise they will fight in the night. Close the fist and do it more consciously. Close your fist and now, hold the wrist tight and slowly open your palm. Now, release the wrist. Now, both hands are full of energy and very light. This is the effect of those postures, yoga postures. When you do it slowly and remain in that posture for a while, in some part of the body, in some muscles, you block the circulation to block the energy. And then you release slowly, and it is like a flood. Fresh blood is coming like a flood. And with that, new energy is generated, circulating the energy in the whole body. So, if after doing a few minutes of your postures, you lie down and relax. You feel your whole body from your toes to the top of your head. Just let it fall down. Suddenly, you will feel relaxed and recover from the whole day's stress. So, meditation for anti-stress, as well as exercises and breath techniques, is a complete program. One and a half hours, or a minimum of one hour. You are like what we call the newborn. All your energy centers and gland systems, and everything, will be regenerated with the new energy. And that's also what we call the protection against certain illnesses, too. Prevention. So prevention is much better, far better than the treatment. We know our body is not immortal. Our body is mortal. One day it will also go, but as long as we are in this world, God bless us with good health. God bless us with good energy, and God bless us with that peace which we have in our heart. May we realize in our intellect, and may we lead a peaceful life, and may we give peace to others also. Let me be just as a peace that I bring this peace into the whole world. When you bring the fire, it feels warm to everyone, and when you bring the ice, everyone feels cool. Similarly, when you come with positive thinking, good thinking, in this hall, immediately there are waves, very gentle, subtle waves of energy that touch everyone. Even if they are not aware of this, their inner self knows, "Oh, I am somewhere in beautiful, pure energy." So, go there always where you feel pure energy. Go there where you are welcomed. And go there where your inner self feels relaxed and happy. That's all for today. If you have any questions, you are most welcome to ask. Are you? No, the website is not finished. We are still, because maybe some questions will be answered also on this subject, this stress. Well, can you suggest breathing that is good for her? Yes, breathing, relaxing, prayer, meditation. We know it's easier for us to say something, but for the person who has this illness, it is not easy. But still, we have to learn to live with it, to accept. When we accept this illness as karmic, it will become a little easier to go through. Yes, Ashok Anand, yes, always we think that we are right, but other things also we are right. So sometimes we should go a little left to find the exact right direction. So right is right, and left is left. But if you are right, you said, "I am right," and you insult someone, then it's not good. We said, "Yes, thank you, you are right according to your opinion and this. But I can tell that, in my view, what I say or what I did is right." So gentleness, yes, but that's why we have in language, yes, but how and why. Okay, so the sun is the sun, bright. The sun is bright, but sometimes for some seconds or some minutes, the sun also doesn't look bright and bright, because it's what you call the sun, a sun eclipse, yeah, that's it. So sometimes there is some kind of shadow over that, and where that shadow goes, that's the tale.