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Hari Om, dear friends. Hari Om, dear brothers and sisters. For those watching on Swāmījī TV, we are here in Střílky. We are here, a little confused by the weather. I have the feeling it is like Guru Pūrṇimā, yet it is not even May. The weather is truly beautiful, and you will see many of our friends here in Střílky trying to find the shade. Those who were in the sun yesterday look like sannyāsīs—not in dress, but their faces are completely orange. We have a very nice program here, a Mantra Anuṣṭhāna program. What could be better than being at a Mantra Anuṣṭhāna with Swāmījī? What more should we try to get in life? Today, Swāmījī gave me the duty to speak about mantra. This is something that is both very hard and very easy. Those who have a mantra, if you ask them what it is or to say something about it, they will say it is easy. But if you want to truly organize your thoughts and explain mantra, it is very hard, because mantra is almost everything. If we start only with the theory of what a mantra is, it remains dry knowledge. But if you ask a true bhakta, for them, mantra is prāṇa. It is life itself. Yesterday, I tried to organize what I would say about mantra. I often say that, in one way, I am very happy to live in the Kali Yuga. Because in Kali Yuga, we have the opportunity to access a lot of information from all fields of knowledge. First, it is good to know from Western knowledge, not just about mantra but about the brain: everything we experience in life, we give an emotional color through one part of our brain—the limbic system. When the limbic system is overactive, like an engine running too hot for too long, we will see almost every situation in life as a half-empty glass. When you go to bed to sleep, you will have a problem; you will get sleepiness. Why? Because thoughts are constantly flowing through our mind. In the West, doctors say the best thing for such a state of mind is to try to be aware of your breathing process. Be aware of abdominal breathing. Something repeats, yet something is constantly the same. In our culture, if you have a problem with sleep, you might try to count sheep. But in yoga, it is said: you become what you think about. If you constantly count sheep—one sheep, second sheep, third sheep—you have three opportunities. If you keep counting, you have three opportunities to become a dog, a sheep, ovčácký (sheep-like). However, in Vedānta philosophy, there is a story: "Oh lion, open your eyes and realize that you are not a sheep, that you are a lion." This is very important for us in yoga. We must take that knowledge from Western culture and science, and through the knowledge of yoga, realize that we have consciousness of breathing, abdominal breath, and we have our mantra. By constantly thinking and repeating the mantra, we will reach that point which is within the mantra. Our Guru Mantra has, how to say, two parts. The first part is what we want to achieve, and the second part is our prayer to God, to Mahāprabhujī. If you have a prayer and greeting from another school, from that tradition, it is so that we may achieve what is stated in the first part. How to have a feeling about mantra? It is like having a balloon filled with helium gas, always floating. Like a mantra, who knows where that balloon will go. But we have a thread and we have a stone. When you repeat your mantra with a mālā, the mālā is that thread and the mantra is like that stone. What keeps our consciousness in one place? You have this experience during meditation: a thought comes, but you remain mostly here, not somewhere else in the universe. Thoughts come and change, but you keep coming back here, not anywhere else, not anywhere away. Most of you know a story Swāmījī told about a farmer. That farmer went into the forest to chop wood. In the woods, he met a ghost. The ghost said, "Fight with me." The farmer said, "No, please. I am just passing through to get wood. I practice ahiṃsā, no." The ghost said, "No, you must fight with me. If I win, I will eat you. If you win, I will be your slave." The farmer said, "Okay, what to do?" He was strong and somehow won the fight. In that moment, the ghost said, "Okay, I am your slave. But you know, in every agreement, there is something in the small print." At the bottom of the agreement, it said: you must give me a job all the time. If you do not give me a job immediately, I will kill you. The farmer was happy. Imagine, you have a slave who must continuously work. The ghost was also happy because he was completely sure that in half an hour he would be free and with a full stomach. He was sure that in half an hour he would be free again and have a good time. And the theater started. The ghost began to say, "Give me a job, give me a job." The farmer said, "Cut the grass and put a fence around the ground." And for every job he imagined—make a roof, all jobs—the ghost had one duty: just do it, and the job was immediately finished. The farmer was happier than before. But after a few minutes, he realized he had no more jobs for the ghost. When you are in panic, when you have a really big problem in life, in that moment you realize, "Oh, I have my guru." Immediately, that farmer ran to the Gurujī. They said around the ashram, "Where is the guru? No such creature like a ghost can enter." This area was a little oasis for that farmer. He explained everything to his Gurujī and asked for help. Gurujī said, "It's no problem." The farmer said, "Yes, Gurujī, for you it's not a problem, for me it's a big problem. What to do?" Gurujī said, "No, just say to your ghost: 'Find the biggest tree and plant it in your garden.'" The farmer said to the ghost, "Do it immediately," and the tree was in the garden. What to do next? In a panic, he asked Gurujī what to do. Gurujī said, "Nothing. Just tell the ghost: 'You have finished the job. Your job now is climbing up the tree, and when you are up, come down. Just down, up and down, up and down.' When you have some job for him, call him and give him the job. After finishing his job, his job is climbing and going up and down." You know, that farmer is us. That ghost is our mind. All the time, storm... not storm, tree. "Tree" in Croatian is stablo, but strom is tree. It is our spinal column. And climbing up and down is concentration: inhalation, exhalation, so’haṁ mantra, or repeating our guru mantra. All of us know that if our mind doesn't have a job, all the time it will try to kill us with stupid, nonsensical thoughts. In Croatian, it is said that if you are late coming home, it is better that what you think happened does not happen, nor what your mother thinks happened, but it is better if what your wife thinks happened. Or take a man going to a friend's house to borrow a bicycle. On the way from his home to his friend's home, he has thoughts constantly. It is usual. In the beginning, he was completely sure his friend would lend him the bicycle. Slowly, slowly: maybe not, but he must, I lent him something else... All the time, quarreling in his head. What happened in the end? He became so angry that he knocked on his friend's door and said, "Go to hell, you and your bicycle." How many times in our life do we act like that man? A better question: how many times are we not acting like that man? We have medicine against such thoughts: our mantra. First, what we repeat, we will become. Second, we give a job to our restless mind. If we are constantly relaxed when in a queue at the bank, breathing normally with abdominal breath and repeating our mantra, we will become that state, and we will also influence people around us. Perhaps the atmosphere in the bank queue will be much better than thinking, "Oh, that lady is so lazy. They must open a second counter..." You know, such thoughts. If you look at it that way, mantra is everywhere, in everything. It is all our life. We start today with the mantra "Nāhaṁ kartā." If we are truly aware of that mantra, like a yogī teacher, we will not have a problem with our ego. Also, the yoga class will be much, much better. Because it is not Ahaṁ kartā ("I am the doer"), but Nāham ("Not I"); it is not me, it is Gurudev who works. Yesterday, Swāmījī—and I hope today and tomorrow he will also speak—talked about many stages of practicing mantra. Someone asked about this during coffee time this morning. When we get a mantra, it is the same as when we start to read. In the beginning, when we start to read, it is letter by letter: T, A, T, A. After that, TA, TA. Yes, and after that we read, but moving our lips. Then, because we are slow readers, someone might teach a child to put a pen in the mouth so the tongue does not move anymore, and they start to read without moving the tongue. In the end, some people have the talent, or gain it through practice, to read a book in 10 to 15 minutes. Similarly, in repeating a mantra, you have many stages. But it is not just one stage, and after a few months, a second stage. We all practice together. When we repeat mantra at home, when there is nobody, we can sing it like a bhajan. It paints a good picture if you have a dog or a small child. If you have a small child—it's not the same as a dog, but a very, very small child—it is hard to explain. They do not understand. If you start to explain something, a dog and a child will understand only blah, blah, nothing else. After this, it will be different. But in the beginning, it is, sorry, but almost the same. If they take something dangerous for them, or something petty that is being destroyed, and if you run around the table saying, "Give me, give me..." they will think you are playing with them. They will think, "Oh, something very precious, it's mine, it's mine." But what will you do? You will take something else that is not so important, like a key. "Look, look, it's mine." Immediately, they put away the dangerous thing and try to get what you have. How many times have you had the same thing happen in your mind? Somehow, not-so-nice thoughts come into your chidākāśa, into your mind, and all the time you try to press them down. But if you press them down, they will come up more, like a balloon under water you are pressing down. The more you press, the more the balloon will immediately go up. But what will you do? Just relax. Be aware of that thought and repeat your mantra. Be aware of the mantra, the meaning of your mantra, and just pray, "Please clean all garbage from my mind." Be aware that mantra is like fire, and that fire will burn everything. Sometimes you have dirt from a cow. If you keep poking it with a stick, it will smell. But if you put it in the sun, in a few hours there will be something very nice for burning, something very clean. If you have the same thoughts—"No, no, it's not good that I think about this"—and you press down, press down, but they come up, up... Just relax, repeat your mantra. Be aware that your mantra is that sun, and that sun will clean everything. Here on Anuṣṭhāna, it is also very hard not just to sit but to repeat mantra. Especially, I remember many years ago Swāmījī gave us the duty to, in four or five days, repeat a mantra so many times. Some of you know this. Some of us were in stress. We had to repeat so many times in such a short time. Instead of relaxing, it was like being in a dentist's chair. But what I experienced is: just relax. Our meditation with mantra is just to relax. When you have a small child, and when the small child is tired, immediately when he or she finds a lap—mother, father, grandfather, some uncle—immediately they relax and sleep. The same thing happens in meditation. We are here in Střílky, a truly beautiful ashram. When I say it is a beautiful ashram, that sentence is hard, that strong, yes. Why? Because in the beginning I said, "No, Střílky?" But now Střílky is really... it is so far, but really Střílky is beautiful. If you are watching on the webcast, really, if you have the opportunity, Střílky is a really nice ashram. When you come here, you have peace. You have a nice area of ashram, nice trees, everything, but it also gives peace. An ashram with trees and so on—everything brings peace. We have Swāmījī here also, and that is the lap of the mother. Our duty is just to sit, relax—not laya samādhi, but just relax—repeat our mantra, and everything will come. Once Swāmījī explained about meditation. For me, it was something that went very deep in my mind. Swāmījī said he was thinking for so long: why is it so different between meditation when Indians meditate and when Europeans or Western persons meditate? He was looking for a long time: why is it so different? In India, nobody has a problem. In Western countries, you start to meditate and immediately you have a problem. Why? Physically, it is the same. Almost all levels are the same. But what is the difference? The difference is that in India, they just relax, repeat the mantra, think about their beloved, and relax. Nothing else. And we here in Europe: I must have a technique. This technique, that technique. I repeat mantra, but I must see this, that. All the time, some job. Once I bought some CDs which I thought at that moment were music for meditation. But somebody was leading a meditation. Too late, I realized that. I put on a CD, and I hoped for some good music. Why not? But the best music for meditation is silence. At that time, I was thinking, "Good meditation is something good for meditation. Good music." After a few seconds, it started: "Good day. I am Dr. Dead and Dead. I will lead you into the world of meditation." Okay. But after that, it started: "Imagine this. Imagine that. Imagine this. Imagine that. Imagine that. Imagine that." Immediately after a few minutes, it was in the garbage. Yes, if you all the time try to imagine something, imagine something, look, imagine this, you are in stress. Just sit, relax, repeat your mantra. Why is it important to think of your beloved? Because when you think of your beloved, you will be completely relaxed. Your facial muscles will be relaxed, you will have madhurī mudrā, and everybody who looks at you will feel relaxed. But if instead of Madhurī Mudrā—I joke that it is the Joconda smile, Leonardo da Vinci's Joconda smile, this Mona Lisa, it is that mudrā—if you have this mudrā, you will immediately feel contraction here in the abdomen. When you think about not your beloved, but somebody you do not hate but do not like, you will have such a mudrā, and you will chew your teeth, and all your muscles will be tense. If somebody has such a mudrā, with chewing teeth, if he or she writes a book about kuṇḍalinī, they will say kuṇḍalinī is very dangerous. Not kuṇḍalinī, but your thoughts are very dangerous. When you want to go to sleep, if you sit in bed and say, "I must dream, I must dream," you will not even relax, you will not sleep. But what do you do? Relax. Deep inhale, exhale. Be aware of your abdomen and breath. You have your blankets, and you will sleep. After that, you will enter into the dream. The same thing is with meditation—not sleep, but just relax. You have concentration; be aware of your mantra, because the mantra is what is leading you. It is like you are driving at night on a road. What is most important in that moment? You have a light. If you have a light, you will see the way. Somehow you could say that light will lead you. In this world, in this māyā, mantra is that light. That light leads us. Mantra is that fire, that sun, which burns all seeds of our karma. It is good medicine against stress. We will become calm, relaxed. With bhakti, think about our Iṣṭa Devatā and relax. They said in one bhajan: "I will be with my Gurudev, and what happens will happen. If it comes, it comes. If it does not come, it does not come." Do not expect anything. Just relax. In one hand, this seminar, Mantra Anuṣṭhāna, is an excellent anti-stress therapy retreat. But more important than anti-stress therapy, such a program gives us strength for the rest of the year. Because during the year, when we are at home, we have a job, family, relatives. All the time, it is better said that you do not have it, but it has you. Everybody wants to take a part of you. You must come to me, you have your duty, your boss has expectations about you, and you do not have time. Now you have to go there, and you do not have time for that. In these moments, when we are here together, especially with our Gurudev, it is like a healing for your problem now. Not that you are trying to escape your problems, but in the moment you step out of this Vili no kolo circle—you know, the European tradition of the fairy circle, yes, fairy around it. It is a legend from Europe: if you go into this fairy round, you will lose yourself. You will maybe stay not all life, but many, many lives, and you will lose all your friends, everybody, because you will lose time. The same is in our life. If we step into this fairy wheel, we will be lost. We must step out, view all situations, and after that, we are able to act. Similarly, it is like you have managed to step aside from it for a few days, because as soon as you get involved in the dance, in the circle, it will overwhelm you. So it is necessary, and now you have it, that you can step aside, that you can step away from it. Such a nice weekend—Mantra Anuṣṭhāna or Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna, something like that, or just a seminar—when we have more time to just sit, close our eyes, and repeat our mantra, without thinking, "Oh, I must go to the market, I must cook, I must wash dishes," or something like this, is more precious for us. Now we recharge our battery. But what is most important? Not to immediately, when we come home, lose all energy in nonsense. Try to continue. If you do not have time, do one mālā more than usual. And be aware of what your mantra is. Not just a political pamphlet. Mantra is my life. Mantra is light. It is okay to repeat it like a parrot, but try to feel this. Not just dry intellectual knowledge, but maybe through some picture. You will feel what mantra is for you and what mantra really is. Because of that, I did not want to explain: "man" is your mind, and "trā" is expanding. You may read about that in every book. But what you are inside, feel. Do not be all the time in a hurry: I must know this, be first. No, just relax, repeat your mantra, and try to feel what your mantra really is for you. Also, for the rest of our program, just relax, think about your beloved Iṣṭadevatā, and repeat your mantra. And be happy. Once, I also remember this from Swāmījī: he said that if your normal life, your usual life, is not so happy, your spiritual life must be delightful. How will our spiritual life be happy? If we just release... When I was a small child, I was watching a movie about animals on television. Many of you also know a scene from a savannah, something like this. What, in that moment, was very interesting for me was: how do you catch a monkey? In Croatia, we do not have monkeys. But for me, it was: how to catch a monkey? There was one very nice technique. You must have one hole in the wood, in a tree. The monkey likes salt. You will put a piece of rock salt in that hole. When a monkey sees that you have put salt in the tree, he will put his hand inside, take that salt, and try to pull his hand out. But the hole is small. You only have a chance to put your empty hand in. But when you take something, you are not able to pull your hand out. Only if you release the salt can you go out. And we are in that situation. "It's mine." And what Swami Vivekānanda said, and all the time nature tells you: "Release this, release." "No, no, it's mine." And they take a stick and hit your hand. "No, it's mine, it's mine." Only when you release, you are completely free. Our mantra will cultivate us, change us, and make us realize that nothing is mine. Just release, and we will become free. Just relax and be happy. Repeat our mantra, your mantra, and enjoy. Hari Om.