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Oṃ śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyam dhana-sampadā, śatru-buddhi vināśāya, dīpa jyotir namastute, dīpa jyoti parabrahma dīpaṃ sarvebhyohanam, dīpānāṃ sajāti sarvam sandhyā, Dīpaṃ Sarva Satyam Oṃ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Rabhavatu Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī, Deviśvar Mahādeva Kī, Satguru Svāmī Mādhāvanājī Bhagavān Kī, Sanātana Dharma Kī Jaya. This means glory. Some of our friends may not know the meaning of what we say. When I say "Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī," and you respond "Jai," it signifies the glory of the Gurudev. For your understanding, it means: "Salutation to the Cosmic Light, adoration to our holy lineage, Oṁ Śrī Alakhurījī Siddhapīṭha Paramparā." Dear sisters and brothers, our dear sister Yamunā and her husband, Tyāgpuri, manage this āśram, or you may say center. The word āśram is more spiritual and beautiful in Sanskrit; a center can be a city center. An āśram is spiritual. For example, wherever Gandhījī stayed, his place was always called an āśram. In Ahmedabad, India, on the bank of the river Sabarmatī, Gandhījī stayed in a simple, ecological mud house with many beautiful trees. That place is called the Āśram, and we have an express train from New Delhi to Ahmedabad called the Āśram Express. Another meaning of āśram refers to the four phases of our life. Student life is called brahmacarya āśrama. The time when you marry is the household life, gṛhastha āśrama. After you are fifty years old, have children who are getting an education, and you detach from many activities to concentrate on the children’s future, that is called vanaprastha āśrama, preparing to go to a peaceful āśram. The fourth is sannyāsa āśrama. Sannyāsa means complete renunciation; a sannyāsī belongs to the whole world, not attached to one family. As Mīrā spoke about our orange uniform, or robe, that color is the color of the dawn. When dawn rises, consciousness awakes in all flowers, birds, animals, and humans. Also, by evening at sunset, the color of the dusk is orange, meaning consciousness goes to sleep. It is a transaction of consciousness, and this color brings it to completeness. The colour orange is the colour of Mother Earth, visible from airplanes, especially in Australia—this red-orange colour. This colour is the colour of Śakti, energy. It is the colour of fire, and fire means purification. Nothing can enter into the light and into the fire; whatever comes will be purified. Therefore, when you get initiation and become a sannyāsī, you speak in front of the fire, as in marriage. When most people go to the church, in front of the altar, they get the ring and promise in the presence of God and light: "I give my word and I will be with this person, my wife or husband, in happiness and unhappiness, in every situation." You promise in front of the fire. Fire is Sākṣī, a witness. You take the element fire as a witness, and also water. If you make a mistake and do not follow, the fire will work against you and destroy that. Therefore, your word, the human’s promise that "I will follow, I will do," should be final. You must think it over, and once you have given it, you should not change. The fire represents the sun, and this orange color is also the color of renunciation. In autumn, leaves become orange and then fall. Our final stage of life is renunciation. All our senses become slow, our joints become slow, our hair turns toward the wisdom white. Do not color your hair to make it black again. It is hard work to get this color; in German, this is schwer verdientes. It is very difficult. Therefore, do not make blackness in your white karma. This is your white money, and when you color it, it becomes black money. This is renunciation. Similarly, for one who would like to be a sannyāsī, it is not about saying, "Oh, I want to have an āśram and sit in the front, and everybody will come and say, 'Praṇām Gurujī' and 'Praṇām Svāmijī.'" Then your ego will go up. First, learn to be humble. Never have anger. Never say harsh words to someone. Never say no. You should say yes, think it over, and ask why. If you do not want that, explain. Unite, union, oneness—that is yoga, because you want to know yoga philosophy. Yoga means union. The word yoga comes from yog, which is the piece of wood that balances on the shoulders of oxen to pull the cart or wagon. That piece of wood is called yoga. The word comes from this because both oxen must have harmonious balance together. If one goes too quickly, the other will suffer. They must go with balance; then neither the oxen suffer, nor the driver, nor the wagon. Otherwise, the wheels will turn in another direction and you will destroy the whole coach. This means yoga. Before becoming a sannyāsī, before preparing, you have to purify, eliminate all negative qualities. You have to enlighten, give up anger, give up hate, give up laziness, and be ready to help. Engage in more meditation and mantras, because this is the last phase of life; the sunset is coming. With this color, negative energy, magic energy—if someone practices black magic, there are many people who believe some have the abilities to influence you negatively or use you as a kind of medium—this will not affect you. You will remain untouched. Anything that comes to the fire will burn. In modern life, in this world of technology, the orange color is a very safe color to walk on the road. Even a drunken driver will say, "Oh, there is someone." There are many people who, emotionally and without understanding, take the orange robe and say, "Oh, I want to be a sannyāsī." But they do not follow the sannyāsa principles. They do not understand what a guru is. As soon as they become a sannyāsī, they would like to be higher than their guru; they want to become a guru. It is not like that. In the world, there are more kangaroos and fewer gurus. One who is jumping, hopping here and there, is not. Insights have to be very clear, and then you serve the people and help create understanding. Maybe you, disciples, have troubles with each other. Let’s say that Mīrā may be jealous because Swāmījī has more attention towards Yamunā. And Yamunā may be jealous because I have more attention towards Tyāgpuri. This is how jealousy arises. But a Guru, a Master, never has favorites, no dualities. Parents love both children equally, though the children may not like each other and say, "Why this?" and "Why that?" Parents have equal love. This is a problem sometimes. Some people say that person is not good, and that person is not good, and Swāmījī, you should tell this person. I say yes, I will do, but inside I am sorry, I cannot do. Maybe the other person may be wrong or bad, but I cannot tell someone that you are not good and we do not want you to come. I never say to anyone, never, that you should not come. There are people who may try to keep me away from others, and when I do not comply, they become so jealous that they want to destroy everything. This is out of their jealous ego, because God is not only for one person. God is not only for humans, not only for animals. God is for the entire universe, our entire earth, and all creatures. Sunlight is for everyone. If you are sitting in the sun and others say, "My God, this neighbor every day is sitting in the sun alone," while they are working in an air-conditioned room on a computer, they become jealous. But the sun is equally for all. The sun does not ask anyone to pay anything. If you salute the sun, it is your thing. If you do not salute the sun, it is your thing. If you do not like the sun, there are some people who take dust and throw it at the sun, and see how far it goes—it comes back on them. If you blame or criticize a holy saint, all that you are criticizing, that suffering karma, goes back to you. This principle is not only for sannyāsīs, swāmīs, or monks. It does not matter if they have an orange robe, or white, black, green, or yellow. All should be respected equally. When you get this dress from your master in initiation, in the presence of the fire, this dress is not merely a dress for you. This uniform is not just a uniform; it has become your skin. If you take the dress away and put on jeans and do this and that, it means you did not understand, and you changed your inner altar, you changed your skin. If someone told me I should not wear an orange dress and took it away, for me that would be like my skin being taken away. During the communist era in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, I taught yoga for twenty years and was always respectfully invited as a state guest. They liked yoga and daily life very much. They were thankful that I came and helped their people have a healthy life. Of course, they told me I should not talk about politics, take money or gold, or spread fanatical religions, which I did not do. Every time I went, I had to register at a police station, and they would ask questions. Once, one asked me, "Swāmījī, some people are objecting that you come in the dress of a monk. Is it possible that when you come to our country, you wear civil dress?" I said, "No, that is not possible. You have your embassy in India, New Delhi?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Can I make an exception that on your embassy there should be an Indian flag?" He said, "No, that’s not possible." I said, "That’s it." They said, "No, no, okay, it was only some people complaining, we just asked. We have nothing against you, we respect you, Swāmī." You have to respect your dress, and people will respect you immediately. But if you change every day, change your opinions, that is difficult. Especially nowadays, people are becoming more thoughtful, tolerant, and respectful. When they see a person on the spiritual path, they do respect. Especially in Australia and Commonwealth countries, people respect God. When you accept something in your life, do not do it temporarily. You give your word. You give the promise to yourself. Your inner self is the witness of your words. If you think this is not good, I will take that one—that is just changing. Material things you can change. If you have a mattress for sleeping, used for sixty years by your parents and grandparents, and now it is very old and you have back problems, okay, you can change the mattress. But your family, your wife, your husband, your beautiful children—what are you going to give them? What kind of future will you offer? You have to be the example. Negative talking, negative people exist; they are more destructive in a certain way. Otherwise, generally, all humans are very good. When a person joins something and becomes fanatic—"this is my religion, not that religion"—God says, "I did not tell you that you should follow this religion." It is a conflict in the human. Yoga means the balance of the body, balance of your emotions, your intellect, balance of your mental activities, and balance of your family and social relations. Balance. When you are married, you went through the ceremonies clearly, and now if you are not happy with your husband or wife because the wife is ill or the husband is ill, and you say, "I will divorce," you are not a yogī, and you are not the one who promised in the divine presence. Now is the time that this yoke, which the two oxen carry, has to balance. Marriage means not only emotional love; it is a partnership, a life partner. In happiness and unhappiness, in every situation, you are at home together. You come home, and there is someone waiting for you, supporting, talking, understanding. Or you follow the spiritual path, and then you have your dedication there. So always, that is with you all the time. Mīrā said, "Swāmījī is not always here, but even Swāmījī doesn’t know in which situation I am with her all the time." So that fulfills life. You do not know, but I think since Mīrā became a sannyāsī, she did not think to marry again. That means it is successful. Yoga philosophy is not different from your life philosophy. Yoga tells you to lead your family life balanced, relaxed, with understanding. Exercise is good for your health. Prāṇāyāma, breath technique, is good for your health. If you do, you will be healthy. If you do not, you will not. Haṭha yoga practices will keep your body purified, inner purification. This microphone stand, we cleaned it nicely, we close the door, go to the office, and in the evening we come back—there is some dust on it. Every day we get some kind of pollution: emotional pollution, mental pollution, intellectual pollution, physical pollution. There are different ways to clean. Emotional pollution you should balance and clean through meditation. Physical pollution you should clean with haṭha yoga techniques, six techniques, āsanas, and prāṇāyāma. Yogīs think very much about what they are eating and drinking. Eating should be about quality, not quantity. Do we live for eating, or are we eating for living? We are eating for living, for a healthy body. That is true. It does not matter how healthy you live, one day you have to give up the body. But the body is given to you, and you should give it back to Mother Nature as pure as God gave it to you. There is a bhajan from Kabīr Dās: "Chadariya jīnī re jīnī, Rām nām rasbīnī." This cloth, my soul—meaning my body—is very fragile. The life of this glass and the strength of this body are the same. If this glass falls down, it will break into pieces. With a sudden accident, everything is finished. This body is very fine, and inside this body are sitting so many holy, divine energies, God, as you may call it. In your heart, your heart is a temple of the Cosmic Self, Ātmā, and that is yourself. The entire function in the body is unbelievable; till today there is no architect or engineer who could develop a body like this, put the soul inside, and have a baby grow. Only one cosmic engineer. Kabīr Dās said these five elements made the cotton, the material out of five elements. When we take the cotton to the factory, they prepare it, make threads, and weave the cloth. These are the five elements: space, fire, air, water, and earth—that is in our body. "Pācha tattva kī puni banāī, aṣṭha kambal kā charkhā." This weaving stool, the loom, represents the eight chakras in the body. Through this chakra energy, Kabīr Dās said clearly that these were the main functions which manifested or created your body. These chakras, which you have in your yoga book, are Aṣṭachakra. Kabīr Dās said it took nine to ten months to make this dress complete, meaning your body. But the foolish ones do not know the secret or the divinity of this body. Day by day, you pollute your body. God gave you such clean, nice laundry, nicely washed, cleaned, ironed, in a nice cover, handed to you. And you just tear the paper away, put it on, go and sit somewhere, and by evening the whole dress is dirty again. Every day we pollute our body through wrong nourishment. A yogī, a sannyāsī on the path, should have organic, good food, and if possible, 99.5% avoid fast food. For example, chips—you buy chips but do not know if they were fried in the same oil where fish was fried. If you are vegetarian, be careful. If you want to eat chips, buy potatoes and make them at home. Eating a whole potato or slices of chips is the same for the stomach; it is only for this part of the body. This is very hard for us to overcome. It is said, "Iṣṭan mein indriyan das hai." There are ten senses in this body: five senses of knowledge and five senses of action. A very rare yogī has all ten senses under control. But still, it is said, two you cannot trust. These two indriyas will try to cheat you anytime: taste and passion, sexuality. These two indriyas will cheat you. It is very important to follow your diet. There are diets which can pollute your feelings, and diets which can calm your body and concentrate, direct your feelings. Your actions should be so good that when you walk by a tree, the tree is happy because your radiance, your energy is so strong. The tree feels it. Though we have cut these flowers, I think these flowers feel happy on my neck. I hope and believe this garland feels happy. They tell me they are tickling in my heart, and I feel very worthy that these beautiful flowers are on my body, on my neck. That is why I have longed for it. Some people get a mālā and then give it away. No, you gave it full of love. If we all think of this flower—it does not matter if it is yellow, green, blue, or red—how many days or months did Mother Earth take to sprout the seed, make the beautiful plant, and finally produce this? This is our yoga aim: you have to become one day this one. Then it does not matter what you do. Beautiful roses have thorns also. Roses with a very good smell have more thorns. When someone gives you this flower, you do not think they gave you the thorns. You are happy because you got this final divine work of the plant. We should adore and respect flowers, not throw them. If possible, leave them in the garden; do not pluck them. They will last long and are very happy. The plant feels when you pluck the flowers, like you cut the head. This is your beauty, everyone’s. When someone chops your neck away and brings you somewhere, that is not good. There are many sādhus and spiritual paths that do not accept flowers because of Ahiṃsā. But flowers, even if plucked, bring beauty, good air, and spirituality into your house. When you bring meat into your house and put it in your fridge—anyone who dies in the family at home, you call a special car, a limo, and it carries the body away as soon as possible. You make holy water, put a candle, have a ceremony; the whole house has a different vibration because of the dead body. Your own family members’ dead bodies you try to remove as quickly as possible, but you go to the market and bring the dead bodies of animals. The same effect: a dead body is a dead body. How can you expect harmony with family and children? We have to concentrate and bring purities. Yogīs try very hard to have sāttvic food, not tāmasik or rājasik, which create desires, anger, greed, jealousy, laziness, and drowsiness. Try to avoid certain kinds of food and have good, healthy food and drink. If you are hungry and there is nothing, in the name of God, God will forgive us, and you take a little something from some corner. If you feel acidity, okay, you drink a cup of Coca-Cola—this is also good, but not every day. There are people who every day carry two or four liters of Coca-Cola, sit and look at websites, and eat chips. Thanks to God for good technology; the hand goes here and not there. By doing yoga exercises, prāṇāyāma, eating healthy food, and practicing Sāṅkhya-Prakṣaṇa and Haṭha-Yoga Kriyās, you gain a beautiful radiance and good smell all over your body. I have one disciple from Slovakia, Slovenia, named Vasiṣṭha, a karate man, very tall, nearly 1.95 meters. He said whenever he comes from India, for nearly two months he has a good smell in his mouth. But when he begins to eat other kinds of food, the smell is not good. Food is very important. When you eat garlic and go stand in a bus or come into the office, everyone will know. You speak to your manager, "Yes, sir, what can I do?" The manager will say, "Yes, good, okay," and sit back. Though garlic is not bad and is used as medicine, this is an example. People eat sausage and drink beer in hot summer, hanging on a bus inside a crowd. Can you imagine the aroma? Someone has different scents: sandalwood, patchouli, other oils. The whole bus has clouds of scent. When the door opens, the butterflies fly away. Purity is essential. Therefore, Kabīr Dās Jī said this body took a long time and was given to you as pure as it is, and you should keep it pure. At the end of the bhajan, he said, "Mīrā, Tulsīdās, and many other holy saints, Kabīrdās and many holy saints, they had this soul, meaning this body." It is said when this body was ready and given to me, we gave it to the fabric, the person who makes colors. He gave such a beautiful color, made it completely red, beautiful. You can wash it many times, and the color will not go away. That means bhakti, devotion. So you brought your body, yourself, to your Gurudev, and he gave you the color of spirituality, devotion, so no one can take it away from you. Kabīr Dās Oḍī means bearing. Kabīr Dās said he gave his body as pure as to God was given, and Kabīr Dās was also one of those whose body dematerialized. Many holy saints in India, many just sitting, life is gone and the body also dematerialized. People become nervous, asking, "Where is it? Where is it?" Nowhere. It is very difficult to give evidence to the police. Please do not do this. If you do, do it in front of the police and everyone, so it will be on camera and suddenly gone. Yoga philosophy is nothing else than this: to lead your life with harmony, understanding, love, and kindness with your family, friends, neighbors, and everywhere, and bring peace. Even if someone tells you a person is not good, in your mind you should not take that picture as not good. You should have a picture that is good, but the other one will be angry if you say it is good. So you will say, "Okay, uh-huh, I will think." Do not take negative words into your consciousness; otherwise, it will destroy you. How? There is dirty, muddy water, canalization water, and you throw a stone in. What will happen? The water will splash on your dress. So even if someone is not a good person, and you say something, that karma will reflect on you. Protection is in protection. To protect is a protection. Therefore, before you decide to become a sannyāsī, a Buddhist monk, a Christian monk, a Jewish monk, or any, you have to purify. Do not make anyone angry. Be helpful. If you made one person angry, you are still not ready. We had inter-religious meetings, and once an Imam of the Muslims said, "In the Qur’ān, the Holy Book, it is written very clearly: if you kill one human, you kill the whole humanity." We should follow those teachings. Do not say, "Okay, we are not Muslims, so why should we read the Qur’ān?" No difference. The Qur’ān has great knowledge inside. The Bible has great knowledge. The Bhagavad Gītā has great knowledge. The Rāmāyaṇa has great knowledge. But there is one where there is no great knowledge, and that is ourself. Therefore, we have to color our inner book with beautiful mosaics and read without dualities. Do not judge in a negative way. Otherwise, when you begin to read the Qur’ān, you say all is nothing. When you read the Bhagavad Gītā, you say, "Oh God, all is nothing." When you read the Bible, you say, "Oh, this is all not good." This means you try to come out from the frying pan and fall into the fire. That is yoga work: we become humble, kind, and respectful to all, follow your inner path, and try to spread more. This is yoga. Patañjali, whom she spoke about, lived a few hundred years before Christ. Patañjali is the father of psychology. He understood and researched human emotion, mind, consciousness, intellect, body, and senses. Patañjali said in the very beginning, "Atha yogānuśāsanam." Yoga begins with discipline. Atha means now. Do not say tomorrow, "I will be disciplined." Today, I already bought my fast food and two liters of cola. It is a pity; I will drink that first, and then tomorrow I will be. No, Patañjali said just now. Why not tomorrow? Every country has said, "What you have to do tomorrow, do it today. And what you have to do today, do it just now." Once our Gurujī went to Ahmedabad. We had an āśram, and Gurujī liked to walk, mostly from the city. He went to Sabarmatī to cross the river. Before, there were many government officers’ bungalows—the governor, chief ministers. There was a bungalow of the governor. Gurujī went in, a beautiful garden with lawn, sofas, comfortable chairs. Gurujī sat there, and a clerk came and said, "Yes, Swāmījī, welcome. What can I do for you?" Gurujī said, "Well, bring some water. I was thirsty, and I came." The governor was a Muslim, and we are Hindu—no problem. The clerk went in and told the governor that Gurujī came, Swāmījī is there. Gurujī asked if the Governor was there, and he said, "Yes, he is having his lunch." Gurujī sat in the garden. Very soon, as the Governor heard Gurujī was there, he stood up, cleaned his hands and mouth, and immediately came and made a praṇām to Gurujī. Gurujī said, "But I, Your Excellency, heard you are having your lunch, so please finish. I am here; I would not have gone without seeing you." The Governor said, "Yes, I know you would not have gone. I trust Swāmījī will give me darśana, and then I will go. But I cannot trust one thing: my breath. What would happen? While eating, I could have a heart attack and die. I would miss the praṇām to you. The benefit, the blessing to get from you, is much more than my lunch. Gurudev, this jīvātmā was eating many, many lives, sleeping many, many lives. Rare is a human life where we can get a blessing, and that is why I am in your service. What can I do for you?" Gurujī said, "No, I just walked by and was thirsty, so I wanted to drink water." He said, "Yes, please sit. Would you like to have lunch with me?" Gurujī said, "No, I am fine." Then, with hospitality, he gave some drinking milk. Gurujī was not drinking coffee or tea, so he brought nice milk. It is very important to know when we shall begin. So just now, decide your path. Do not wait for tomorrow. No one has seen tomorrow. You have never seen tomorrow, and I also have not seen tomorrow. There was a small village with one shop, and everybody knew the shop man. They would say, "Can I have milk? I will bring you money tomorrow," take the milk, and not bring the money. So he wrote on the door, "Today’s case, tomorrow you can borrow." They come in, see "Today’s case, tomorrow you can borrow." Who? Tomorrow never comes. We have only two days of life: yesterday and today. Tomorrow, we will begin your positive work in anything—in your profession, family, social life, spiritual life—immediately. If you have people who are disturbing, pray to forgive them. Definitely, as soon as a person becomes negative, the karma is counting again, going back. Very soon, in destruction, they will fall. But still, we can pray for them and try to help save them. Your life, spiritual development, realizing your spiritual goal, your happy family—everything depends on yourself. Patañjali said, "Atha yoga-anuśāsanam." Anuśāsan, discipline, is yoga. "Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." Through the practice of yoga, your citta (consciousness) and vṛtti (thoughts) are purified and controlled. Nirodha means to purify and control. Try to purify your thoughts from negativities and concentrate on the positive. There are vṛttis: kliṣṭa-akliṣṭa vṛttis. Kliṣṭa means disturbances, problems. Akliṣṭa means no disturbances. Negative thoughts influence us to have negative activities, and positives support positive activities. Tomorrow we have satsaṅg again? Yes, Swāmījī. Okay. Tomorrow will be a yoga class. I will also tell about Patañjali’s few very important words. Yoga philosophy is long, very big. But I told you simply: this is the science of life. Yoga tells you to lead your life in harmony with nature, and that is beautiful. Whatever you would like to achieve, we have to do it. I told you, and you heard. You go out and say, "Oh, it was nice, but I forgot what he said, everything." Well, something interesting, but it is Indian mentality. Here in Indian culture, we are different. Around the corner, let’s go to the restaurant inside, have a beer, and then say, "But he said," do not think. Develop your inner strength, and be ready to say to yourself, no. To say no to others is easy, but to say no to yourself is not. And no is for your inner feelings. It does not matter who you are; you should see clearly. What kind of glasses do you have? If you have green, you see everything green; if you have yellow, you see everything yellow. Which filter do you have inside? About forty years ago, the first European cow was brought to India. They called it the Jersey cow, which gives twenty or forty liters of milk—a milk machine. The cow was brought from Europe, where everything is green, mountains, nice grass. She was happy in the Alps. The cow was brought by one of the kings of Rajasthan, and she got thinner and thinner and did not eat. They said, "Well, it is too hot," so they put air conditioning. Still, the cow was homesick. They were always with her, put cow fodder, but she did not eat. A sādhu passing by said, "What is here, a theatre? So many standing around a cow, someone waving air, she is like a Mahāraṇī, and the Mahāraṇī is very unhappy and does not eat." He asked, "From where is the cow?" They said, "From there." "How is it there?" "Oh, beautiful and green." He said, "Why do not you put green glasses on her eyes?" They said, "Good idea." They got some green grass, went to a shoemaker, made nice glasses for the cow, put them on, and brought dry yellow feeder. She saw it as green and began to eat and eat. She was happy. He said, before you drink, you should put a little salt and a little water, or suck it in the water, and then drink. She thought it was fresh grass. What kind of filter do we have in our brain, that we act accordingly? Yoga philosophy is this: do good, be good. Do not do to others what you do not like done to you. Do not use words and thoughts toward others that you yourself do not like. If you are angry with someone, first put yourself in that place. How will you feel if someone is angry with you? Mistakes, we all do. God is perfect, and we are imperfect. But we try to lead our life simply, purely, and full of kindness, love, and understanding. Tomorrow we will continue again. Wish you all the best, and God bless you. Good health and good harmony at home. Until tomorrow.