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Opening ceremony of Ashram in Bratislava

Gandhījī's life demonstrates the unity of spirituality and worldly action. He was a deeply religious devotee whose final breath invoked Rāma. His teachings stem from Vedic wisdom, yet he respected all faiths. He taught that religion and politics are inseparable, as true governance springs from sacred principles. This light of yoga and Vedic culture continues to illuminate. The practice of yoga is a pure science for body, mind, and consciousness, though it is now often commercialized. The "Yoga in Daily Life" system was carefully designed with expert input and is a validated scientific method. Our spiritual lineage originates in the Himalayas, connected to the saint Ālakpurījī. Success requires firm resolve and self-discipline. Human life is for service, spiritual development, and realizing unity. Work for peace and protect all life.

"A person who would say that religion and politics don’t go together, he or she either doesn’t know what politics is or doesn’t know what religion is."

"Whatever you do, do with great saṅkalpa. Take the vow that you will be successful."

Filming location: Bratislava, Slovakia

Salutations to the cosmic light. Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In His divine presence, a very good evening, dear brothers and sisters. On this beautiful occasion, I would like to thank Her Excellency, the Ambassador of India, Omaysa. She inspired us with beautiful thoughts of Gandhījī. The message that India is continuously giving to the world—she presented Gandhījī as a past, present, and future. Gandhījī was a very spiritual person, a very religious person. His favorite song was "Raghupati Rāghava Rāja Rām"—the Lord of the dynasty of the Raghu Kula, God Rāma, truly. He was a devotee of God Rāma. The second proof is this: his last breath went out while pronouncing the name of God Rāma, "He Rām." That means his mantra became Ajab-Ajab. Yes. Gandhījī translated the Bhagavad Gītā beautifully. Gandhījī’s preaching, Gandhījī’s teachings, were all from the Upaniṣads, the Vedas and Upaniṣads and Brahma Sūtra. Whatever Gandhījī preaches is purely the thoughts of the great saints. Of course, the Quran, the Bible, and all other holy books were dear to his heart. By birth, by religion, through our citizens, our education, and the principles of India, we give equal respect to every religion and divine incarnation. So, Gandhījī writes on the last page of his biography, The Experiment with the Truth: "A person who would say that religion and politics don’t go together, he or she either doesn’t know what politics is or doesn’t know what religion is." Because politics is created by great saints, ṛṣis, that we call nīti. And nīti is created by great saints. The thoughts, the sādhanā of Gandhījī, prove the light of the Vedic culture. He was that illuminating bulb in the light, which was illuminating and still is throughout the whole world through the source of yoga. So thank you very much, Your Excellency. You spoke so beautifully. Thank you. And we welcome you again and again. This is your yoga center. You know, you have to take care of that too—the embassy as well as your yoga center. Well, in life, you never know when you will see someone, and everything is predestined. Everything has a past life’s relations. We are all sitting here. Definitely, we have relations from past lives. We believe in karma. We believe in destiny. We believe in happiness and unhappiness. A few years ago, to bring forward this light of yoga in daily life, thanks to Mr. Kanis, the former defense minister of Slovakia, he introduced me to one of the best persons. As Gandhījī was a politician as well as religious, only they can be the best king as well as a yogī. And who opened the door to the freedom of practicing whatever you like? In his time, when he was the minister of education, our dear mayor of Petržalka, Láčný. Thank you. Don’t ask us how it was. But the main thing is that the one who opened the door—it was a combination lock, not a key—and he is a daily practitioner of yoga. His actions, his thoughts, his life according to yoga, and you can see on his face that he is a real practitioner. We can lie, but our body will not lie. That’s it. We see it. And I’m very happy that again this is your territory, and we are here, and this is your yoga center. Please do come and practice or teach or take part. Utilize it as you like; it’s your āśram. Your golden words, which you wrote as a small introduction for the Yoga in Daily Life book—it is in more than ten languages throughout the world, and they admire who was the education minister of Slovakia. As you said, that was exactly the principle of Gandhījī too: freedom. Neither religion nor politics should govern the inner feeling of a person. You have your free choice, and for that Gandhījī gave his life—not Hindu, not Muslim, not Christian, but all we are one. So, thank you, sir. I am very happy to see you again. A few years have passed already since we last saw each other. I was missing you last year for the World Peace Conference. I was actually busy with the mayor’s election. But I invite you already now to Budapest, where next year will be the World Peace Conference. The general director of the Rajasthan police, Mr. Berwa, and his wife are very spiritual persons and very great personalities. He is very much doing social work, and he has such a beautiful understanding for the people. What the United Nations is speaking about is human rights. Mr. General Director is, by nature, since he is posted in the Police Department, following these human rights principles. He has a beautiful family: his wife, three children, and already his grandson, a beautiful small one. Thank you for your coming. Mīrābāī, thank you for your coming. It is said that the flower will die, but the fragrance will remain. So the World Peace Conference was only for three days, but the glory of that is still, you can feel in the world. Thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of DVDs were made and distributed around the world where you can see a beautiful moderator and the talents of our dear Alenka. Thank you. People see you. They said, "Who is that person, full of energy and vitality, not showing tiredness?" I said, this is yoga in daily life. Thank you. And our dear sister also here, Maria Rusinova, the former general director of the sports section at the Ministry of Education, gave a lot of support to us. As we remember Otilia Pechníková, who inspired me to come to Bratislava—can you imagine? It was the month of January or February, and I had only rubber sandal shoes, no socks, and one cloth here and one shawl only, like this. And I came to Bratislava, got out of the car, and one leg was going here and the other was going there. Snow, very cold. First time in my life I have experienced snow, but it was beautiful. So, thank you. I’m very happy that I came to Slovakia. The yoga in daily life was supported very, very much. It brought even to the University of Bratislava. And for the top champion sports also, heavy sports. Our dear Jarka Motaiva, she’s a professor, she was a professor at the university. And she’s a practitioner of yoga, and her mother, she was 98, 97, but still practicing yoga every day. Also, our dear brother Rado, the president of the Yoga in Daily Life of Bratislava, especially Petržalka. And all international delegations here, I thank you for coming. And I congratulate you all. I’m very happy that we have a roof over our head where we can practice. Where can we practice now, free? Thanks to our mayor. You know that for 20 years I was teaching under the era of communism, the government? And he is true, he is right. There were not so many books available. And people were fighting to get the book and make the copy. Photocopy, Xerox copies. But in the very beginning, there was no photocopy machine, no Xerox machine. It’s called cyclostyling. So many, you know, in communist time, how people were lazy a little bit. They come to office, first drink coffee, make telephone calls, and do some work, and type in yoga scriptures. Making cyclostyling, they were more relaxed. And those who had really the interest, they were there. And there were thousands of them there. So yoga is a science of body, mind, and consciousness. Unfortunately, nowadays yoga has become a football in the field. Everyone tries to kick. In every corner of the street, you find yoga; in every hotel and spa, you find yoga. I was just now in Los Angeles, and there was a yoga fair. And there was one stall that was written, "Mary’s Yoga." Yoga for Mary’s. Yoga for dogs. Really. It comes in the newspaper also. Because when the master is nervous, then the dogs are also nervous. And so, whatever you know, there are hundreds, thousands of different names. But finally, yoga is yoga, like a religion. Hindu religion, Jewish religion, Christian religion, Islam religion. Finally, we have to come to religion. So, is Yoga in Daily Life yoga or different? Yoga is yoga, and that is pure wisdom, the science. But the Yoga in Daily Life is designed very carefully. And you will be surprised. It was designed in Czechoslovakia. I wrote this whole script and prepared everything with the help of doctors, psychologists, and physiotherapists, and we wrote this yoga book. And the world-famous spa Pistañjali, there had been several times made research work and declared Yoga in Daily Life a scientific system, and many spas, Yoga in Daily Life is utilized now. Last year I was in Sliac, and you would not imagine. Nearly every therapist, every nurse and doctor, they came with my old, old book, "Please, Swāmījī, can you give an autograph?" And the first Yoga in Daily Life book was reprinted in the form of the book in Jolan in communist times. I’m very happy that the message of India, a little bit, I could give you too, in the form of Yoga in Daily Life. You know our spiritual lineage, which begins from the Himalayas. It’s connected with Lord Śiva, the Kailāśa mountain. Long, long ago lived a great saint named Ālakpurījī. At the time when the Pāṇḍavas made their way to heaven, they were advised that unless they would get the blessing of Devpurījī, they would not come through. And when they wanted to get to heaven, they were told that if they did not get a blessing from Allah, they would not get to heaven. Ālakpurījī lived between the Kedarnath and Badrinath mountains. The four Pāṇḍavas and Draupadī, they could not come through. Only the Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira and his dog could come to the last point. And they got the blessing of the Ālakpurījī. And it is said the chariot came from heaven and took them alive. And therefore, it is believed the door to heaven is there between Kedarnath and Badrinath. It’s called Satopat. And from the Satopat begins one river, the Holy River. The name of that river is called Alaknanda, named after Ālakpurījī. The other side comes from the Gaumukha Vanholi river, named by the great ṛṣi who brought the Gaṅgā to this earth. The name of that ṛṣi was Bhagīratha, so the name of that river is Bhagīrathi. But on one side is coming the Alaknanda River, and on the other side is coming the Bhagirathi. And that place is called Devaprayāg. Dev means the goddess, and Priyak means merging, coming together. Your Prā is also a Sanskrit name, Priyak. And where the Bhagīrathī and Alaknandā come together, the name of the river changes, and that’s called Gaṅgā. So it is believed that Ālakpurījī is still living in his astral body there. And from his lineage is our Devpurījī, Mahāprabhujī, and Gurujī, and me and you. Mahāprabhujī said, "Whatever you do, do with great saṅkalpa. Take the vow that you will be successful. If you don’t have a firm decision, you can’t be successful. So nothing is impossible." Everything is possible. Where there is a will, there is a way. And therefore, whatever you want to achieve, develop self-discipline. Self-discipline is key to success. So you will be successful, you will be healthy, spiritual development and God-realization. Keep on practicing. So human life is simple, very clear, a scientific system. I pray to our spiritual guides that those who come under this roof may they find contentment, good health, happiness, spiritual development and God-realization. May all be together, work for the protection of the entire planet. We shall love and protect all creatures, and we shall not only speak but work for world peace. This life is given to serve and to get self-realization. Nothing will go with us from this material world. Only our spiritual positive work. So, as Gandhījī said, and Her Excellency told already, be the change you want to see. And don’t worry about anything. In the Bible it says, "Thou shalt not carry." So don’t carry too many burdens—money and this and that. Mahātmā Gandhījī said, "Renounce and enjoy." And our dear holy Gurujī said, "Enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice." So, definitely we will come there. Just practice, develop confidence, and develop confidence towards thyself also. Once more, all the best. Rados and all the team. Thank you, and congratulations. And Mr. Mayor, thank you. We are under your umbrella, and Your Excellency, thank you for your coming. And Kanelājī, that you also came here. And all, I will not take too much time now. So with this, I thank you. And indeed, time is running so quickly. If you haven’t watched your watch, then better do not look at the watch, because it’s so late. And I would like to thank all of you for coming here in a purely Indian traditional way. In this way, we would like to thank Swāmījī with a floral garland. In Slovakia, a flower is a symbol of beauty, and in India, a flower is a symbol of dignity and respect, not only of the flower itself, but also of the person who is wearing the flower. And I would like to ask our dear guests to accept the flowers we are giving to them as a sign of our respect and esteem. If it weren’t for you, dear organizers, we would have nothing to do here. There would be nothing to organize for anybody. So once again, and for the last time, I would like to thank you for sharing your time and for finding your valuable time to come here and to be with us. We are paying much attention in yoga to ensure that everything is in balance. So, to bring the vow or the dish of knowledge to balance, we need to feed our body. Sometimes I’m talking more quickly than I’m thinking.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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