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Hari Om! Everyone! A very good morning to you all. It is a beautiful day, full of snow and sunshine. White flowers are falling upon us. When Lord Śiva arises in the Himalayas and performs his Tantra Vṛtya, when he moves in this way, all the snow falls everywhere. So when he is moving, we have great snowfall. That is the divine vibhūti from his divine body. And water is when he dances and dances and sweats—that is how the water element manifests. There are so many aspects. This is the universal body. Thank you. We had a very nice meeting today, though unfortunately many teachers were missing. They did not come. As I walked from Ganga House to here, I was contemplating which subject to share with you today. Every one of our programs, retreats, or seminars serves to upgrade our knowledge, updating all our past understanding. It is like advanced teaching. Many of you, almost all—more than 80%—are teaching yoga in your lives. Those who are not teaching have also been practicing for many years. Many of us have grown old with yoga in our lives—not that yoga made us old, but we have been doing this for so many years. Therefore, updating is necessary in certain philosophical or spiritual matters, and for our mental and spiritual check-up. There are some points we cannot seem to overcome. For example, the biggest human weakness is eating. Why not? We say to ourselves, "Why not?" Doctors say, dentists say, yogīs say, "Don't eat sweets." But that is often just a saying, "Don't eat." Last week, our Swamiji Vivek Purījī gave an example. Some patients came to a doctor, and the doctor said, "Don't smoke; it's not good for you." After a while, the doctor walked with the patients to the garden park and lit a cigarette. The patient said, "But doctor, you said smoking is not good for me." The doctor replied, "Yes, I said it's not good for you. I didn't say it's not good for me." This is how we compromise with our own habits. We can say "no" to anyone, but it is hard to say "no" to ourselves. In certain extreme situations, we do say no—if you have to jump from a height, you say no; if you have to jump into fire, you say no. There we are experts, because it is an SOS—save our soul. So, let us come to the point. We often speak about Seva. Seva means serving; Seva means service. There are three kinds of Seva. The first is Seva with selfishness. You will do it, but you ask a higher price. For example, you lose the key to your house door. You have to call someone to open it. You phone and say, "Please come quickly, I'm freezing, standing outside in the snow and cold. Help me, please." Someone will come to help you open the door, but they will charge you for the journey both ways and by the hour, which we accept. This is also a seva, but it has little spiritual effect. A second example: A lady was driving a car, and somewhere on the road the car stopped. She called a mechanic. He came with his car, opened the bonnet, looked inside, and simply tightened one screw. It took about twenty seconds. He closed the bonnet and said, "500 euros." She said, "What? This is injustice, criminal! You haven't worked; you just opened it and did something in two seconds, and you want 500 euros for what?" He said, "Not for the two seconds of working on your car—for that I will not charge you anything. I charge for my knowledge, for knowing how. So, dear lady, learn a little bit about your car and then drive. Go and be happy." She said, "Thank you," and sat in the car. "What is it, 500 euros? In my purse I have only 300." He said, "No problem, I will send you the bill. Drive carefully." To know how, we have to update always. This is a seva done with expectation. The second Seva is described in a poem: Bukhe bhajan na ho gopāla, ye terī kānti mālā. Say to Gopāla, to Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa: "Kṛṣṇa, with an empty stomach I cannot meditate and pray to you. Here is your mālā, because I need something in my stomach." This is called paramarat and svarat—balanced. We also have to live from something, but we also dedicate something. This is appreciable nowadays. We cannot even breathe without money. Everywhere we need money, money, money... A ty servetrové, děntej—too much is everywhere prohibited. Greed, and greed, and greed, that is not good. We have to keep balance; it is necessary to preserve balance. The third is niṣkāma sevā. Niṣkāma means selfless, with no expectation. With this kind of thinking, there were many religious organizations. In Vedic dharma, they gave definitions of these three, and the best seva is there where you do not expect anything. Seva can be done in many ways; there are many good Sevas. It doesn't cost money, it doesn't cost a lot of energy, and you have done something. For example, now I am thirsty, and I hope somebody will bring me water—this could also be Seva. Oh, thank you. Now you see. Mostly, so-called gurukuls and ashrams create Seva organizations. Around the world, many hospitals have many nuns and nurses working there. In many old-age homes, nurses are helping and working. From this kind of seva, one name emerged: charity organization. For example, the Red Cross, Green Cross, Fire Brigades, etc. There are many organizations. We have Bharat Seva Ashram. A very great saint from Kolkata, Swamiji, started this organization, Bharat Seva Ashram. Many sādhus and many people are involved in it. Thousands of their members or bhaktas come to the Kumbh Melā, and they are doing seva: organizing transport for elderly people who cannot walk; helping someone who is lost; if someone has lost money and has nothing, they buy a ticket for them to go home; guiding old people safely through the huge crowds, etc. Not only in India but around the world they have Seva Ashrams. Also in Fiji they have a beautiful ashram, Bharat Seva Ashram. He is very, very old. In Haridwar, in Rishikesh, you know the great saint Swami Sivanandajī of Rishikesh. He was the example of doing Seva. He himself was a medical doctor, and in his ashram he had nice huts for ill sādhus or ill people, and he himself would clean them. His name was great. One day, a man came who had a lot of knowledge. There are two kinds of knowledge: the knowledge of books, which is called Vācārtī (Vācā means reading and talking), and then there is Lakṣaṭī, Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā. He knew the Vedas and Upanishads and everything. He came to Sivananda and stood before him. Sivanandajī came from his room and touched the feet of that man. The man said, "No, no, Swāmījī, you are great. What are you doing?" Swamiji said, "I see in you Īśvara." In Austria, mostly, and a little in Bohemia—or Bavaria, which comes from Bohemia, the Bohemian motor work, BMW—they say, when you see anyone, even if you don't know them, "Grüß Gott." It is said, "I see in you God. I greet God in you." That is very, very important, a very beautiful and high thought. When you say "Grüß Gott," this is also a greeting to God. In one of the neighboring countries of Austria, I went a little far... as far as you go from Austria, God is getting thinner and thinner. In India, they say namaste. Namaste means "I bow down to you." Nama means "bow down." Namaste, and our mudrā is like namaste, meaning "I bow down to you; you and I are one in God." Our Air India symbol is this, and when you enter Air India, the hostesses stand like this and say, "Namaste, namaste." These are the old ways; our ancestors had such pure thoughts. So Sivanandajī said, "I see God in you." Then he took him to his room, and they sat and talked. The man said to Swāmījī, "I practice this, I practice that. I know this yoga, I know Nāḍī yoga, I know Kriyā yoga, I know Haṭha yoga, I know Sāṅkhya yoga, I know Jñāna yoga, I know Bhakti yoga. I know philosophy, I know Sāṅkhya, I know Mīmāṁsā, and this and that. Everything I have done and practiced," etc., etc. Swāmījī sat and listened. Then he asked, "Did you practice the pain yoga?" The man asked, "What is that?" Swamiji said, "I will teach you in the morning." So in the morning at six o'clock, Swāmījī, in his t-shirt and banlungi, barefoot, walked into the cottages of the ill people and began to take away the pots where they urinated and defecated, to clean them. He said, "Come on, clean." The man said, "Swamiji, I am an Ācārya." Swamiji smiled and said, "Then you must be cleaning very nicely. Now we work here with Mauna. Clean, please." Then he gave him warm water, a basket, a sponge, and a cloth. "Please clean their bodies," he said, and left. Without devotion, you cannot even look. This is the seva in every organization. Even now you see we have many hospitals everywhere. In Vienna, too, there are hospitals from the lineage of the Holy Saint Francis of Assisi. If you have money, of course you can give. If you have nothing, they will serve you, perform operations. Everything is in high-level hospitals, but to the charity organization, good-hearted people like you give donations. Now, through this selfless service, three parties benefit. First, you, because you are doing selfless service. Second, the one who gives the donation is also doing a selfless act. Third, the one who receives the help is thankful and receives help. So, there are three great benefits. No charity organization is suffering; they have people giving. That is the seva. But when you give a donation, there are two things to remember. In Europe also, you see this: if someone gives you a present, a cow, don't look at its teeth—to see the teeth is to see if it's old or young. So don't look at what they gave, how much they gave, or why you gave so little. If you can give, give it. What you donate, you have no rights over afterward. You cannot set conditions; you just give. Then the person from the charity organization... they walk in the cold winter through big cities. Somewhere near a bridge, at a railway station, there are homeless people. They go and give them a warm blanket, some bread, butter, etc., or some money. Someone standing beside might say, "Don't give them money; they will just drink alcohol." Now, whatever you give, this donation, you spoil it. Who are you to say this person will just drink alcohol? Are you not drinking alcohol also? Don't you think that sometimes they also like to have something, to go to the cinema, to go somewhere? So if you give, don't give conditions. That is Seva. So, ashrams, monasteries—everything runs through Seva. When you ask, "I want this much money and payment," then there is no Seva. Our non-profit organization, Yoga in Daily Life, is doing a lot of seva, and it comes to you. It doesn't matter where the money is used. If you ask to get money back... maybe that organization or this person may give it to you, but it is against the law. The law says that what is donated, you have no right to get back. But sometimes people are so nasty. Then you will have a lot of karma, bad karma. That money will not bring you happiness; it will bring you illness, pain, and unhappiness. So before giving, you should know that you have given, and that is finished. Seva is a great sādhanā, a great spiritual practice. Those who do Seva do not know what tiredness is. Day and night, they are ready to work. A good doctor sleeps with his telephone near the pillow. When a call comes—"Dear doctor, an accident happened and we need to operate urgently"—the doctor's wife might say, "My darling, don't go. I don't want to be with you. Every night, three or four times, you have to go. I will divorce you." The doctor says, "My dear, my life, I am a doctor, and that is my Seva, but I am also with you. You should have a heart for that person who had an accident and is hanging between death and life. If I don't go, all sin will come upon me. Someone found me with hope, and disappointment that I will have to lie, or you have to lie, saying my husband is not here—that is a lie." To be a doctor is a great seva. One thing I like very much in medicine is that it doesn't matter who invented something like a painkiller—that person will have really very good karma. We healthy people do not know what pain is. I pray to God that we should not have any pain. You are healthy, and we can say the healthy head is always like this. Show me your sound? I can't hear. So if you are doing your Seva—many of our bhaktas around the world travel thousands of kilometers and give Seva, teaching yoga in their lives. That is a good sādhanā, what they can do. But when they go there and change their opinions and begin to create politics, to create restlessness, then your Seva is finished. You leave behind the dust. The doctor came for an operation. He opened the body, and his wife is crying, so he is going home. The poor patient is lying on the operation table in the theater. The nurse asks, "Dear doctor, what to do? You're going." His wife was listening, the doctor's wife. She said, "Give overdoses of painkiller till he comes tomorrow noon." That is not a seva. Doctors sometimes have more than 24 hours of duty. And the nurse who works in a hospital—how many hours? Maybe they have to hold something only like this. It's not easy, so sometimes they also need to relax and go for coffee or tea. So, mercy to all nurses and doctors. We designed Yoga in Daily Life for them. There are special exercises. Many doctors have one-sided work, like the dentist, so they have many problems with shoulders and back pain. If they practice Sarvahitā Āsana, we said, introduce them. Then in an operation theater, when one nurse is holding, the other one should do an exercise, and then they should switch. One minute of sādhanā and yoga in their life will help them in the operation theater, in critical situations. But you can't say, "Doctor, please do Śīrṣāsana first." No, he cannot, but he can do this, and often they are doing while operating. They put their hand and move it like this again, working. So you can do yoga anywhere. You can practice yoga everywhere. Śiva. Seva. In Seva, we can also create obstacles. "Urgently, car number W 259785—it's an Austrian car, I think—is blocking the way, and the two-way truck is ordered already. So please quickly go and remove your car. Plate number W 259785." Who wrote? Was it a doctor? Only the apothecary can read. Tell them there is nobody here; they can tow it away. So Holy Gurujī and Mahāprabhujī... What do you wish? That Līlā Amṛt... Many, many beautiful, beautiful stories are happening with Gurujī. Mahāprabhujī Līlā Amṛt—there are many beautiful stories that took place between Gurujī and Mahāprabhujī. Holi, Gurujī was sitting outside in the hut of the Ashram. Mahāprabhujī had one small room; he was sitting there. There was no door. Midday, around 12 o'clock, Mahāprabhujī came from his room, tied in his lungī, and called, "Mādhavānanda, Mādhavānanda, Mādhavānanda." And Holi Gurujī said, "Yes, yes... My Lord, ask anything, what you want, ask. I give anything, what you wish, we will say yes." He thought, "I'll brew my hand like this, and gold comes. Others will think, 'I'll give me limitation.' So before gold comes, his hand I can take it like this. I want siddhi, I want these." And Holy Gurujī, with folded hands, said again and again, "I only beg for your one mercy: Janam Janam Hari Dās Rakhi Jo. In my every life, please let me be thy servant. No siddhi, no power, no liberation, no brahmajñāna, no self-realization, nothing." All is not worthy enough. All this cannot compare with just one second or minute of seva to the holy. That's called Seva Holi. Gurujī said, "The beautiful, safe, and happy life which I have in your seva, nowhere can I have in the universe." Holi Gurujī was only... in the physical body as another person, but he fully realized Mahāprabhujī. That is why Gurujī said, "Ek sādhe sab sādhe." When you do one sādhanā, all your sādhanās will be successful. When you try to do this one and that one and this one, you lose everything. Like, all the leaves get water when you put water in the trunk; the leaves, the fruits, and the branches all get automatically watered. So it is just the Seva. But you cannot do Seva without Bhakti Yoga, because Seva is a Karma Yoga. And Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "Your yoga sādhanā will be perfect and completed through seva." But you cannot do seva without love. And when you begin to do seva, then some āsurī śakti awakens in you. And this āsurī śakti goes outside and brings some blackmail to you, and that disbalances your heart, and your devotion, bhakti, dries out. So we need love for the service, but not only love—that can be stupidity. We need Jñāna Yoga. It means know-how. If we tell you to clean our altar, and you come and throw this out and throw that out and throw that out—"What are you doing?" Swāmījī said, "Clean the altar." He didn't say, "Clean away the altar." So use something, we say, use something which you have between two ears. But also, karmabhakti and jñāna cannot be successful alone. Therefore, Rāja Yoga must be the discipline. So all are in oneness. Doing the seva, you need bhakti, jñāna, and discipline. Discipline means be loyal to your Seva that is given to you. Now that is your territory. You have trained a Doberman, and you give him the territory only till here. Don't attack if someone is five meters away. So remain for your purpose of the Seva for which you began. If you go out of the boundary, you will be lost and punished. So Seva is the Seva. There is also one bhajan which I forgot; it will come next time. So Seva—when you go outside and see a stone lying on the road, look left and right to ensure no traffic is coming, and remove the stone. That is Seva. If you see somewhere a branch of a tree broken and lying on the road, stop your car and remove it. It doesn't take long. If someone is eating and needs water, and you are just sitting, you can say, "Please, can I bring you water?" In little, little things, we can do great things. And never say any harsh words to anyone. If you don't like, if you don't accept, then don't speak. But when you speak, then you can't control. Harsh words are like bullets, and sweet words are like flowers. Oranku, sital, kare, ap, hui, sital, hoi. Speak such a language. Speak such words that it makes everyone happy, and it makes you also happy. It is said: if you are injured by a knife, the wound will one day heal again. But if you are hurt by a heart's word, that will remain in the heart as a lifelong wound. Don't say even hard negative words to your dog. Humans have devvāṇī—a divine language. That is why when you become a saint, a sannyāsī, then this devvāṇī becomes guruvāṇī, guruvākya. So control your words. If you can't control your thoughts and temperament, at least control your tongue. When you talk stupid things and hard words... in German, you know, the horse has in its mouth what is called... yeah. When you ride a horse, you put the iron... So control your tongue. After all this, when you do all this, then your life is Ānandoham, Ānandoham, Ānandoham... Ānandoham, Ānandoham. Thank you.