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Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... How do we implement yoga in our life? How do we understand it, and what does yoga in daily life mean? The first and main point is health. As some philosopher said, "Health is not everything, but without health, everything is nothing." This includes physical health, mental health, social health, and spiritual health. All together, these make a family happy and healthy—what we call the joint family. In yoga and in Āyurveda, it is said the first happiness in this life is a healthy body. If the body is healthy, we can work, we can enjoy, we can be happy, we can help others. Without health, we cannot buy it; no one can give us health. We have to gain our health, and mostly, we are responsible for our own health. We can damage our health, and in this way, there are different points to consider. The most dangerous or greatest enemy of a human is laziness. Laziness is that which will not let us be successful. Laziness is there because we lack discipline. Many don't like discipline; they think it makes us a slave. But somehow, we have to become the slave of our self for our own well-being. We are slaves to our needs: we have to eat, we have to drink, we have to sleep. This all belongs to the chapter of good health. So we say: Jaisā khāyegā annā, vaisā rahegā mannā. The kind of nourishment you have, so will your mental activities, your mind, be. The food decides how our mind is. Jaisā khāyegā annā, vaisā rahegā mannā. And: Jaisā pīye pānī, vaisī bole bānī. The kind of liquid you drink, the kind of water you drink, so will you speak. A person who has drunk a lot of alcohol, how does he or she speak? And a person who drinks nice, pure water, how does one speak? Then, the third: Jaisā kare saṅg, vaisā lāge raṅg. What kind of society, what kind of companions you have, like that color you will take. Near the black cow, the white cow is standing. That cow will not take the color of the other cow, but will take its habits. So habit is the second nature of the human. And that habit is so deep in our subconscious that we can't get rid of it. Especially harmful, negative habits—it is very hard to get rid of them. My master used to say, it's easy to get free from an enemy, but not from bad habits. There is a story. A river was flowing, and two friends went for a walk along it. They saw something flying, fluttering in the water. They thought it was a nice blanket or a coat from animal skin and wanted to get it. The river had a high current, so one friend said, "I would like to swim and get this." The other said, "Leave it, it is very difficult." He insisted, "Oh, no. Friend, don't worry, I will catch it." The friend replied, "Well, take care. I suggest you not to do it, but if you want to..." So he ran along the river and jumped in. He was trying to swim to the middle, and meanwhile, the "coat" came closer. It was not a coat; it was a living bear—a very hungry, desperate, and tired bear. Before he could grasp the coat, the coat held him. Now he's fighting, while his friends stand far away, about 150 meters or more. They called, "Dear friend, if you can't manage to bring the coat, leave it. Come back." He answered, "My dear friend, I would like to leave the coat, but the coat doesn't leave me." That's it. So, bad habits—what we learn sometimes, maybe we say, "Okay, I'll try it once"—but that will be the biggest mistake. Habit is a second nature of man, and it can harm ourselves, our family life, our profession, our colleagues, and so on. So the best is to get good habits. It is very good to go swimming, go cycling, play football, walk, practice yoga, or do some different kind of exercises which keep you healthy and bring you into the company of mostly healthy people. If the mind doesn't help us, we can't do anything. The mind is a mighty power within us, and that mind can become wild. Our mind can become a great foe for us. We can't master the mind. It is said, "I want to kill my mind," but you can't kill your mind. The mind is that inner force; it is very strong, and we don't know where it is living. In which part of the body? How does that mind look? If we knew, we would catch it, but we can't catch it. It is governing us, leading us to either good health or bad health, good things or bad things. Man maraṇa mamatā marī. Why can't we control our mind? Because we have not controlled our ambition. "I would like to have this. I would like to have that..." Māmtā. This is the dangerous thing: we are not sure, and we want to have this and this and that. It is a very peculiar thing. It looks nice and easy, but when that mind catches us, then we will be sure. There is another story, similar to the bear and the human. A snake charmer went to the forest to catch a beautiful, big cobra. Early morning he went, searching and searching. Around 10:30 or 11 o'clock, he saw a big cobra, nearly two and a half meters long. He caught it and had a beautiful bamboo basket for the cobra. It couldn't come out, and it had holes so it could breathe. The basket was like a bucket. He put the cobra in, covered it with a nice cloth, tied it, and held it by the handle. Now off he goes towards the village. It was the hot season, very hot. There was a big, beautiful banyan tree with nice shade. The snake charmer thought, "I will have a little rest under this tree, and then I will go home." He had been walking the whole day from early morning, and it was very hot. He went and sat under the nice green tree with nice air. On the tree sat a big, nice monkey. The monkey was thinking, "Why does this man take care of this basket so nicely? Why is it covered nicely? There must be something edible inside. Perhaps he went to catch wild honey, and he has some honey inside or something. I would like to have this." Who is saying this? The monkey. The man did not do anything. The monkey, sitting up in the tree, began a kind of blackmailing, hypnotizing, sitting and looking at that man. "Hey man, go away. Hey man, go away." Yes, you will see: when you have something and you are not giving, the monkey will look at you and make some deal. It kept looking and looking. After ten minutes, the man wanted to go behind the bush. So he got up and went, leaving the basket there. The monkey said, "Thanks to God. My mantra, my hypnotizing function, worked." But that was a desire, mamatā; the mind has ambition, that is hope. And this hope is a walking stick from cradle to grave. The monkey quickly jumped down, grabbed the basket, put the handle around its neck, and quickly climbed to the top of the tree, onto a very thin branch where the man couldn't reach him. The man looked and said, "Oh God, poor monkey." The monkey sat perched very nicely, its hands and legs hanging down comfortably. It wanted to enjoy the honey. So it tore the cloth, and there was not honey, but something funny. A cobra came out. Now, the king cobra is looking at the monkey, and the monkey is looking at the cobra. The monkey is paralyzed, couldn't move. The monkey sees everything yellow, and all conditions became loose, sitting there. The man said, "Oh, God." The monkey tried to throw it away, but if it moves, the cobra will strike. You have many snakes in Australia. It was terrible. So, the monkey is thinking how to get rid of it. Just a few minutes before, the monkey had a burning desire for how to get it. And now, it is thinking how to get rid of it. This is the situation which humans come into, in many, many situations and circumstances. You think it will be nice, joyful, good, but then that cobra is around your neck, and how do you get rid of it? This is the game of the mind within us, and that mind is connected to our senses. The senses would like to enjoy, but such enjoyment—the joy you want to enjoy—often brings less joy than the suffering that follows. Man maraṇam mamatā mari. Therefore, our hope, our ambition, does not move. Man maraṇam mamatā mari—my, my... I want to have, I, I, I. Mar mar gayā śarīra—the body died, but desires will never die; they will go with us into the astral world. Āśā, tṛṣṇā namārī. Why can't we master or kill our mind? Because āśā and tṛṣṇā—āśā means hope and tṛṣṇā means longing—these two desires are an illness which humans have, very hard to treat, and they can destroy a healthy, good family, friendship, and many, many different things. So, the practice of yoga, and especially Yoga in Daily Life, is designed in such a way that the whole family can practice together. From little children, or when the mother is still pregnant—we have yoga for the pregnant woman, yoga after the birth, and we have yoga also after death, some good ceremonies to bring them into freedom. It is a system. Long ago—about 30, 40, 50 years ago, 35, 45 years—I was also about 60 or 70 years old, not so much then. People asked me—Mr. Master Swamiji, they used to call me in Soviet Union territories—the yoga class always had the same problem: advanced students and beginners would come together. The advanced were unhappy because we were teaching beginners, and the beginners were unhappy that the advanced class was immediately doing headstands, which they couldn't do. The next day, they wouldn't come. So, is there any system? I began to develop a system which is very simple but very powerful, effective, and gentle. That is the more powerful way. So, exercises begin Yoga in Daily Life, practicing the postures and the technique of the breath, which we developed also with the nerve systems. This keeps our immunity in the body and also develops our immunities. Especially after coming from work, you come home; instead of drinking a coffee or whiskey or something like that, make 11 rounds of Khaṭū Praṇām. I can tell you, a promise is always a promise, it is nothing. But I can tell you that if you practice after work hours at home, 11 rounds, and then tell me in one year how many times you were ill, you will not be ill—except for some accident that we can't avoid. Otherwise, there will be no flu, no breath problems, no joint problems... But you have to practice. Now, here the discipline is missing. "I will do it tomorrow." And then tomorrow some friend invites you to go to the Sunshine Coast. "Okay, I will do that." There, they give you a motorboat. "Okay, evening I can do." In the evening, your muscles are sore. And a friend invites you to the vegetarian restaurant. "Okay, morning I will do." In the morning, you sleep long because you were at a mid-party. "Okay, I will do in Brisbane." You come to Brisbane, and then you say, "Oh, I'm tired, let's sleep long." Your wife says, "No, I want to go swimming." You say, "No, I want to go." So never say tomorrow, no. None of us here sitting, or anybody else, has ever seen tomorrow. Tomorrow is always tomorrow. Yesterday is always yesterday; it is gone. Today is today, just now. So, Patañjali Yoga Sūtra—if you want to learn yoga and know yoga, then you should first read Patañjali Yoga Sūtra. It has all kinds of exercises: physical exercises, prāṇāyāma exercises, yoga nidra, meditations, and many, many good advices. That is one of the best books. Patañjali, the great yogī, who lived, I think, 500 years or more before Christ, said: "Now, yoga begins with discipline, now, not after, just now, not tomorrow. Now is yoga discipline." So, where there's discipline, there you can be successful in a modern way, in business life. The Americans, someone, they took this slogan from Patañjali and said, "Self-discipline is key to success." So, self-discipline can make us happy. Yes, when you begin to practice yoga, then in the family, some dispute may come. Sure, maybe in some families not, but mostly. Why? Because a person begins to become fanatic. So, do not become fanatic. Lead your life as normally as you live. That's why Yoga in Daily Life is for everyday life—not for one hour, but think, sleep, eat, walk, work, do everything according to the yogic principle. And the yogic principle is nothing against your family life, or your bachelor life, or business life. Any kind of way you go, there is nothing to do against it. Only what we need is one and a half hours in the morning—that is the best. If you do morning exercises, then the whole day you are free. After you come home, do eleven rounds of Khaṭū Praṇām. Discipline. The dispute begins in the family because mostly we, all yogic people, have two principles: the spiritual and the ethical. And the ethical is that love to all creatures. So we do not kill animals, and we do not eat them. It doesn't matter if it's a fish or any animal. Pain, everyone has. Suffering, everyone. No one wants to die. And so people here, they don't know any other way. Unfortunately, in medical science, they do not have this subject. And they think meat is everything, but it is not true. So much meat is consumed. Since people are consuming a lot of meat, you see how many hospitals there are, how many cancers there are, how many mental diseases there are—many, many, many. Country, Australia, which had good soil and very good everything. Now, you are getting more and more pesticides, which are destroying your nature, the whole forest, agriculture, as well as your health. But of course, who am I to tell you something more? It is your government, and you request your government that please leave us a little healthy. So you are practicing yoga, but your husband or your wife doesn't understand. So you come home and you say, "No, I don't eat meat." Now, the husband thinks, "What happened? What happened to my wife?" She says, "I'm not cooking meat," and so life begins. So you have to explain to your friends and family, not that you should not eat meat, but why you should not. It's not only this, because the animals—how they are kept, how their psychic condition, how their food and so on, feeder—it is not acceptable. And how they are suffering and being killed, that all goes into our life's way. So, explain to your family member. If he or she doesn't agree, say, "Okay, it's your way. You eat, you do what you like. I just don't want to eat." That's all. So understand, explain, then I'm sure your husband or your wife will understand. Then comes the point about religion. Yoga is not a part of any religion, because yoga is first. All the religions which exist now on earth were not there when yoga science was there. That is ages ago, and these religions which we believe in now came after some incarnation, some thousand years. So yoga is not a part of religion. If anything, all religions are part of yoga, because the principle, the science, the rules and regulation of yoga is spiritual, for the well-being of the entire earth, the planet. Therefore, yoga is a science of body, mind, and consciousness to liberate the soul. So, Yoga in Daily Life has a spiritual part. Yoga in Daily Life has a satsaṅg. Yoga in Daily Life has a chapter of Haṭha Yoga. In Australia, what you mean by Hatha Yoga is not all of Hatha Yoga. You mean Hatha Yoga as āsanas and prāṇāyāmas and these exercises—that is not all of Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga has six cleaning techniques: our body cleaning and inner cleaning. Neti, Dhauti, Basti, Nauli, Trāṭak, and Kapālabhāti. These are the six techniques. I have with me one student from Vienna. She will speak today about spices, how important spices are to eat, and what is Haṭha Yoga. Maybe tomorrow she will give half an hour of Haṭha Yoga techniques and instructions. It is very good. We can clean our body outside with the air, with the water, with the earth, or with a cloth. But how are we going to clean inside? Each and every nerve, joint, muscle, all tissues—that is the Haṭha Yoga technique. So you have haṭha yoga, rāja yoga, bhakti yoga, jñāna yoga, karma yoga, īśvara yoga—many, many different kinds, chapters of yoga you can learn and practice. And at the same time, we have spiritual practices and singing. Individuals who like to come are welcome, and those who don't like to need not come. So, for good health, you should come and practice your yoga for your well-being, physically. When the body is healthy, the mind will also be calmed down. When the mind becomes steady, then it understands what my body needs. And then the body tells what your soul inside needs. That time, when the sun rises, everyone will look, "Oh, the sun is already here." So, yoga, practice anywhere, wherever you like. But it should be systematically authentic. Nowadays, any movements, they call yoga. Now, there is also one computer called "Yoga." Oh, very good. They are making advertising. Very good. The United Nations has declared an International Day of Yoga on the 21st of June. And we, all our yoga centers, will offer one day of class free for all. Yes? And also, free class in the park. We are going to do yoga in the park, free, once a week. But we have to ask the council if they allow us to do it. So this is our service. And also for the elderly people, retired people who are on pension and don't have enough pension or so, we also give them free or with a concession, at a lower price. Yoga in Daily Life is doing social work. We have a foundation called Save the Birds for the Birds. We have a foundation for lost animals. We have a foundation to support poor children in their studies. About 800 children in India, I am supporting them. I made my own school and college, and they are studying there. We have many, many projects. We are planting thousands and millions of trees. More than 10 million trees were organized to be planted in Adelaide. That time when Mike Raine, who was the Premier, or now the Senator of South Australia, and we were sitting, and I told him, "Wherever I come, I make a peace tree planting." And so I told him, we shall make a peace tree. And then he said, "Swamiji, we shall make one somewhere in the forest. We can give it the name of your name, Swami Maheshwaranand Forest." I said, "Well, that's nice of you, my dear, but this is not good. My name, someone likes, someone doesn't like. Let's have just a forest." Or a spiritual forest, Shanti Peace Forest. So we were thinking, and he said, "Okay, we do one million trees." So they provided the seeds house to house. Anywhere where you have a cup or some earth, make one tree and plant it anywhere. Next meeting, I... said, "Let's go to the five millions," and then again I came the third year, and he said, "I have already eight millions." I said, "Good, and 11 millions more." So this whole big park, and it's so millions and millions of trees become a jungle. I said, "Well, it's..." Still not enough, Mike. And then he went to the other party. He came to the international organization, the United Nations for the environment, and they gave him the duty or faculty for planting the forest, the trees. So, I think he has planted millions of trees through his position. So we are planting a lot of trees all over the world and supporting the earth. We shall try to save Mother Earth. So Yoga in Daily Life is not only for exercises—come and practice and go—but we do believe that we can help. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see." So what you would like to see, you turn yourself this way. In Australia, we have many peace trees. Two trees are planted in Alice Springs, the center of Australia. One is a Bodhi tree from where the Buddha became enlightened. From that tree, a seed came, or someone brought a little plant from it, and it became big, along with some other trees. So, birds are suffering. Animals are suffering. We humans should give them something, a shelter. So, yoga in daily life is that which develops good habits: never become angry, never become offended. Who is angry, offended? That person is very weak. One who is very weak can't forgive, and one who is powerful can forgive. So, who has inner power? One can forgive everything; otherwise, one will explode like popcorn on a hot fan. If you want corn, put it on, it pops up. So yoga shall make us humble, kind, peaceful. So, I wish you all the best. And now, I think something, people are preparing some other program. And they are thinking when he stopped that they can come on the stage. There is some different program. I wish you all the best, and evening we will have something more. I think Śivjyotī has explained to you, gave the programs. Thank you, God bless you. This was a glimpse of Yoga in Daily Life. Deepnā and Bhagavān, next, the very next webcast, so Brisbane time, 7:30, the next webcast will be for all who are with us. Please, if you like, can you see, adio. Six and a half hours. Thank you. Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ, Sarve Santu Nirmayāḥ, Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyanto Mā Kaścid Duhkhabhāg Bhavet. Om Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. Be all happy, with the whole world in peace. Be the health of our planet, and may I also be happy. Lord, bless us with happiness.