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Oṃ yambakam yajāmahe sugandhim puṣṭivardhanam urvārukam iva bandhanāt mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt sarveṣāṃ svastir bhavatu sarveṣāṃ śāntir bhavatu sarveṣāṃ maṅgalam bhavatu sarveṣāṃ pūrṇam bhavatu lokaḥ samastaḥ sukhino bhavantu oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ... Good evening, dear sisters, brothers, and children. It is a beautiful day. Constantly, we have a kind of abhiṣeka, a raining. That is called such an abhiṣeka. Abhiṣeka means a ceremony. If you go to the church, you know they have holy water. But we have holy water only a little. Only God can do such a thing. God is happy, and more than God, nature is happy. And sometimes, less than nature, we are happy. Summer here was very dry. There was a problem with water for the gardens and trees here in Wellington and different parts of New Zealand, where people used to say New Zealand has enough water. But thanks to God, the day before yesterday, He gave enough water. Water is life, and life is water. Where there is water, there is God, and where there is God, there is life. Where there is life, there is light, and where there is light, there is good health. And where there is good health, there are good thoughts, and where there are good thoughts, there is good mental health and mental balance. And when the mind and body are in harmony, then the world is beautiful. When the body and the mind are in disharmony, then we have constant visits to different kinds of hospitals, even to the mental hospital. So it is good that today's subject is about... what was it? Yes, physical and mental health. I think we have no mental cases today. But prevention is better than treatment, so we begin here today. And it is very good that we will have a practice. So one great philosopher said, tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice. Āyurveda is the very ancient system of medicine, a medical science which began in the yugas. Last time we spoke a little bit about yugas, when time began, when the sun first appeared, and when the first elements... Four elements were created out of that, the earth. And when earth came out from the water, with the incarnation of God—out of 24 incarnations, the first that brought the globe out of the water was God. What was His name? Viṣṇu, and they were all, they are juniors. Oh, no, no... Brahmā and they all came after. Okay, Varāha Avatāra. What? Varāha Avatāra. It is a very interesting subject to know the 24 incarnations. At that time we did not have this kind of fighting: my religion and your religion and this religion. All was one, only God, love, light, peace, harmony, etc. So Varāha Avatāra, it was like an incarnation of this big, not a pig, but there is another who has these teeth coming out of the nose, a pig, a big one. He brought the earth out of the water, so the first touch of the sunlight to the earth begins the development. And then, after, begins what we call the biological life on this planet. So the yogīs, through their meditation, researched the entire universe, and they describe what, when, how the creatures develop. Where we talk now, 8.4 million different kinds of creatures, divided in three categories: creatures in the water, then on the earth, and which are living in the space for the well-being of the entire elements. Then life developed, for life means also these plants, the science or the principle of health and illnesses. So that was not a word, "health and illnesses," but it is called balance and imbalance, harmony and disharmony. But in harmony, there is a development, there is a progress, there is a balance and perfect, perfect unity or union with oneself and with all others. This balance means the end of distractions, illnesses, pain, etc. Positive and negative, these two energies developed at the same time: Āsurīśaktis and Daivīśaktis. The energy or light of God, as well as the darkness of the devils. Both merge in our body. Both merge into all creatures. Āsurīśakti and Devīśakti. Within us, both powers are there. That is what we call hidden powers in humans. You have this book; you should read it. In the different levels of consciousness, there are dormant good energies and bad energies, negative and positive. Asuras have a negative energy, which means hate, jealousy, anger, greed, revenge, ego, etc. And at the same time, there is another layer where there is a positive energy: understanding, love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy, compassion, peace, etc., positive. When the negative vibration awakes in our body, then this balance comes: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social, etc. And when the positive comes, then all negative energy goes dormant again, and then light comes. So these both are one circle. The sun rises, and night goes away. The sun sets, and night appears again. We cannot avoid it, and we need the night and we need the day, everything. But to come out of these changes of day and night, there is another light, which is called self-realization: the light of God, the light of the truth. Finally it is called Brahma Satya Jagat Mithyā. That supreme light, God, is the truth; the rest is all unreality. So the system of Āyurveda or yoga begins at that time, which is called the balancing: physical, mental, spiritual, and social health we developed afterward. So Āyurveda's mantra, first Āyurveda's mantra is called... but after thinking, by a great saint's grace to receive, or a yogī, he was thinking, "What is happiness? Where is happiness? Is happiness in money? To have children? Have a partner? Have this? Have that? Good eating, this, that, where is real happiness?" Everything is changing. But then finally, he said the first happiness and the best happiness is good health. Good health means balance; all five elements are harmonized, balanced, and working together with great union, the unity. Then according to Āyurveda, there are different kinds of happinesses which then come to our mental health. The first happiness is your own body. The body is not everything, so. A Western philosopher said, "Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health." Again, we are there. Once there was a government that came, which was a dictator, and they put change the law and this and that, so they declared there is only one law: the boss has the right. Does not matter what happens, the boss is right. So, people like you all, they said, "Well, that is not a democracy, that's not good. There should not be only one; there should be two or more." So I said, "Oh, yes, we have paragraph one, paragraph two." They said, "Oh, thanks to God." What paragraph speaks about? Paragraph number two said, "If the boss has no right, then it's valid." Paragraph number one, understand? No. When the paragraph two, the boss, if you say the boss has no right, then here applies the paragraph number one, that boss has rights. So this is, in both ways, how our health is. But you did not understand what I wanted to tell you. Does not matter between India and P.G.'s little bit long thread. So health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health. First is the body. Now, the body is, according to the wisdom, according to the philosophies, different philosophies, the body is nothing. It is like our cloth; one day we will change it, throw it. But though the body is not everything, but everything is nothing to be achieved without the body. So again, we come there: the body is not everything, but without the body, you cannot get anything. So we have to take care of our body. So first, happiness is the body; the body is also healthy. If you have different kinds of health, then it is the second happiness. Now, for the material world, it is very important to have some material comfort or wealth or anything. Too much wealth is not good for health, but without wealth, your health will also not allow you to be happy. This means the humans are civilized. We have to offer certain hospitalities to our visitors, the guest. We declare guest is God. Atithi Devo Bhava, Sanskrit. So when someone comes to your door, you should be able to give something. If a friend comes to your home and would like to stay overnight, you should be able to give them a blanket, a mattress, a cup of water, or some bread, or something. Hospitality. If you have nothing, what will you say? Therefore, some kind of material means is also required to be healthy. This is also a kind of health, but then again it is said, "Ati sarvatra varjayet." Too much is everywhere prohibited. When wealth comes, then with the wealth grows the greed, and when the greed comes, then all troubles, all disharmonies, fear, etc. develops with it. Therefore ati sarvatra varjayet: too much is to be avoided, okay? If we do not think like this, many people say, "Oh, money is not good, wealth is not good, politics is not good, this whole technology is not good." Now we have the webcast around the world. Now we are sitting here, and many, many televisions are looking at me. No, I am multiplying, appearing in many different places around the whole globe. If they have a connection to the moon, they will see me on the moon too. So this technology has advantages and disadvantages. No light. We do not need this electricity and all this, but there is no light. Outside, it is very cold. We need some good windows. It is raining. We need a roof over our heads. So we cannot say this is not good. It is good. It is a facility, a possibility for our utilities. Use it. Do not abuse it. So, good wealth, okay, there is also good eating, good health, but that is not everything. Every creature likes some different things more. So Āyurveda is compromising many things, he said again. The third happiness is a good partner, a good husband, or a good wife. When husband and wife have the same opinion and same understanding, harmony then is perfect health, mental health. If the mental health is imbalanced, then physical health also suffers. Someone said, "How should...?" be the harmony between husband and wife. So one man said, "Okay, I will show you. Come tomorrow noon." So noon time he came, sun shining, was sitting in the outside in garden, and the man came and he said, "Can you tell me how is the harmony between husband, a man and woman, or husband and wife?" He said, "Yes, I will tell you." He called his wife, and she came, and he said, "Dear one, can you just light a candle and bring it here, please? I need light." She went in the house, and she lit the candle and brought and put it there and went away. And that man said, "Can you tell me what is harmony between husband and wives?" He said, "I saw you already." "What you see, I asked her, 'I need a light, bring candle.'" And she did not make an argument: the sun is shining, there's bright light, what do I do with the candle? She did not argue anything. She understood; there was a mutual understanding. She knew there must be some sense in it. I need a candlelight, okay? She brought it. She did not ask how, and why, and for what. So many things in life, where there's love, there's no arguments. But after some years, the argument begins. This means the disharmony in the family means illness. Okay. The fourth, good children, obedient children. Mother, father said, "Okay, it's time to go to bed. My child, go and sleep." Okay, I will sleep, or do not do this or do not do this. Okay. Children, if your children are good, you do not need to collect money and houses and wealth and nothing. They will get themselves, they will do it, they will manage themselves. Putra, saputra, to kyā dhan-sam chāhiye. If the child is wise, active, and capable, then he or she will earn everything in life. Need not depend on your money. Putra kā putra toh kyā dhan sañche? If the child is not good, abusing drugs and playing, and how do you call it, gambling and this and that, why are you collecting money? That child will destroy everything. So children do not need toys, children need your love. And children do not need money; they need our wisdom. The fourth happiness is this: mental health. Fifth one, that is very good also. The fifth one is a good neighbor. Good neighbor. Neighbor is our family member. Otherwise, such a neighbor, you have the whole night playing loud music, and this and that, and the dog, and many things. It does not let you sleep. Midnight comes at home, and moving the tables and chairs, and this and that, and hammering here and there every day. So you know what is a good neighbor: one who understands us, respects us, and whom we respect. So, a neighbor is like your own family member; have mutual understanding and harmony. They live in two houses, but they are like in oneness. That is the fifth happiness. Then the sixth happiness is that you have your own milk animal, that you do not need to go to buy the pesticide milk from the dairies, and this and that. You have your own cow, or your own milk goat, or the sheep, or the buffaloes, so that you have fresh, good, and healthy milk for you and for your children. Those who have this, and further they said, "Your own farming," so you have good crops, good bread, everything you produce. Only what you need to buy is the salt; everything else, you get it. That is the happiness of the whole life, and peacefully you can then meditate or pray to God. Your life will be successful. Now, in these different kinds of paths of happiness, there is one which we can support ourselves with, and especially now in this modern civilization, to compromise. Compromise all these disturbances, extra disturbances. When this was all written and the instructions were given to humans, at that time, the human population was not so large. But now, there are many things. Our food is not healthy. Whatever we are getting, everything is manipulated with chemicals, this, that, extra. Also, air is polluted, water is polluted, our vegetables and everything is polluted. So, what can we do? Something we call yoga: yoga exercises, and breath exercises, relaxation, concentration, meditation. This means how to digest everyday stress. How to understand everyday stress? Being in this world, how can we be untouched by all these different disturbances? Without this world, we cannot exist, and without our inner peace and happiness, we cannot get that realization. So we have to live, there are three things: how we should live. We have to live with harmony, carefulness, and detachment. Detachment means like a beautiful rose flower which grows in muddy water but comes out so beautiful and pure; there is no dirt at all on it. So this world is like muddy water, dirty water, and you are like a beautiful lotus above this water. Oh, my Lord, if I live in this world, then let me live like a lotus above the water. This is only if we practice detachment. We do care, but we do not suffer. We do not neglect, but we also do not accept—neutral. Then we can come out of this world without any spot, the dirtiest of spots. This is the first thing. Second, the situation in the world is very dangerous, from the humans, from the animals, and from technologies, everything. It is a great disharmony. So, we live now like we live in a lake of crocodiles. There are many, many crocodiles, and you have to live in that water. Live in the water and have an enemy with the crocodiles; it does not work. So, you have to make, somehow, friends or be careful of these crocodiles of revenge, anger, hate, jealousy, greed, etc. We have to sometimes go one step back. And the third, be careful. Though you are with the crocodiles, you have to live and get something out of that. So, say, how? Then we said, "Yes, live like a tongue in your mouth, a tongue between your teeth." Tongue is enjoying the taste. Teeth do not enjoy the taste. The tongue is using them. So every tooth said, "This tongue is so clever. It takes everything away from us, and she lets us work." Yes, but the tongue has to be very careful, and the tongue is also very clever, very gentle. Like you want to catch a fish, it goes like that. So there was an argument between the teeth and the tongue. There was a toothache, very heavy, and something eating. After that, something stuck in between his two teeth. The tongue was always going there to take it out, and the teeth said, "Do not disturb me," especially that one tooth which was painful. The tongue always goes to take out something. Do not disturb me? I am painful, okay? Again, she goes there, became so angry, said, "What do you think? If you want, you know that we have a union. You are only one, and we are a union." Say what? Which union? "We are 32 teeth in the mouth. We can bite you within no time." Then, you know, when sometime you eat, and mistakenly you bite, "Oh, I bite my tongue." So careful, we have a union, so do not disturb me. You are so clever, you use us only. She said, "Well, I want to clean you, I want to help." He said, "No, you like something. What is stuck here to eat? So do not do." We have a strong union. Then the tongue said, "Do not be proud of your union." That one tooth said, "What do you mean?" The tongue said, "If I say one word wrong, the union will be out of the mouth." So do not be proud of that union. Therefore, we live in this world like a lotus above the water. The situation is like living in a crocodile's lake, and dangerous situations are always there. We have to live there like a tongue between, therefore, harmony to maintain in social life and with the parents, with the children, with the partners, this all. It is a way to health. You cannot say, "Okay, I will only jogging or running or making all the day yoga to be happy." You cannot be happy. God did not say, "Whole day do only yoga." Do every day yoga, but did not say the whole day yoga. Whatever you are doing is yoga. Good health, achieving good company, good society, good atmosphere, good harmony, good eating, everything, many, many things, exercising, this, that. All this together makes one whole: the body, mind, consciousness, and intellect. We have five different kinds of bodies. And all these five bodies, like one after another layer: the body of nourishment, the body of energy, the mental body, the body of intellect, and the body of our emotion, the causal body, which again and again asks us to enjoy something. The causal body means the cause of everything, and so yoga is very good. Then the yogīs developed a system for the well-being of humans, in order to protect nature and to love and protect other creatures. That was the reason. Therefore, health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health. Now, sorry, every third person in the world has a problem with the back or the neck. Also, we have a problem with the joints. The joint family, when there is harmony, then the joint family is happy, and when the joints are not in order, then in families, there is a disorder. The pain of the joints, different kinds of joints, is a big problem. And the bones, where they are joining somewhere and moving. How many bones do we have in the body? Someone said something. Speak loud. Oh, yes. Two hundred and six? Okay. So I am not sure after two hundred, but is it two hundred six or two hundred forty or something? We have so many bones. It is small from the beginning, from here and here, and there are double bones, like these arm bones, there too. They are twisting like this. It is like a tongue turning both sides. Many, many, many. They all belong. They are joining to each other, and now how should it be? There should be flexibility, and the tolerance space should be in between that. So, all practices of the āsanas and prāṇāyāmas are not for your joy, that I can do this, and I can lift that much and this much and this. "I" is a problem always. It is said, within you is the ocean of immortality. Within you is the ocean of immortality, and within you is the fountain of joy. Kill this little "I" and lead a divine life. Ego, greed, "I, I" is the biggest problem. So whatever we do, of course we do for our happiness and to enjoy our life. A healthy body has a good life and good enjoyment. Otherwise, what you are searching for is a joy to enjoy. That joy of that enjoyment has little joy compared to the suffering of that enjoyment. So practice systematically, simply, which influences your entire body, and it does not give you some kind of pain or exhaustion. So yoga and daily life are designed in such a way that if you practice every day for one or two hours, it will help you a lot. I am doing all these experiments. Last two or three years, I did not practice every day. So when I came to New Zealand, oh, God, my jet lag was troubling me. Now, three months, I am doing every day, and I do not have that much effect of the jet lag. Of course, the age factors are there. But this practicing of this Yogananda life system gave me such energy again, and all said, "Swāmījī, this time you look very energetic and healthy and good." I said, yes, because I practice yoga in daily life every day. It is simple for everyone. It is not for the kids who are 13, 14 years, 20 years, 18 years. We are not going to the circus to do some acrobatics, but we do yoga. Yoga in life is designed for all ages, even if you are 100 years old or 200 years old, it is designed for you and for small babies too. In New York, there is one old home, and there is one lady. She is now 107 years old, and she is a yoga teacher in that old home. She is also living in the old home, and she showed me her guru's photo many years before she met him, about maybe 80 years before or something. And she said, "My master said, 'You have now yoga, use it or lose it.'" And so she systematically, exactly what he taught, she is doing. And she said, "Look how flexible I am, and I am happy." So in yoga, there is no competition and no challenges, just be. And so.