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Give Health and Peace to the world

The aim of Yoga in Daily Life is to bring health and brotherhood to the world. Teacher training requires exacting practice and discipline, akin to an athlete's dedication. Quality must be prioritized over quantity, with rigorous examinations for certification. Physical or psychic limitations must be honestly assessed. The path involves four key practices. First is disciplined nourishment, avoiding junk food and artificial products. Second is a sustained daily practice of āsanas, prāṇāyāma, and meditation. Third is seeking good company and cultivating positive thoughts. Fourth is right conduct, characterized by humility and kindness, removing pain from others. The goal is not self-aggrandizement but to be a humble instrument for global health and peace.

"Without Paścimottānāsana, you will get mokṣa."

"A wise person is like a diamond. Others will say its value."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Nārendra Bhagavān Kī, Deva Puruṣa Mahādeva Kī, Satguru Svāmī Mahādvajānanda Bhagavān Kī, Satyasanātana Dharma Kī, Caitanya. It is a beautiful day, with very nice air and comfortable weather. We are here, the cream of yoga in their life. We dedicate these two weeks to teacher training. These two weeks are not trivial. Consider Olympic sports: young girls and men jumping on wooden plates. We watch and think, "Oh God, I would also like to do that." It looks nice, but consider their concentration and balance. They win medals, though sometimes someone may fall or make a mistake. In my opinion, I give all of them a gold medal in my thoughts. Do you know how many years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds they have been practicing? The same applies to yoga teachers. We should be able to perform the postures very exactly. There is a limitation: physical disability. It can happen to anyone—a knee injury, hip injury, shoulders, etc. Otherwise, we have to perform and demonstrate exactly. I said to myself that for the last 52 years I tried to practice Paścimottānāsana, but I did not achieve the full position. This year marks 50 years since I came to Gurujī in July. Before that, I was practicing with my father. My father passed away in 1963, as did Mahāprabhujī. Mahāprabhujī, my father, Swami Śivānanda—they all passed in that year. Anyhow, I tried to practice Paścimottānāsana, but I could not. I was not happy. So Gurujī said, "Without Paścimottānāsana, you will get mokṣa." That was a big release for me. But generally, we should practice all. Now is a time in the world where there is, I would say, a kind of competition. Not competition to win, but people are searching. Where exactly, scientifically, are the teachings? The āsanas, the prāṇāyāmas, relaxations, meditations, etc.? It is a place where āsanas, meditation, prāṇāyāma, and so on would be practiced, so that everything would be of high quality. Until now, our people did not pay enough attention to quality. In the next seminars and teacher trainings, only those who have a letter of permission from the National Center will be allowed to come. Those who send applicants will check if the person has physical problems, psychic problems, etc. If the person is capable of learning all these postures in the training, then they may come. In the Strelka itself, we are not allowed to admit everyone. So please, do not become angry or offended. Do not blame. There are no exceptions. This is a question of our quality of yoga in daily life. Therefore, every teacher has to learn, have discipline, and be able to perform the postures. Again, if you have physical or psychic problems, then stay at home. The examination of a yoga teacher will be both in theory and practice: written, verbal, and practical. Certain postures will be given, let's say 25 āsanas, and from those you can choose eight. You must write about those eight postures. This will ensure quality. It is very important. What is the aim of Yoga in Daily Life? If I ask you, teachers, what do we want? What would we like to give to the world through yoga in our lives? We would like to give the world, first, good health. We say physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. This covers nearly everything. But besides that, we have many other activities, and that is called brotherhood without the conflict of nation, culture, and religion. To create brotherhood is very, very important. We know this is very difficult. When someone new comes, we say, "Oh, who is this?" There is no brotherhood in that. There are many problems in the world with humans toward humans. Only we can deal with these problems and bring peace through brotherhood. Our motto should be to bring health to the world—healthy humans. This is the main point. We have points on how to achieve it. First, nourishment. Make your saṅkalpa that even if you do not eat for two days, you will not be ready to eat junk food. If you don't eat for two days, I'm sure you will not die—unless you have diabetes or some disease that requires you to eat every few hours, in which case you should always carry appropriate food with you. Instead of carrying good food, do not eat junk food. It is said: help yourself. Nobody is going to help us. Only we can do it ourselves. Patañjali spoke about discipline: "Atha yoga anuśāsanam"—the discipline. We have to bring one thing under discipline (anuśāsan): our tongue, our mouth, our lips, which always enjoy eating. Junk food has an artificial taste inside, and you swallow it too quickly. If you chew it long, you will feel like vomiting; you cannot swallow it, and it creates a bad smell. Healthy food, the longer you chew it, creates more aroma in the mouth. It is said you should chew a minimum of 40 times. It is said: solid food you should drink, and liquid food you should chew. Also, water you should drink slowly. So, the first point is to bring a healthy way of nourishment. You are not forced to buy junk things. When the world turns in that direction, searching for organic food, it may happen that they remove organic food too. Because there are some people who think it is better to eat chemicals than a fresh salad that might have worms inside. Many people do not think. They use too much artificial perfume and creams. If you use any kind of cream, it does not matter which, after a few days you will be addicted to it. Every cream has, in some form, alcohol to preserve it. No matter what kind of alcohol, it will dry the skin. When you feel the dry skin, you have to put on cream. After some time, it will be dry again. This is how you consume it. So, take natural oils: coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, mustard oil. Organic food will give you energy again. Otherwise, we are lost. Second, we shall make a saṅkalpa: for a minimum of two and a half to three hours, we will practice our yoga. One and a half hours systematically from the system of Yoga in Daily Life—every day, one and a half hours of āsanas. Practicing one āsana for about two minutes and then relaxing for ten minutes is not advisable. But it is like that now. When people come, class begins. They say, "Relax," and the teacher closes his eyes. The whole day was difficult. "Relax, just relax." Ten minutes pass. Then do some simple exercises: Marjari and some shoulder movements. Again, relax. Seventy percent of teachers are only giving a kind of relaxation and not practice. And people say, "This I can do in my office or at home. I came for practice." You see that your students disappear in two or three weeks. The old people remain. That is called the relaxing club, the Tamas Guṇas Club. So, an hour and a half of practice, then prāṇāyāma for an hour and a half, and 10 minutes for the bathroom, or 5 minutes, and then 50 or 55 minutes of meditation. Then do your nīti, agni sāra, wash yourself, and have breakfast. The whole day you are free. That is very important. It is best to practice in the morning so you do not disturb anyone and do not take time away from others. So, practice three hours. That is only very easy: get up early in the morning, that is all. We have one disciple, a doctor in Trenčanské Teplice—do you know him? Dr. Čalko. Every day, lifelong, since he came to know our yoga, winter or summer, he gets up at three o'clock and practices until six. Then, half an hour walking with his dog, then he breaks his fast, and then he went to the hospital because he worked in the spa. Really, every day—that is discipline. By nine o'clock, he was in bed. When people studied his schedule, the nightclubs were unhappy. Nightclub means any restaurant or later pub. If everyone were like this, all pubs would go bankrupt. Nine o'clock, sleeping only. Not all can do this. Five fingers are not equal. So please, practice. So, nourishment and practice. Then comes vihāra. Vihāra means where to go, with whom to spend time. It should be satsaṅga, not kusaṅga. Two persons can do kusaṅga, and two can do satsaṅga. Only one person can do kusaṅga, and also one alone can do satsaṅga. To change the inner vṛttis, read the Aprokṣā Anubhūti of Śaṅkarācārya and read the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha book. That is very, very good. There are a few books which make very clear visions. Satsaṅga means not only singing and such. Good thoughts—when you have good thoughts, you have a smile on your face. When you have positive, clear thoughts, then you are happy. A good remedy for every disease is to have good thoughts. These thoughts are nourishment. The last point is called ācāra. That is very important. So this is our aim, our motto: to bring health to the world. We all work in this direction, but we have to show ourselves. You know, it is not about quantity, but quality. You are quality, but you have too much quantity in the body. So, reduce that unnecessarily. My vision, my thought, is that all humankind develops spiritually. We say we turn Kali Yuga into Satya Yuga. Never say that you are holy, you are great, you are self-realized, you are an incarnation. These are the thoughts of people who should go to the psychiatric hospital. There is a beautiful poem by the great poet Rahim Dās. A great one will never say, "I am a great one." No, they know you are great, and you do not speak. But as soon as you speak, you are not great anymore. So, no fishing for compliments. Do not ask for praise. One should not behave in a certain way thinking, "I am the great one." There are some people who always like to go to the front and sit in the front. And when another comes and sits, they say, "Don't sit here. It's for the beginners behind. Thank you, please go back." And Swāmījī does not know, but somehow he comes to know. Swāmījī says, "Oh, come here, come, come, sit here in the front. Here is a place more free." Then how does the other feel? They know that Swāmījī is doing it purposely. Why? To kill your ego. That is it. Rahim Dās said, does a diamond ever tell you, "I am a diamond, and my price is a million dollars"? The diamond is in the shopping window. It does not call you, it does not smile at you, it does not ask any questions, it does not ask you, "Do you want to help me?" The diamond is just being there, that is all. It is we who say the value of the diamond. So a wise person is like a diamond. Others will say, "Oh, it's a beautiful diamond, an expensive diamond." For that diamond, it is the same as a stone, rock, or crystal. So we have to stay above. Otherwise, we will not be successful. Our old culture—whether European, Indian, African, Japanese, or any culture—when an elderly person comes, the young one will stand up and say, "Please, take a seat." Nowadays, it is "my place." "How could you sit here? Please, can you move?" Others said, "Yes, yes." This is the culture now. But sometimes there are situations you cannot change. You take an aeroplane from Prague and fly directly, non-stop, to Tokyo. You have a first-class seat. An elderly person comes; he has normal class. There, you cannot say, "Please take a seat, I will sit there." To renounce that is something. But sometimes there are opportunities. One elderly person came, walking with two sticks, about 88 or 90 years old, and had to go often to the toilet. One man got up from first class and said, "Please relax here, the toilet is closer." He gave his seat number and went to the other seat. After the plane landed, that elderly man was thanking him so much. So, humbleness, kindness—feel the pain of others, do not cause pain to others. The great one is that one who takes the pain away from others. There are many different kinds of pain: emotional, physical, mental, intellectual, social, pain about your profession. So let us get training so that we want to make the world healthy and happy. Gandhījī said, "Be the change you want to see." It will take time, but it will come. We spoke, I think three or four days ago, about squirrels. The squirrel was contributing, bringing sand in its hair, putting it down where the god Rāma was building the bridge to Śrī Laṅkā. Every step will be counted. So let us turn to good health. Expert teachers—anyone who comes will be inspired and will have happiness to learn from you. So, practice, practice, practice. Postures, postures, postures. We have a holiday for two years from meditation and kriyānuṣṭhāna. The meditation made you gain more kilos. Someone gets up like this and sits like this. What is that? This is the energy of the meditation? But you have many kilos. That is the energy of meditation, healthy? Not like this. So, in every country, if not more than only 100 teachers, that is all. The rest should practice more. So, what is our motto? What is our aim? What do we want to achieve by Yoga in Daily Life? One, one. Somebody get up, please. Anyone, get up and say. One answer, and then the other will give the second answer. It is healthy for everybody. What is that? Half health? Thank you. The question—the answer was not so good. It was true: help everybody. We would like to make people healthy and happy. Amṛt? "Yoga in Daily Life should give social, mental, and physical health to the people and the environment." Yoga should bring health to all the world. Did you practice Paścimottānāsana? Yes, but 50%. Only 50%. "Yoga in Daily Life should help people find a way to a healthy lifestyle." It is certainly good that we have modern medical science. It is, of course, very good. But it would be better if we could live in such a way that we would not need doctors so much. The best thing we can do for our health is to lead a healthy lifestyle, which is what Swāmījī teaches us. He also teaches us to understand each other more than we do and to be able to help each other. We need to learn tolerance and to respect various cultures and nations so that there would be world peace, but the first step is to create peace in ourselves. And I think that this is much more difficult than to learn Śīrṣāsana. So it is health, harmony, happiness, tolerance, and peace. Thank you. Young man, get up. We were walking and running on the mountain. "I have only one wish, perhaps: to share my experience with others. But I am not successful in it. People think of me as a troublemaker, but I am trying to show others that there is joy in āsanas, and I thank you a lot for opening the question of quality. I have been observing it for the last three or five years in Střílky. Every year, you remind us with more insistence on it, up to yesterday. I thank you very much for that. It is not just mastery, but it is a great mastery to make such a decision and go into it. Thank you for that." There are many golden ideas, and many would like to present these golden ideas, but the next session begins very soon. Mistakenly, they prepare dinner or lunch, and we do not want it to be thrown away. A nice cake without egg and coffee is also prepared. So enjoy. Enjoy healthy food. Here, as much as you eat, it is still good food. We have many of our bhaktas who make the bread, and also yesterday you got the apple pie. So it is good. Have a nice lunch time. The next program begins. Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna is only for those who are not in yoga teacher training. It is at three o'clock for yoga teachers. Then what is at two o'clock? Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna starts, and children all go to Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna. What are those who are not going to Kriyā Anuṣṭhāna doing? In the Strelka wood, if you go through, there is a village. I do not know the name of the village. So, everyone—not the Koreans—through the wood. I have forgotten the name. To bring evidence that the village exists, everyone take a photo of the village sign and come back. After eating, we do not want you to do āsanas; walk through the forest. The next program begins at three o'clock. At three o'clock, there will be some postures again. One group can be in that part of the meadow, and the advanced part can be here. Others, therefore, are in Kriyā, and whatever they want. Dīpa Nīla Bhagavān, the key. So, bring the word peace, good health, vegetarian diet, and support organic food for the sake of human health. Also, save the birds, bees, and butterflies, which are getting fewer and fewer every year. No matter how many scientists come, they cannot make honey. Only the bee can make honey. Adiós. Adiós.

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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