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Sanātana Dharma Akhila. Adoration to our holiness. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Welcome to this weekend retreat. I also welcome our international brothers and sisters, practitioners of yoga and life, spiritual seekers. This blessing is coming to you from Śrī Gurujī Āśram, Vienna, Austria. This weekend is dedicated to the theory and practice of meditation. Meditation is a part of yoga. It is the seventh step of Rāja Yoga: Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, and the seventh is Dhyāna, which means meditation, and then Samādhi. It is suggested that one should go through this Aṣṭāṅga Yoga step by step. Ashtanga means the eight limbs or eight steps of yoga; that’s called Rājayoga. Raja means king, and here the king means your Ātmā, the governing force in our existence. In all our different bodies, consciousness, mind, everything is governed through one king, and that’s our Ātmā. Maniṁdriyoka, tuma rājā ho mana indriya ke, he mere antarīyāmā, he mere antarīśvara, he ātmā. You are the king of your mind and your senses, oh my inner Lord, my inner God, Ātmā. So Aṣṭāṅga Yoga is the way to oneself. It contains all different kinds of yoga. If we follow discipline, definitely we will achieve the eighth step of yoga, Samādhi, the final step. Every one of us would like to achieve that level of consciousness. Not only we who are sitting here and listening to me, but all millions or billions of people around the world—it doesn’t matter which kind of spiritual path they are following, it doesn’t matter which belief they have—the final aim is to be with God, be one with God, and that God for all is only one, omniscient and omnipresent. He is the ruler of the entire universe, and His presence is in every creature’s heart, doesn’t matter if it’s human or other creatures. Consciously or unconsciously, everyone is searching for the way back to the origin. Even a small ant is day and night busy to be happy. And that happiness is the nature of that ātmā, and that ātmā is the Self. Also, he tries many different things to be happy. Some are searching for money to be happy. Some are searching to be more beautiful physically to be happy. Some stand in front of the mirror for hours every day, doing their hair and makeup, or picking out makeup, to be happy. Someone is searching for a partner, and someone is changing the partner. To be happy, some are going to eat in a particular place, particular food, different kind of dressing. For what? To be happy. But the happiness which is within us, not outside, nor in the external world, and that happiness only can be realized through meditation, through prayers, following disciplines, and guru-kṛpā. Though we are doing so many things to be happy, we are still not happy. We get some kind of happiness, but it doesn’t last long; again, we are unhappy. But our inner self is searching for everlasting happiness, and that is ātmā-jñāna, knowledge of the self. Between the Self and our present consciousness, there is a big barrier, a big wall, which doesn’t let us come through. That’s called attachment or moha. We are more aware of our physical world and of our physical being. We are attached to this body. We are attached to our friends, relatives, parents, children. We are attached to our house, car, money, property. We think we cannot survive without this. Though we know it’s not a reality, one day we have to give up everything. But still we search for happiness in this temporary world. In all this, our mind is one of the main principles. Our mind is playing with us. Our mind is connecting us with our senses, and our mind brings our inner reality again into our consciousness, to our intellect. Man lobhī, man lalacī, man cañcal man cor, man ke māṭenā caliye, gharipālak man aur. Man is greedy, man is avaricious, and man is full of the desire of greed. Man is chanchal, man is chor, and mind is the restless, and mind is the thief which steals everything away from you. Man kī mate na chalye, don’t follow your mind. Ghari palak man aur, every hour and every second, your mind is different, changing. And therefore, meditation means to come above, come over this restlessness of the mind, like the waves on the peaceful lake, waves on the lake or ocean. Therefore, yama and niyama, these are principles to be followed in everyday life. To follow the rules and regulations of the world and endure your inner feelings, control your mind, senses, and so on. Then the āsanas, to sit peacefully. It’s not easy to sit peacefully. There is very hard work to be done: hard building of a house, or cleaning the snow, or working in the field, in the farms, in gardens. You are capable of working the whole day. If someone tells you, "We will pay you double money, and just remain seated the whole day, don’t do anything," you can’t. It will be boring, you will be tired, you will be sleepy, you will get up, you will be restless, because we do not yet have enough control or mastery over our body. As long as you will not master your āsanas, your postures, you cannot proceed. Yes, if you are physically disabled, you can sit in the chair or sofa; that doesn’t matter. We know that through postures we will not get liberation, but wherever you are sitting, can you sit one hour without becoming restless? If you cannot control your body, you cannot purify, control, and direct your prāṇa energy. Prāṇāyāma means prāṇa vyāyam. Vyāyam means exercise. Vyāyam means training, and prāṇa, not breathing in and out, not the oxygen, but the ten different prāṇas: five upa-prāṇas and five prāṇas. Prāṇa, samāna, vyāna, udāna, and upa-prāṇa, five: dhanañjaya, kṛkara, and so on. This is an exercise, Prāṇāyāma, Prāṇ Vyāyāma. Your meditation or concentration can only be successful if you learn to control and keep your prāṇa healthy. Prana will create a quality in your body, and even the hormones in the body depend on your prāṇa. The quality of the prāṇa in the body also depends very much on the nourishment. The food, solid and liquid nourishment, influences your gland systems, your brain centers, your organs, your circulation, everything. And this kind of nourishment influences your prāṇa. Like from the window we open, fresh air comes, and through other windows it goes out, and it takes the mixed energy, or the mixed prāṇa air, from this room, and brings a different quality out. So the quality of the food colors our prāṇa, and it is that prāṇa which makes us happy, unhappy, sad, scared. Depression, schizophrenia, hallucination, phobias, and all kinds of illnesses in the body. When the prāṇas are not flowing properly, the purification of the nourishment, pure nourishment is not there, and due to the prāṇa not being under control, some desires, some feelings are not realized or freed. That will attack certain parts of the body, and it will collect the quality of the prāṇa which is not good for us. It’s polluted prāṇa, and that causes a very heavy illness. So prāṇāyāma, prāṇokābhyāyāma. It’s not only that you sit down and breathe in and out, inhale and exhale, and inhale and exhale. That’s also very good. It begins with this: inhalation consciously through the Īḍā, and exhalation purifies our lungs. Respiration, and our respiration is very much connected with the oxygen supply into our blood. And with this blood, which is developing different kinds of hormones and through the gland systems, will develop the different kinds of feelings. So it is important to practice āsanas. Our body is very gentle. Our body is just like a glass or a mirror. It doesn’t take time to break a mirror or a glass, and it doesn’t take time for this body to die. It doesn’t take time. We think we are the mighty one, we can do all, and we will do. This is only your imagination. Even if you are a bodybuilder, even if you are who knows what, the time is fixed. There is one table. On the table, one string or a thread is lying, and one who is sitting down is slowly, slowly pulling the thread, and the thread is coming from the table down. The thread has its length, maybe one meter. And when one meter is pulled, it’s gone. Hari Om. So life is called Vidhātā, Bhagya, that’s written in our destiny: how many breaths we will have, and then finished. Yogi said, "God has given you the credit of the breath." And when that was breath, you used it, finished. No more credit there, empty. So the science of prāṇa said, the yogī said, that through supplying more oxygen and more cosmic energy, you can prolong your life. It means even the destiny, you have to think over. But don’t think that destiny is so weak. No. Destiny has thousands of possibilities to attack you, to cut the thread. Finished. Are you? Thousands. Accident. Now you say, "I will not drive a car. No accident." Accidents can be earthquakes. You are sitting peacefully, relaxed. Who knows? The guest, customer, and date are not announced. Nowadays, a guest is not a guest; they are a visitor. There is a difference between a guest and a visitor. A guest is called atithi. We don’t know anything, and suddenly we will come to the door and knock. That’s called atithi. "Atithi Devo Bhava" in the Upanishads is said: the guest is God. But that one who suddenly comes, now telephone, mobile many times, "Can you tell me which road is good, which side is good?" You are not a guest, you are a visitor. That’s all. The visitor, you know, you are hanging somewhere. So, a guest is that who, without announcing, suddenly there is a—you are here. And the customer, you have a shop, whole day nobody came, no client came to buy anything. And five minutes before, you just close because no one came, and you go home. In the last minute, someone comes and makes a business deal with you, worth millions. Or if you would have gone one minute before, hurry home, you lost. Therefore, a businessman, an owner of a shop or a company, never looks at the watch. They are successful, but the employee will go ten minutes earlier and will come ten minutes late. There are employees; even if someone comes, a client comes to buy, and you say, "I’m sorry, the shop is time to close." Excuse me, because she has to go to her boyfriend and is closing quickly, because she doesn’t feel it in the heart. Only that one feels the pain under whose skin the salt is going. Before, you don’t feel so. If it is your own, then you feel something, but if you are just employed, it doesn’t matter. End of the month, I will get my salary, hurry home, and the death. Will not tell you that tomorrow 11 o’clock I will come suddenly, therefore always be ready. It is said, "Chetan ho jaare, mushaafir gaadi aane wali hai. Gaadi aane wali hai, gaadi jaane wali hai. Chetan ho jaare, mushaafir, gaadi aane wali hai." Wake up. Be alert, oh traveler. The train is coming. Train will come and train will go. It will not wait for you. That’s it. And therefore, if you would like to achieve that highest level of consciousness, then you have to practice, my dear. And prāṇāyāma with the nourishment, so don’t tell you eat what you like. Who does this like? Who? Only this part of the body. Did you ask the stomach? No. That’s it. Just because the more feeling is here in this part of the body, that’s why you like this and you don’t like this. And our problem is liking and disliking. In this body, there are ten senses. Tan means the body. In this body, there are ten senses. There are ten senses in this body. They are rare yogīs. Who have under control these ten sages? But even for them, two they should not trust, you never know. The testing and the sexual, or the gender. These two, you never know suddenly when, it’s like you will be slippery on the ice. Minus how many degrees? Minus, minus, minus freezing point, maybe 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and suddenly you are going with your car and a little slide curve, and you say, "I am a good driver," you go, brake, car will go like this. So alert. So through our sattvic vegetarian diet, we can control a lot of feelings, aggressivities. The biggest problem is aggressivity, aggression. With aggressivity, if you are aggressive, it means that much you are scared. Why are you aggressive? Because you are scared. So, these are both parallel to us. So, as long as restlessness is there, there is no dhāraṇā. Dhāraṇā means concentration. Concentration is not easy because there are a lot of temptations. You think that you have good concentration. But there is one test: how to find out if you have good concentration or not. There is one little story. Should I tell you a story? There is, my God. Everybody said, "Yes," but I don’t know which story. I just told you. What did I say before? Concentration. Yes, now the story is coming. Thank you. So there was a king. That time was the king, now the ministers, president, okay? And the boss, the home boss, so the ruler, no? So the king had one daughter, and his daughter was very wise, very intelligent, very alert. Don’t think that ladies are not like that. They are very wise. You know, you all ladies are thinking, "But Swamiji is saying it’s a dream." It’s not a dream, ladies. There are among you also; there could be some. At that time, the Vedic call, Vedic time, Vedic religion, it is said, the girl had a choice to choose her husband. Boy couldn’t choose. Even though he loves her very much, it’s only a dream. So that was a protection. And now, the king would like his daughter to marry. And the daughter said she had some game to play. What do you call this? Shark. Shark says, yeah. And who will be the winner? That will be my husband. And sure was that she had one weapon in her, with her. And that was a cat. What? And the cat was sitting beside her, and she had one oil lamp. On the head of the cat. As long as the cat does not move, she will be the winner. And if the cat moves and the light falls down, she will lose it. But the cat was so well trained, it didn’t matter what happened, she was sitting nicely there. Even she had her eyes closed, but she never moved her head. That’s why such cats and the ladies, they are equal. Carrying on the head a big water pot or anything, and walking like anything, talking, laughing, doing like this, "Hey, look at that!" but still their pot is motionless, no? Do you try? Did you try? What kind of woman are you? You didn’t try in your life. Tomorrow, take a 10-kilo, 10-liter water pot, iron on the head, and then walk in your flat and talk to your husband, "You did wrong, and this, you did this." But this should be motionless. That’s called dhāraṇā. What? Concentration. Dhāraṇā. Many beautiful boys came, many princes came, but the princess was always a winner. One man, he was also very intelligent, very alert, very clear thinker. Like, I don’t see anyone here, President. That’s it, but he’s also a good one. So they told him the hard trick, and the winner is the cat. The cat will never move, light will not fall down, and you cannot be with her. He said, "Okay, I got it. I will win her." So he got one thick bamboo flute, and inside he tied one mouse. The tail of the mouse, so the mouse was inside. When the right time came to win, he loosed the string of the mouse, and the mouse came a little out of the bamboo. And what did the cat do? Like this, it fell down, and the princess, since he took the... Garland and put it around his neck. Deep Nayan Bhagwān kī. Finally, good boy, winner. So, your vṛttis, our mind, our feeling is that cat; don’t trust, it never knows which mouse will move inside. Which mouse? Hormones in the body, desires for eating, wearing, anything, any kind of desire, must not always be sexual things. There are many desires, and suddenly your thoughts are disturbed. Therefore, no matter what happens, your concentration should be very steady. That’s called dhāraṇā. Pratyāhāra, the power to withdraw yourself from the external world. As long as you cannot withdraw yourself from the external world whenever you want, you cannot have dhāraṇā. Therefore, God Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad Gītā to Arjuna, a yogī should be like a turtle, the turtle who can take his limbs inside at any time and take them out at any time. So, a yogī is one who can bring the feelings and thoughts out at any time and can withdraw them at any time, that’s all. And then the concentration comes, and then comes the meditation. Meditation is different: active meditation and passive meditation. In Kali Yuga, active meditation is easier and more beneficial for us. Active meditation means doing seva, karma yoga. And that’s why Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna, "Arjuna, yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam." Your yoga path will be completed through doing the karma, karma yoga. Niṣkāma karma and sakāma karma. Niṣkāma karma means selfless work. And śakāma karma is selfish work. As long as you think selfishly for yourselves, girls, you will never be successful. Maybe you think inwardly that I make others stupid, but he knows. That he knows you are a selfish one. Who is not selfish looks completely different. And the selfless is always afraid. The selfish is always afraid. In Austria, high in the mountains, there is a farmer’s family, and they have a few cows, some little fields for crops, and a forest. They are sometimes working in the field somewhere, but they never lock their house, their rooms, or their kitchen. The kitchen is open, and there is one on the table: some bread, butter, cheese, and so on. A piece of paper is written, "Dear one or guest, feel at home, please eat, enjoy." If there is something not enough, there is money in the basket; feel free to go and buy and eat. I am asking, how many are you doing at home? Do you leave your door open? You have three locks: one up, one here, and one sideways. Because we humans don’t trust other humans anymore, and that is a conflict in the world. Otherwise, to live for someone is the sense of our life. For you I will die, and for you I will live. For you, O my Lord, I breathe, and for you, O my dear, my heartbeat is for you. It means not for one person, but for all. That is a human quality. That’s human quality. So, yoga-karmaśa-kauśalam. Arjuna, your yoga will be successful through doing good karma. That’s called active meditation. People are on the waiting list to do some seva, to go for some karma yoga. Many lives you did selfish things. And many times, for so long, you worked for yourself. Do something nice, karma yoga, work somewhere. And that’s not easy. Mahāprabhujī said, "And in the Bible also it is said," You have to die to live. That’s it. You have to kill your ego. Then you can do karma yoga. Otherwise, you have here the arrow of the karma, which doesn’t let you surrender and do the karma yoga. Work is never dirty or bad. The dirt is in thoughts and actions. Therefore, passive or active meditation. For us, active is easier to go and work, help, and do these things. Passive is to close your eyes and sit down. It’s difficult, why? It’s very hard. Because after 10-15 minutes, you say, "Aum, Aum,..." Gurudev, Aum, Aum, Gurudev, Gurudev,... Aum. That I see when you are all meditating, I am sitting in front of you. A teacher should not close their eyes while teaching or meditating. All are sitting with closed eyes; one has to be awakened with open eyes. Twenty are sleeping in one room; one has to be always awakened. A poisonous snake comes in, or something happens; the awakened one can awaken you. If you are also sleeping, then it is finished. Similarly, among so many, some awakened yogīs should be, should be, some conscious yogī should be, some Gurudev who can awaken us and lead us. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said, Daulat aur mālikhā jānā sab yahī rahī jāve, yā jīv jāye akelo, sāth nahī āve. At the end of time, when life goes away, who will come to support it? Guru will explain it. Chet, Chet,... Chet. Thank you for watching. Bhāva pāṭ lagāve re, Sathguru śaraṇam. Bhāva pāṭ Guru kṛpā bin, jaya chaurāsī gota khāve re. Samujhāve Guru kṛpā bin, jaya chaurāsī gota khāve re. Caitā, caitā... Bhagavān Nipuṇār. Suta Haṁsa Jetāve Sītā Bhagavān Dīpanārā. Suta Haṁsa Jetāve. Suta Haṁsa Jetāve Suta Mādhāvānandha Bhajan Se. Sab Sukh Pāve Suta Mādhāvānandha Bhajan Se. Saba Sukh Pave. Therefore, to be alert. Internally and externally, ready to be for Seva, Niṣkām Karma. Doing Niṣkām Karma Seva means you are depositing money in your spiritual bank. This credit will be given to you in the next life. Something in this life, in this life you will get only interest, but in the next life you will get your, what you call, no, no... not interest, but capital. That’s it. That’s why the capital is there. So, karma yoga is the best way to meditate. Mukh me Rām, hāth me kām. In your mouth, the name of God, Rāma. In your hands is work. Otherwise, it is said, Mukh me Rām, bagal me sūrī. Not like this. In the mouth you have God’s name, but here you have hidden a knife. That is tricky. Therefore, do not be tricky. Do not try to cheat. Do not think that you made someone stupid. Do not be selfish. A selfish one will never be happy. Selfish ones will always be greedy; ones will always be the victim. There was a highway, and they were transferring the crops. And when they were transferring the crops, some grains were falling on the road. So when there were no trucks coming, the birds were going on the road and picking up these grains to eat. When the truck or vehicle came, they flew away. But there was one greedy bird who thought, "I will take one more." And always she picked one more and flew away, thinking, "I am the clever one." And one day, what happened? She became a ketchup. That’s it. Therefore, Chetan ho jāre. Be alert, be aware, and be ready to do something. Then inner meditation will come. So, today is enough for this lecture, and now we will have a meditation after how many minutes? 30 minutes, 20 minutes, after 20 minutes we will have meditation. And all the dear brothers and sisters around the world, I wish you all the best and a very good night. Tomorrow morning, according to Middle European time, meaning Austrian time, see you. 10 o’clock AM. All the best, and God bless you. Good night. We will have meditation, and in meditation we don’t want a light. And I will teach you now an active meditation, okay? After twenty minutes. Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ, Sarve Santu Nirāmayāḥ, Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu, Mā Kaścid Duhkha Bhāgbhavet. Om Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ.