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Someone asked me about problems with joints—knees, shoulders, and so on. There is something which is very good, a treatment taken only once a year for about one month. It is very pleasant and effective. It is also excellent for mothers after giving birth and for ladies who often have low iron. It has many, many good qualities. When I tell you, everybody would like to do it. It is something to eat, and it is so tasty you will ask, "Swāmījī, can I eat a little more? Good idea?" You know methī? What is it called in English? Fenugreek. In German, they say Bockshornklee. We can harvest it here in a field organically. I will give you the ingredients approximately. Take one kilo of methī seeds. Fry them a little on a hot pan without oil. Then grind them—not into a fine powder, but a little coarse, like polenta. Then take one and a half kilos of organic brown wheat. There are two kinds of wheat: one is whitish, and one is a nice brown from which we make black or brown bread. This is the whole wheat. You also make it a little fried without oil on a hot pan and then grind it like chapati flour or bread flour. Sounds good, no? Then take half a kilo or one kilo of almonds. Wash them with cold water, dry them, and grind or grate them. Take half a kilo, and add 100 grams of dry ginger powder, 15 to 20 grams of cardamom seeds, and also dry coconut chips—make them small. How much coconut? Fifty grams; when dry, it is plenty. Then add twenty grams of cinnamon and one kilo of Indian jaggery (gur). It should be nice and raw, not chemically cleaned. Our Muktānand should impart this knowledge. Fry the methi and wheat flour on the pan. Then put inside one and a half liters of pure ghee. Then, as if making halva before adding water—but do not put any water inside—mix everything together. The jaggery should be cut into small pieces. Once the mixture is fried, let it cool. Then make laddūs of about 40 to 50 grams each, like a tennis ball. Eat one laddū every morning with no tea, coffee, or milk (herbal tea is okay). If you can digest it, eat two; otherwise, one is fine. Then do not eat anything for one or two hours. While taking this, do not consume any other kind of oil. Āyurveda says to eat a lot of ghee, while Western approaches say to eat a lot of oil; we do not argue. Follow this for 20 days or more. During this period, avoid anything made from yogurt, tomatoes, or any sour food except lemon. Also avoid citrus fruits, carrots, root vegetables, melons, honey, and beans. Only green mung dāl is permitted. Eat mostly leaves, fruits, and vegetables like pumpkin and a little potato. You can eat rice, wheat, and corn. Enjoy. After two months, tell me how your joints are. This is a bomb for your knees, joints, and back. This treatment must be done in the cold season, in December or January, and only once a year. Your body will like it very much and will ask for it again after two or three years. Otherwise, you may feel double pain in the joints. It is like a good addiction. It is also good during pregnancy; the child will be very healthy, and the mother’s milk will be excellent. You can add a little turmeric powder. Avoid tomatoes, mangoes, pineapple, and sour fruits like apples. Sweet fruits are okay. This is just for one month. Sounds good. I do not know if you can do it properly. If you make it for yourself, do not give it to your husband, or he will empty the whole jar—or do it together. It is for older people or those with real pain in their knees and joints. Remember: no tomatoes, eggplants, or gas-producing beans—only mung dāl. Welcome to the Divine Park Welcome to this beautiful divine park—the garden, though small, of the Mahāprabhū Deep Foundation Ashram. This is one of the best places to learn, to practice, and to gain good health. It is incomparable. Nature is nature. You can have a nice, beautiful, big building of 70 or 80 floors with big restaurants, lobbies, conference halls, modern decor with plastic flowers and plants, and good air conditioning. But that cannot make us so happy, relaxed, and joyful in our soul. Therefore, it is Prakṛti. Prakṛti means nature. Nothing can compare with such clean, pure air as here. We should not waste time. Use every minute in this space. Do prāṇāyāma, do āsanas, sit and meditate, or read a nice, practical book on yoga in daily life—not books where dreamers write. Do not be a library worm. We must have reality and practice. This is also for every yoga teacher: if possible, even for just one weekend, take your friends and students into nature. Europe has beautiful nature—parks, beaches, lakes, mountains, forests. For one weekend, practice walking and keeping silent. Learn silence from the trees. These trees talk to us silently. They have life; they are living. They also have a soul. They are our mother, what we call Mother Nature—Prakṛti. This Prakṛti is also connected to our body, our own nature. There is also a thorny nature with cacti, stones, and different creatures like reptiles. Similarly, every human has a different nature. Some have a nature that is not pleasant; they are neither happy nor can they make others happy. They are introverted and selfish. Humans should respect and adore humans. That is what yoga tells us. Yoga is a part of non-violence and peace. First, we must overcome or give up violence. Then we can think and meditate on peace. How should a yoga teacher lead the practice to create a beautiful atmosphere? Choose those students who are really practicing. On such a weekend, do not touch each other. Do not eat too much—just enough so your stomach does not complain, for the stomach complains twice: if you eat too much, you do not feel good; if you eat nothing, it complains loudly. Be balanced and limited. Then you will understand what yoga means, what peace means, and how to harmonize. Do not complain. Do not blame. Everything is on ourselves. This is part of yoga teacher training. Even if you are not a teacher, this is not only for teachers. The teacher receives this knowledge to make others happy, relaxed, comfortable, and free in thought. That peace will guide you. Thanks to many big cities and, in Europe, many parks, if you cannot go far, go with a group to a beautiful park where fewer cars move. Do meditation and prāṇāyāma, even with open eyes. Do your prāṇāyāma and look at the trees. This will create a happy, healthy relationship with your friends or students. Do not allow those who come only to chat selfishly and backbite. You have many complaints, negative and positive things, stress, and office matters. When you come for a weekend, withdraw yourself from that parpunch—nonsense talking about this and that person not being good. In a company of 30 people, often all are not in harmony. It is not easy to create harmony in a family either. In the beginning, when you find a partner and marry, it is nice and happy. Then comes, "Why don’t you do this? I don’t like that." An atmosphere of discord is created in families and companies, with people vying to be the boss or to take a position. You might ask, "How does Swāmījī know this?" I did not work in a company, but people tell me how the situation is—sometimes unbearable, with words that are not good. We are dependent because we need money and fear how we will survive. If you could try to change people, ask them to come just once for one week. I will show them. They might say, "Yoga? We don’t want this." But say, "Just come." Clean your thoughts. As the doctor says, "I can help you if you help me"—follow the instructions. Gurujī once told a story about two ants. One ant lived in the Sugar Mountain, and the other in Salzburg (the "Salt Mountain"). They met at a conference. The salt ant asked, "Sister, where are you from?" "I am from Salzburg, the salty mountain." The sugar ant said, "Salt is not good; it’s so salty." The salt ant replied, "You don’t know; it’s very tasty. Come, I will introduce you to my salt mountain. Where do you live?" "In the Sugar Loaf." In ancient times, that was one of the biggest Śivaliṅgas. When the Portuguese came, they did not know what to do, so they called it the Sugar Loaf. It is a Śivaliṅga. Do you know it? Where Christ sits on top? He was holding my hand to fly together, but I said, "Christ, you remain here," to balance the atmosphere. The sugar ant said, "I heard people get diabetes from sugar." The salt ant said, "No, the sugar will not get digested? How is it? You must visit the Sweet Mountain." The salt ant, fearing hunger, put two balls of salt in her gums and walked to the Sugar Mountain. The sugar ant invited her and brought a plate full of sugar. "Sister, taste this." She tasted it and said, "It’s the same taste as my salt." It tasted funny. "It can’t be salty." It was. "Sister, can you open your mouth?" She opened it, and there were two big salt pieces. "What is this?" "My salt." "Please, take them out for a while, brush your teeth, clean your mouth." She did so and then tasted the sugar. "Wow, for the first time in my life, my eyes opened, and all my senses became active. This is great. Sister, can I stay here in the Sugar Mountain?" "The land is very expensive, but we will organize some milliliters for you. It’s enough for the end." So when you invite someone to a retreat or weekend, tell them, "Now take off those thoughts—anxiety, nervousness, sorrow, ego, etc.—and come to the sweetness of Prakṛti, nature." Immediately when we come to such a park, all our senses relax: our lungs, respiratory system, digestive system, eyes. You see how God has made every tree a slightly different color, with a different leaf design. How many scissors did they have? When leaves come out, there are millions of God’s workers shaping all the leaves, yet they are the same size and pattern. That is Prakṛti, nature. Everyone has the same qualities: harmonizing peace, the blessing of nature, the glory of God’s creation. What we call love is often not love. We should speak of glory, beauty, harmony, joy, immortality. These are the words we should use. Nowadays, it is just "love, love, love." Divine mercy, happiness, liberation, peace, greatness—those words are called love. God is love. But which love? People understand it so differently; the human mind often goes to the tendency of sex. That is the disharmony in humans—only humans, not animals, birds, or other creatures. Tell a bird, "I love you," and she will say, "What? Are you crazy? Is it not time for that? In the spring." Relax, human. A retreat means we need to re-treat ourselves. We were treated, but we lost it, and now we treat again. A seminar is good, but in German, "seminar" is also a word that is not entirely good. If you make two words, it is semi (small) and nar (foolish)—a little foolish. So everyone becomes a little foolish and then becomes wise again. We get that lesson. So become a yoga teacher and make your students happy. When they come to your yoga room, tell something nice so the beginners laugh a little—not just "sit down, lie down, raise one leg up, cycling." The teacher should smile. Your words should be like drops of nectar. Your being should be like these trees. Therefore, it is said, "Oh my mind, be like a tree." In any situation—snow, ice, storm, drought, rain, great heat—the tree stays in the same place. It endures heat, cold, drought, and storms because the tree knows its dharma: "I am here for all. I will suffer, but I will not let others suffer." You never know when someone will come. Some birds will want shelter. If a flood comes, ants and other creatures will climb up on me. Others may spit on me. When it is hot, someone will find shade under me. If they go away, I do not mind. But when they come, I give them shelter, flowers, and fruits. Someone may be nasty and throw a stone to knock my fruit down, but my dharma, my tree nature, is that I never take the stone and throw it back. I endure their nastiness. I give them my fruit instead of a stone. One slap on this cheek, and I will not slap back but offer the other beautiful cheek. Let them have it. That is the nature of a tree. Therefore, four things are holy on this earth: Sarovar (the lake), which keeps water for all; Tarovar (the trees), which exist for others; the sand; and the rain. They do not act for themselves but give to others. This is the way of thinking for a yoga teacher. Do not say, "This is my friend, and I will go drink coffee with my friend," while thinking, "This other person always comes. Ah, now it’s finished. Please go all, Hari Om." And do not say, "If my friend came to train with me, I will go with him to a cafe," while telling others, "The lesson is over, go home, Hari Om." Of course, you should go with your friends, but give equal feeling to all. If you make differences between your students, a stinking atmosphere spreads without words, and your students will decrease. The teacher needs to offer respect, harmony, kindness, space, a good atmosphere, and good teachings. Respect the students and let them go home happy. Teaching is not only about postures but also about learning to give sympathy. After a stressful office atmosphere, students come to a yoga class to feel happy. But if the teacher says, "Yes, and that was not like this, and this stupid person, and my car had an accident, oh God, what a terrible thing, and my water pipes broke..." other students will think, "We know all this already all day. Please do not put more stress on us." So the teacher becomes one with all, not just one or two. Like rain that falls equally on thorns, rocks, sand, plants, and grass. That is called samdṛṣṭi (equal vision). Prabhujī, mire augun chitna zaru. Sam draṣṭī he nam tyaro, chahe to par karu. "O God, please do not notice my mistakes. You are equal-visioned. You have mercy for all. O God, if you want, you can liberate me, you can rescue me from this ocean of māyā." Therefore, we should give such positive energy. Chath Guru, Chath Saṅgyārī, Olu Averī. Olu Averī, Nen Bharjaverī. "I am longing, looking forward to my yoga friends in the yoga class." Then we will all be very good. I wish you all the best. We will see each other very soon. I wish that your stomach does not complain. Thank you. Thank you. Adió. Adió.