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Part 1: Yoga for Body and Beyond Om śānti, śānti, salutations to the cosmic light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In His divine presence, a very good evening to you, dear sisters and brothers. It is a beautiful day, and I feel deeply honored to be here in this holy temple. When I heard we would have a lecture in the church, I thought it would be in some hall, but upon seeing this sacred space, I feel the subject, “Yoga for Body and Beyond,” is already fulfilled—for church is indeed beyond. I do not know how old this church is, perhaps a few hundred years. Over centuries, millions of people have come here to pray, and so it carries a great spiritual experience: the energy, the vibration, the presence of the divine spirit. Besides this, I am very happy to see you all and to welcome you. Yoga is not new. I have no doubt that you know what yoga is. In recent years, yoga has become an international subject, acknowledged by the United Nations through the World Day of Yoga on the 21st of June. Where there is a human, there is yoga; and where there is yoga, there is a human being. I have been travelling the world for the last forty‑five years, visiting many countries and islands—Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, parts of Asia, Africa—and everywhere I have found yoga. Many understand it, many do not. So my question to you today: are you attending a yoga lecture for the first time, or have you known about it from before, or are you already a practitioner? Is there anyone here who has been practising yoga daily for at least two or three years? Please raise your hands so I can count: one, two, three, four, five, six… that is all. The rest of you may not yet have heard much about yoga and its practice. Well, you give me a hard time! Dear ones, the word yoga has two syllables: yo‑ga. Yoga means union. Today we came together in yoga—meeting together. And yoga also means reunion. It is a science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul. Yoga is a very ancient science for our physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. It creates harmony among body, mind, and soul. Great saints designed yoga ages ago for the well‑being of humanity, to protect themselves and to protect others, all creatures, nature, everything. Yoga means union, harmonizing, and balancing. These are its three principles. There are three things. One is the space that we all know. It is endless—endless beyond any borders. And we are not endless; our knowledge is limited. That space we see is like a mother’s body. The sky is the mother’s body. Within this space is what we call consciousness. Consciousness is in the space, not space in consciousness. And this consciousness is like an embryo in the mother’s body. Then there is the third principle: that which unites, harmonizes, and balances space and consciousness. Everything arises from these three. So first is the mother. In the beginning, God is the mother. Yet even then, no one is yet born. But I tell you, I am already there, and you are also with me there where there is nothing—only the feeling of space, consciousness, and energy. That is all. In Sanskrit, this is called śūnyākāśa, empty space. Now there is something we call, “O Lord, Thy will will be seen.” A thousand times this has been spoken in this holy place. Does God have a wish? If God has a wish, then what about us? But that wish of God is different from our normal wishes, which are what we think: I want to study, I want to finish my studies, I want a good job, a good partner, a house, and so on. This is our worldly imagining all the time. But that one primordial wish—who spoke of it? It is said that the Cosmic Consciousness thought, Eko’haṁ bahu syām: “I am one; let me become many.” The scriptures tell this, and I am sharing it with you. But who is there? There is nothing. Yet there is a tendency, there is something. And so a kind of vibration begins: the sound. Nāda‑rūpa parabrahma—the resonance is that Supreme Consciousness. In the Vedas, one of the first scriptures written by humans, we find the sacred syllable Aum. Aum is vibration, the sound. From this vibration comes light, a flame. Light represents the pure consciousness, the presence of God—the formless God, only light. That is why we always light a candle; here, during holy mass, there is a candle’s light. Within us there is light; every living creature is a light. And from that light came many suns, stars, moons, and so forth. That is the beginning of creation: “I am one; I will multiply.” The wish to multiply myself, the sound, the resonance, and manifestation. That God has no mother and no father; He manifested Himself, simply appeared. Then creation unfolds. According to yoga, there are 8.4 million different kinds of creatures. Out of these millions, only one is the human being. So there is only one human race—it does not matter whether you are tall or small, this or that. Human is human. So, among the 8.4 million species coming and going, even the one‑day fly, the human stands out. And humans possess a powerful tool: the intellect. Intellect needs education. What kind of education will we give? Which kind of culture, religion, or way of living? It is education that makes you a doctor, a surgeon, a teacher, a professor, or a dean. It is education that shapes politics, gardening, farming, and every field. We need knowledge. Humans have a greater capacity to understand, accept, and see everything. This is how humans come into being; then countless numbers come and go—die and are born again, die again. Whether you believe one is reborn or not, that is fine. The reality is what it is. If after death everything is finished and nothing remains, then why do we visit graveyards? In India, at the beginning of November, there is a day dedicated to the ancestors. So there is continuity. In these very few words I have given you a glimpse—just a little bit—about the soul and its development within the body, among many other ways. Now we are here. Someone said, “Health is not everything.” But everything is nothing without health. We are born already old—already nine months old when we leave the mother’s body. So age begins counting immediately. But health is life. Thanks to God that we are healthy. Without health, the body is nothing. Without health, there is nothing. Physical health, mental health, social health, and spiritual health—all of these make us balanced, make us whole, and enable us to act. Yoga has many, many branches. Its different approaches cover the full spectrum: from maintaining health through movement and healthy eating, a healthy way of living and thinking, all the way to becoming one with God, with the endless universe, with the endless consciousness—uniting with That. So, from that supreme state down to our ordinary life, and from here back to there, there are numerous branches, numerous techniques, and they all belong to yoga. First come the physical exercises. Nowadays many physical exercises have changed. The Olympic Games are a good example. Originally, Olympia began from Greece, didn’t it? A messenger ran a great distance to bring news to the king; he arrived saying, “We are the winners!” It was wartime, and there were no telephones. He worked very hard, striving to deliver that first message alive. Today at the Olympics, champions strive with immense effort. In this way many sports and varied forms of movement developed: therapeutic movements, walking, skiing, and many more. But yoga exercises are completely different from all those sports. Sports are very good, without doubt. They demand discipline. Those champions, those sportsmen, practice hour after hour every day. If they neglect their training for even a week, it becomes difficult for them. In yoga, we say, Atha yoga anuśāsanam. Yoga begins with discipline. Whatever we do, we must have discipline. Whatever we wish to achieve—our studies, our work, our company, our business—can be successful only if we have discipline. So, yoga starts with anuśāsanam, discipline. You may think, “All right, tomorrow I will become disciplined.” But no, there is no tomorrow. Have you ever seen tomorrow? There are only two days: yesterday and today. Tomorrow is nothing. We never see tomorrow. So why say you will do it tomorrow? Tomorrow simply means the next sunrise. But discipline must be decided just now. Decide just now—that is one of the best things, and you can become successful. Otherwise, it is gone. We always think, “Tomorrow some guests will come, so I cannot do it,” or “I have been invited to a picnic; after that I will start.” We humans have endless excuses, and that is why you cannot become a champion. A champion does not say tomorrow, not even today, but just now. Begin. Make your saṅkalpa. If you smoke and wish to give it up, say, “Just now finished.” It is finished. You might say, “There is one last cigarette in my bag; let me finish that, then I will stop.” You cannot do it that way. It must be immediate. That decision creates something in our brain, in our mind, in our heart. That is discipline, and that is called yoga. Not tomorrow, not today, but just now—decided. Yoga was designed for good health, and good health involves many things. Gaining physical health is not only about movement and running. A healthy environment, a healthy atmosphere, healthy family relations, healthy social relations, healthy politics, a healthy government, a healthy country—peace, harmony, understanding, happiness—all of these create deep joy in our bodies. Then our lives become brighter, and more years are added; we live longer. In earlier times, people did not know what was happening in London. It took many days, weeks, or even months before a message arrived: “Oh, there was a big flood in London.” Now we learn about events instantly, but that also means we have no rest from tension. In those days we were happier, more relaxed. When a war ended, leaders sitting in Edinburgh or Glasgow would decide, “We finish the war,” and they signed the peace. Yet their soldiers were still fighting somewhere on the border; there was no telephone. They kept fighting until the message reached them, which could take one or two weeks. So at that time we were fortunate to have fewer tensions. Now, with so much information flooding our brains—not a thousand things, but millions—human beings feel completely threatened. Other animals do not experience this so intensely, though your house pet may be exactly as nervous as you are. Therefore, to attain peace, a good environment, a good atmosphere, and a wholesome way of living is the first cause of good health. The second is good thinking. Always think positively. If something is not positive, try to make it positive. There should be no sorrow in your body, no sudden shock. Live moment by moment, knowing that everything will be. Next comes nourishment. Eating is not just about filling the stomach; it means taking the kind of food that promotes health. Unfortunately, nowadays it is very hard to get organic food. When I first came to your country in 1970, organic food was not yet a term people recognised. Often they would ask, “What? Organic?” I replied, “Everything is organic! What do you think?” But now, everything is poisoned. So much pollution, so many pesticides, countless chemicals on our fruits, vegetables, and grains. Even milk is manipulated in the dairy. Everything—even the air we breathe—is compromised. It is all caused by humans. We need all of this, yet we are destroying it. It has been said by Gandhi: “Mother Earth has enough for our need, but not for our greed.” And a Native American said, “When the last tree has been chopped down, and the last fish has died, then, O man, you will realise that you cannot eat your dollars.” Part 2: Yoga for Body and Beyond: A Talk on Health, Breath, and Consciousness The situation is that if you have an illness, or I have an illness, or your neighbor or friend does, the cause is the pollution we all create. Cancer—so much cancer now. In earlier times, there were no cancers like this. Maybe something existed, but people were unaware. They were healthy. So, food. It’s not only about filling your belly; you need food that has energy. That’s it. Otherwise, our life becomes shorter and shorter and not healthy. So, try to get organic food and eat good, organic food. We always advise vegetarian food, but here vegetarian options may be limited. And water—how polluted it is! Then movements. Movements are also nourishment. Thinking is nourishment. Society is nourishment. Speaking is nourishment, and not speaking is nourishment. So live in that situation in harmony. Then come the particular movements called yoga postures. Those who practice yoga postures will never be tired. When you cycle, play football, or do anything else, at the end you might say, “I made it, ah!” That doesn’t happen in yoga. You manage, but you still feel… your body is such that all your tissues, all your organs, all your joints and muscles come into harmony and into their best positions. So, the first exercise in yoga is called body warming. This is dynamic movement, warming the body. Then comes slow body stretching, and then the postures. So, dynamic movements warm the body, stretching removes tension from the muscles and the mind, and then you can sit in a posture or hold it for a long time, which benefits your body. In real yoga practice, never do something beyond your capacity. Do not twist your body too much. Young people—15, 18, 20, 25, maybe 30 years old—may do some postures and twist a lot. But when they are 60, they will be in trouble. At 40, my dear, we are getting old, because we grow until 40. And then we have to go back again, slowly, another 40 years, to 80. Nowadays, 80 years is, my God, very old. So, my dear, enjoy your life. 35 is the border. After 35, it’s decreasing, decreasing. And it decreases so quickly. Suddenly we notice, “Oh, hair is grey. Oh, this is hanging, that is hanging.” But a healthy person doing yoga—that is the best thing. It is like this: when we were born, when mother gave birth, first we inhaled. Then our lungs opened, and we inhaled and exhaled. Breath. We inhale first when we are born, and we will exhale and not be able to inhale anymore—that is death. We inhale at the time of birth, and we exhale at the time of death. So our breath is very long, very long. We should try to keep our breath healthy, to have good oxygen, good air, and we can also manipulate the breathing process. It is said that God has given you a certain number of breaths, and then you will die. Inhalation and exhalation are one unit. It is counted how long you will have this, and when you have no more credit, it is finished. And credit finished—you know how? You can’t say, “Please, God, can I have a few more breaths so I can tell my husband where his things are?” Now, it’s finished. Like your telephone: no money, you are talking, and it’s finished. “Hello, hello, please, telephone, keep it, keep it.” But there is no keeping; there is nothing. Similarly, your breath is like that. So from one shore to the other shore—that is our life. Between, there are only waves going and coming, going and coming. We have three different kinds of breath: inhalation, retention, and exhalation. Those who breathe too quickly will die quickly. Do you know who has the quickest breath and dies quickly? The mouse. Therefore, the mouse doesn’t have a long life. And who has the longest life? The turtle. You can observe how long they can hold the breath, and how slowly they breathe. In yoga, it is said that if you want to prolong your breath—your life—if you want to live long, to live long and healthy, but live like a young person and not completely powerless, then do the Prāṇāyāma exercise. Breathe. You will see all the systems in your body, all your organs, all your glands—everything will function in such a way. Breathe. Control the breath in a healthy way. And then, the breath and the movement of the body coordinate together. So the exercise sequence is: physical exercise, then breathing exercise, then mental exercise—concentration, meditation, or relaxation. We need relaxation. Thanks to God that He gave us something very, very good that we enjoy every day: sleep. Why did God give sleep? Because God knew, I think, that humans would not stop working. We humans are workaholics, like alcoholics. Some people work and work and work. So finally, God said, “Finished, okay, fall down, sleep.” Sleeping is very healthy for our brain, very healthy to relax all tensions. So yoga includes anti-stress exercises. Many people—I am thinking again of Olympic champions, skiers, and many others—practice yoga. They have meditation, relaxation, and mental exercises. The mind is mighty; the body is not so much. It is the mind that lets you win, that guides you, that makes you and gives you strength. Mental concentration, mental balance. So, after the body comes breath, the energy. Then comes the mind, then emotion, then intellect. Then concentration, awareness, and then we come again to the intellect, and after intellect we come to the beyond—that is called higher consciousness, consciousness itself. So from the physical exercises, we move beyond. That means humans can analyze and understand, and through practicing yoga techniques, they can slow everything down. Slow down, slow down, slow down. When your car is moving too quickly, you need more fuel. When the car goes smoothly at a lower speed, the fuel lasts longer. Now we are running, running… everyone is running. We even run with airplanes. But ask, where are you going? You came quickly here for the lecture; after that, you will go quickly home. All the time, quickly, quickly: morning, get up, work. Oh man, where do you want to go? Slow down, a little slow down, slow down. But the whole world is like this; humans have become so restless. When one horse runs, the other horse doesn’t want to stop and will also run. Then both horses, one after the other, each wants to be quicker than the other. Similarly, when you have money—thousands of dollars, pounds—you say, “No, I want to be a millionaire,” and then a billionaire. What will you do with your money? What will you do? When you were born, your fist was closed. When we die, our palms will be open. Everything will remain here. We go. What did you enjoy? So slow down, slow down. When you slow down, you will feel healthy, happy, balanced. You will enjoy life more. Again, this is in yoga. So, the body needs energy, nourishment, movement, breath, and relaxation. The mind needs emotion, awareness, concentration, and intellect. Consciousness and higher consciousness are also needed. The unconscious, subconscious, and conscious—these are the three levels of consciousness we all experience every day. One is called the waking state: we are now awake. Second is sleep: we sleep. Third is dream. So waking, sleeping, and dreaming. Now, do you know how you go from waking to sleep? Yes, you know, I know: we go and lie down, put our head on the pillow, and say, “Now I want to sleep,” and we are sleeping. But I want to know: at which second? How did you transition from waking to sleep? Where was the border? And then, in which second did you go to the dream? What kind of preparation did you do? How did you come out of your body? Suddenly you were dreaming that you were in Glasgow, or in Paris, or in Tokyo, so quickly. You have good friends in Tokyo. You were there, and when a mosquito bites, you come back. At what speed? So mastering these three levels of consciousness is the beginning. Now, you become a Yogī, you are a Yogī, and you have practiced yoga. So from the physical body, what do we do? These postures. We should have exercise today, but there is no place to do it. Yoga is for body and beyond. So tomorrow I will come to the mind. What is the mind? What does the mind give us? How mighty is the mind, or how is it not? How does the mind torture us, or not? Many times, people call about the mind, “mind, mind…” So there is a mind, an intellect, and consciousness. These three have a combination: mind, intellect, and consciousness. Intellect and consciousness—tomorrow we will come to this point: how to master it. Then we can understand ourselves, so that we can understand the mind or certain problems we have, and how to understand or get rid of them. I can tell you that nowadays stress creates such illnesses. One is called depression. We all know what depression is. It can bring anxiety. Anxiety brings phobias or other mental problems, like schizophrenia. Why not? Because the mind plays with these, and with consciousness, awareness. So I would like to speak tomorrow in more detail. So, yoga for body and beyond. Today I gave you a glimpse of yoga. There are many forms: Kriya Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, Rāja Yoga, Sahaja Yoga, Prāṇāyāma Yoga—many, many yogas. Yoga, Yoga, Yoga. I once went to Australia, and there was a yoga called “Edinburgh Yoga.” No, yes, really. And you will laugh, but I can tell you that nowadays they also have something called Vinyāsa Yoga. Vine Yoga? My God, I have never heard of it in my life, not in any book. But “Vine Yoga” means you come to a yoga lecture or practice. Good, very good. But like in an airplane, in first or business class about two decades ago, they were offering drinks—orange juice, apple juice, water, or wine—to everyone. In that yoga center, when people come in, they get wine; they drink, change their clothes, come to the exercise room, and sit on the yoga mat. Then another tray comes, not much, but some drinks. “Now relax.” So after alcohol, you are relaxed. Then, after half an hour of practicing, they sit together and talk, and they serve wine again—wine yoga. Then they created another yoga called naked yoga. And they say that in India they practice this yoga. I never saw naked yoga in India. Yes, I did naked yoga when I was about two or three months old, or five months, or ten months, or one year old. But what are people doing? This is commercialization. Seriously, yoga is for our body, for good health and happiness, so that as long as we live, we live happy and relaxed. There is no competition in yoga, no challenges; just practice. You should practice at least one and a half hours. If you want truly great health in your life, then in the morning you have to get up earlier, so you don’t take time away from anyone. Do some light postures, good postures, then a little breath work, then a little relaxation—what we call meditation, or you lie down and relax. You will see, the whole day will be so happy. Begin with half an hour, but then you will find it so good, so good, that you will keep practicing. So yoga, and the mind: mind is a mighty power. If our mental will has gone down, even if you are a bodybuilder, you can’t do anything. You are so down. So let’s come to the mind tomorrow. Do we have tomorrow? Here there are so many churches. Inhale. Oh, feel your body, feel your breath. Be aware of your being here in the church. Slowly move your fingers. Close your fists and open the palms. Close the fists, open the palms, and fold your palms. Rub your palms and place your hands on your face. Open your eyes and move your hands. Hari Om. So I wish you a very nice evening, and also, what do you call it, a good night will be here very soon. I wish you a very happy, healthy, and long life. God bless you.