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Oṁ Asato mā sadgamaya. Tamaso mā jyotirgamaya. Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamayā. Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. Good evening, dear sisters, brothers, and our dear Swāmī Madhuram. You have been here for four years. He is your teacher, a very good teacher. He has another āśrama in Scotland, in Edinburgh—a beautiful āśrama with many friends, bhaktas, devotees, and students. Everyone there is angry with me, asking why I placed Madhuram here and not there, requesting I send him back. Madhuram is a very kind, humble, wise person, and an artist, particularly in music. He is a very good yoga teacher, loyal, pure, and humble. We all love him very much. I am sure he conducts good yoga classes and creates a good atmosphere. I am constantly moving, traveling to many different countries for various programs and conferences. For the last 15 or 20 years, I have been engaged with the United Nations. Today, the subject was a water harvesting project. Water is a significant issue in the world now—not only its scarcity but also its severe pollution, which is created by humans. The most terrible pollution is mental pollution: the endless desires of the human mind. In some ways, you might feel happy because you have a new car and can drive at high speed on highways built by your government. But ask the environment, ask Nature, if it is happy with what we are doing. We destroy mountains, digging them from the inside. While the outside may look intact, we need immense amounts of gravel for hundreds of thousands of kilometers of highway, requiring massive destruction of mountains, cement, and more. This is a major problem in America, India, and other countries. I recently heard that in Brazil, hundreds of thousands of hectares of rainforest are destroyed daily. They ask, "What is the use of the rainforest? It has no use." They clear it to plant commercial trees like Australian eucalyptus. Under these eucalyptus trees, nothing grows; they suck all the water from the ground and the atmosphere. This is done for commercial buildings and to support RCC constructions. It is a pity. How much beautiful wildlife is destroyed, killed, or dying out? We do not know where we are going or what we truly need. Because you have a nice car and wish to drive quickly—reducing a one-hour journey to Wellington to 18 minutes—such highways are built. But there will be another way to go very quickly to heaven. With all this destruction, when we drive slowly, we can enjoy our nature, our mountains, our ocean, and their beauty. We no longer understand what beauty is. Today's subject is about health: "Yoga for Body and Beyond." This is a very good subject. Health is not everything, but without health, everything is nothing. Health encompasses the physical, mental, social, spiritual, intellectual, and more. Are we completely healthy? How many hospitals are in your country? Forty or fifty years ago, there were not so many. Eighty years ago, people had to go to Auckland for a hospital, would get healthy, and return, as illnesses arose from a natural way of life. Now, our way of living is unnatural. We manipulate original seeds. It is very hard to obtain original fruits, seeds, and grains. All seeds are slowly manipulated; they are made seedless so they grow only once, forcing you to buy new seeds. Over the last two decades, this has occurred worldwide. Those consuming seedless seeds will, after a generation or two, become seedless themselves. In America, an experiment between the First and Second World Wars created crops that would not grow too tall for easier harvesting. In that area, people gradually became smaller. Similarly, today's manipulated, genetically modified seeds are not healthy. The taste of fruits and vegetables is no longer present. Spinach from your garden, if from manipulated seeds, lacks its former taste. It was once said spinach contained much iron, but about 15 years ago, it was declared to have none. Cancer is a man-made disease. If we truly wished, we could cure it, but we would have to stop using many chemicals, medicines, and pesticides in our fields, on our trees, and in our water. Consider Mānuka honey: it was among the best, but now its value has diminished. The bees that produced it are threatened; in New Zealand, they died. I read in the newspaper that New Zealand must buy bees from America. That is the level of pollution here. Why? Where do you want to go? How much money will you have? When the last tree is cut and the last fish dies, you will realize you cannot eat your dollars. Now you have plastic dollars. Why not silver or gold coins? New Zealand is a rich country. Why plastic? Was the public asked if they wanted plastic money? It is your country; I am not from here. Otherwise, I might be asked to leave tomorrow. I heard another disturbing piece of news: that after 80 or 85 years, people are considered no longer useful, only a burden requiring money for rent and medicine, so it is better they die with assistance. Recently, a disciple of mine from Croatia, living here, had a mother of about 86 with diabetes, possibly needing dialysis. Doctors and nurses came, saw her sitting at the breakfast table eating and speaking normally, and said, "Now it is time for her to go." They gave her medicine to make her calm, followed by injections, causing her organs to shut down until she died within a week. Do not ask about your grandmother or mother; ask yourself if you want this for yourself. Even in India, many Hindus who do not wish to kill animals face such situations. If this is a law in this country, I believe it must be changed. You are human. How much do you love your grandmother? Children often love their grandmother more than their mother. Was the public asked? Was there an election? This is the first I have heard of such a practice, and I was shocked. I do not wish to grow old in this country. I told my disciples that if something happens and I must stay here, they must guard me until my last natural breath. Similarly, many diseases arise from stress, anxiety, and our nourishing environment. Cancer can be healed if you go to the mountains, quit such foods, and consume only natural items; the cancer may disappear on its own. But we suffer, and everyone lives in fear. People ask, "My grandmother had cancer, my mother had cancer—do you think I will have cancer?" I respond, "Why think like that?" Fear and self-blackmail can make it happen. But what can we do? We seem to have no option. Diabetes also has many causes, including lack of movement and our nourishment. Milk is manipulated. Dairy production in New Zealand may be okay, but in Australia, you cannot buy natural milk directly from the cow. Is it the same here? You cannot get milk directly from farmers in shops. The largest dairy company, governing nearly the whole world, is from New Zealand. They export milk, import from Europe, process it, and send it back. New Zealand has massive dairies processing millions of liters of milk. This is good for the economy, but what they mix into the milk is not acceptable. Yogurt, cheese, and butter are all manipulated. In Āyurveda, regarding diabetes or its prevention, we should do the exercises I will share. This food manipulation is creating disease. My subject yesterday was prāṇa, the source of life—meaning energy, life force, strength, and nutrition. There are different kinds of prāṇa. The subject worldwide was first the body, then the mind, senses, emotions, bodily functions, intellect, soul, awareness, and consciousness. This step-by-step progression describes human life; animals also share some aspects. The body of nourishment is the annamaya kośa. The body of energy is the prāṇamaya kośa. Then the mental body, the intellectual body, and the causal body (the body of cause, senses, and desires). From these five bodies, we come to the level of emotion. Emotion is connected to our ten senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch, and the five karmendriyas (organs of action). Emotion can kill us, leading to depression, hallucination, restlessness, or even self-harm. Why is emotion in the body, and how can we remove it? Then comes the mind. What is the mind? I spoke of this last time, but you were not here. Whenever I come, there are new people, which is good. Many become yogīs, teach yoga, and new people arrive—a great specialty of New Zealand. After the mind comes concentration, which has two levels: concentration and awareness. We must awaken awareness for healthy living—a healthy body, mind, environment, family, and thinking. After awareness comes concentration, meaning alertness to our actions and diet. Then comes the soul: Who am I? I am not the body, not the mind. You must realize where your soul is. Then comes consciousness, with its levels: unconscious, subconscious, conscious, higher conscious, and cosmic consciousness. Within that lies our Self, the ātmā. This was the whole subject, but for many, it is too hard with many Sanskrit words. So, I returned to a practical subject: diabetes. If you do not have diabetes, I congratulate you and wish you never will. If you have it, you can control it 100%, though it may not be cured. Diabetes and blood pressure are like a football held underwater in a swimming pool; as long as you press it down, it stays, but once released, it jumps up. Similarly, with discipline in nourishment, diet, movement, and routine, we can control sugar levels and live healthily. Hence, I chose diabetes this time. We come to the point of the five bodies. The most important thing is to understand our nature, our body, and live in harmony with outer nature. The oldest system is Āyurveda, which began in the Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga, and Kali Yuga—millions of years ago. In Āyurveda, diagnosis occurs without blood tests or injections. An Āyurvedic practitioner feels your pulse and can tell what you ate yesterday. Be careful not to show your hand to just anyone! Āyurveda is natural medicine, diagnosing through guṇa (qualities): vāta, pitta, and kapha. A practitioner can immediately identify your type. I avoid Āyurvedic doctors for fear they will tell me I have too much kapha! They advise against certain foods like eggplants, potatoes, or specific beans. My subject is yoga, not Āyurveda, but we have Dharmadevī here, an Āyurvedic doctor who can advise you. I do not consult her because she would restrict my diet. I have one weakness: I enjoy good food eaten peacefully. I like chili, evening yogurt, and salad—things Āyurveda often discourages. The second point concerns our pancreas and solar plexus. Our life begins from the solar plexus. In the mother's womb, development starts from zero, then the spinal column forms like a snail, followed by a dot-like brain. First comes the navel, then intestines, nourishment intake, spinal column, and brain. Slowly, all organs develop. I do not know how many "engineers" work in the mother's body to construct this perfect form. There are 72,000 nerves, plus glands, joints, bones, intestines, and organs. Many tests ensure everything is okay. There is a story about a car company in Michigan where an Austrian worker would write "O and K" (okay) on cars ready for sale. Similarly, in the mother's womb, we get an "okay" at some point. But we begin aging even in the womb; by birth, we are already nine months old. All organs are perfect. God is a perfect engineer, and the mother is the second, dedicating her hormones and minerals for the embryo to grow into a healthy, beautiful, complete child. God's world is perfect; man's world is imperfect. If a mistake occurs in the womb, we often cannot help. We cannot blame God; we only pray, "Lord, give us good health." With good health, we can taste life. Now, the pancreas, solar plexus, liver, kidney, and heart are major organs in our trunk, very important. Our solar plexus is a fire, called Jāṭharāgni in yoga and Āyurveda—the digestive fire. There is a long story: when God began creation, souls came from different parts of the universe with their karma and destinies, to return to heaven or Brahmaloka. But if they simply came and lay like stones, that would not be good. Agni Dev (the fire god) said, "I will move them by entering their bodies as Jāṭharāgni, the digestive fire." Hunger motivates even the laziest crocodile to search for food. At birth, a baby's thumb automatically goes to its mouth—a practice driven by this fire. So, hunger ensures we seek food. With 8.4 million different creatures, what will they eat? Yamarāja, the king of the dead, and Dharmarāja, the god of justice, were involved. Yamarāja suggested killing them for food, leading to jīva-jīva-bhakṣate (life eating life). In the Cosmic Parliament, this was deemed a sin—a cycle of killing and eating. The United Nations struggles with sustainable development, aiming for a system that works automatically. They speak of a green economy, which I thought meant more trees, but at a UN conference, they discussed highways and skyscrapers. I asked, "Where is the green?" They replied, "The green note—money." This is a sin. The cycle of action and reaction, death and birth, continues endlessly. God sought rest, but two people arrived at heaven's door at midnight: a farmer who hardly remembered God and a devotee who chanted God's name day and night. The doorkeeper asked their professions and consulted God. God said, "Put the farmer in heaven and the devotee in hell." The doorkeeper was confused, but God explained, "The devotee never lets me sleep, constantly calling my name." Thus, God created a cycle of birth and death where beings automatically age and die. He was asked for mercy, so he created humans with intellect, compassion, and kindness, who would not kill but protect, accruing puṇya (merit) and dharma (righteousness) to attain higher consciousness or mokṣa (liberation). Other creatures continue recycling through karma. If our pancreas and solar plexus are healthy, we can eat ice cream, sugar, and more while remaining fit. In yoga, there are beautiful exercises to practice. I do not know if one can be completely cured, but it can be 90% controlled, allowing you to enjoy life. These are exercises for the stomach. Swāmī Madhuram will demonstrate them tomorrow—a few easy postures. If you or a family member has diabetes, you can learn and share these exercises. Otherwise, diabetes is like a termite eating a tree from within until it falls. It washes away our health like a flood eroding good soil. Diabetes must be controlled for the sake of our kidneys, eyes, liver, and overall health. We can control it through Āyurveda and exercises. There is also allopathic medicine, but it has a peculiar effect: taking one pill leads to two side effects, requiring more pills, creating a cascade. It is not bad, but it can adversely affect other body parts. The best approach, my dear, is yoga practice, which costs nothing except perhaps a fee to Madhuram. It is said we can negotiate with terrorists but not with protocol. We should practice every day for one and a half to two hours. In 24 hours, 22 are for whatever you wish; dedicate two to yourself. This will give you energy, concentration, awareness, and a successful life. Your words will have power. There is a chakra called Viśuddhi at the throat. When a speaker's words come from the heart and brain, united with humility and kindness, they carry such power that even those who dislike you will listen, finding sense in what you say. That is all. We will continue with diabetes tomorrow. Thank you. Adiós.