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Part 1: Meditation for Inner Strength Human beings are the most advanced entities living on this planet. Only we have the unique ability to solve problems and overcome obstacles put in our way by destiny and the outside world. Only people are capable of understanding the processes involved, how they interrelate with each other, and feeling compassion as well as understanding for each other. Most people are unaware of the many other potentials that are hidden within each and every one of us. When we activate our inner sources of energy, these powers awaken for our own benefit and as a blessing for the whole world. Your guests, some of you already know that these words before were not mine. Indeed, it would be quite unsettling to put forward my humble thoughts, knowing well that they precede a lecture by His Holiness Swāmījī. So, therefore, I have borrowed, I think, the only suitable words for this event, most fittingly, his very own. With all confidence, I dare predict that with today’s lecture, His Holiness Swāmījī, the author of the system Yoga in Daily Life, will find ways to inspire you and invigorate your spiritual path. We will learn more about meditation and how it develops and nurtures our inner strength, just as watering a plant helps it grow into the most powerful tree. Please allow me to begin by now inviting Mr. to address you in the name of the organizers of this evening’s wonderful event. Prosim. Respected Excellency, the Ambassador of the Republic of India, respected guests, respected Mayor of Ljubljana, I am very glad that tonight our guest is respected Holiness Mahāmanda Svāmījī, as we like to call him. He developed the system in which we practice in accordance with our physical conditions, with the intention to reach and sustain physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. I am sure in today’s lecture he will reveal to us many secrets on how to develop inner power, with which our life will be happier. Thank you. Respected Excellencies, respected guests, I am very glad to greet today, this evening, His Holiness Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Maheśvarānanda. He has obviously become a good friend of Ljubljana. And it is no wonder, because his idea and his theme of his lecture, harmony between people, somehow belongs to the most beautiful town in the world. I am personally very happy that we managed to find the same thought and the same way of thinking, and that is how to help people. I would like you all to think about and find the best in you. Thank you very much, Mr. Župan. It is obvious that he will not join us during the lecture. Two more guests will present their work and views in the introduction. First, the primary, Mojca Senčar, doctor of medicine, chairman of the non-governmental organization Europa Dona, Slovenian association for fight against cancer on babies, whose main goal is to ensure all women in Slovenia the same opportunities and conditions for the eventual discovery of diseases and such, and effective health care. We invited two more guests to share with you their thoughts and introduce their esteemed work. First, Primarius Mojtašencar, doctor of medicine, president of the Europa Donna NGO, the Slovenian Breast Cancer Association, whose main goal is to ensure that all women in Slovenia have equal opportunity for early detection and immediate access to effective treatment. They provide expert advice and support and even organize yoga classes for the ill. She will be followed by Trkaj, our famous rapper, nominated for the Victor Award for best musician, who will rap the songs he wrote for UNICEF, entitled "Some of Them In" and "My Guru." Respected all, I wish you a very pleasant and nice evening. Good evening. Today’s way of life, which we were forced to accept, is a time in which the law of capital has ruthlessly prevailed, due to which we are slowly losing the values that enriched our lives, infused life with joy, and preserved our inner peace and harmony with our near and distant surroundings. And it inspired us with the joy of life and kept our inner peace in harmony with the near and far environment. And in these times of crisis, it is even more important that people step together. That we are aware of other people’s troubles. That we help each other. So that individuals aren’t left alone with their problems. Still, everyone has to find his own path and way, how to find inner harmony, how to keep the joy of life, and thus the mental and physical health. And so we see more and more people looking for help in yoga, which helps them regain their lost inner harmony and stay healthy. Yoga can be of great help to people with chronic diseases, for example, cancer patients. Along with the official medicine, yoga helps them become healthy again. Above all, yoga helps to restore the inner harmony destroyed by the illness and to build a new self-image. And exactly because of this, the Slovenian Europa Dona is organizing yoga courses adjusted to women cancer patients to help them overcome. And help them overcome numerous troubles after they overcome the disease. So yoga can, under the guidance of a good teacher, improve the quality of life of everyone who trusts it and who frequently surrenders himself to yoga’s pleasant benefits. Exactly because yoga is improving the quality of life, also for the patients among them, for women cancer patients, I wish you a pleasant and educational evening in the name of Europa Dona in Slovenia. Thank you. His Excellency, welcome. Ambassador of the Republic of India, please, your words. Thank you. His Holiness Swāmījī Maheśvarānanda and the very distinguished guests that we have, who have packed this hall, good evening. I would like to thank the Swāmījī and the Yoga for Daily Life for having invited me and my wife to this evening’s function. We are about two years and a few months old here, and we have had, probably, this is the fourth occasion that we have had the benefit of listening to Swāmījī. Every time, it’s a unique experience when we hear him speak about life, about spirituality, about yoga. In India, we attach special importance to a guru, a teacher. You can have knowledge which is all around. It is in books, it is in various volumes, and these days it is there even on the internet. But it’s a guru who assesses the student, knows what he or she is able to absorb, and then dispenses that knowledge as per requirement, just as perhaps a doctor does. In fact, this was brought to me starkly this afternoon when I thought I was smart. I said I was going to come to a speech by the Swāmījī on meditation. In India, of course, we know what meditation is, we can feel it, but to define it is difficult. So I decided, why not Google meditation? So I Googled meditation. And I got any number of entries, several million. One of which I opened, and it said there are two techniques of meditation. One was concentrative meditation, and another was Zen-type meditation. And then it went on to define them further as concentrative meditation, as based on Hinduism. It depends on sounds, it depends on the recitation of mantras, it depends on energy, and so on. On the other hand, the Zen type meditation was meant to be insightful meditation. Where you let things pass even as you concentrate very calmly. So at this point, I simply closed the Google and decided to attend this evening’s lecture. So it amply demonstrates how important it is, on the one hand, to certainly have knowledge, but on the other hand, to hear some wise people, experienced people, to convey that knowledge to you. So I am certainly looking forward to this evening’s lecture, and I am sure all of you do as well. Thank you. Hello again. How are you? Good? Lot of people today. Hello to you all. Good afternoon. My name is Rok, my name is Rok, and today you will listen to the sound, today you will hear the sound. Please play, hey! That was a short introduction. Now, the next song is dedicated to our dear guru, Maheśvarānandī Swāmījī. This song, the next song, is dedicated to our guru, Swāmījī, and it’s time to party. Please play! Yeah! Can you sing a bit louder? Even louder! Thank you, Rock Trkaj. Thank you, Your Excellency. Svāmījī also writes verses. Or... thoughts. One of them goes like this: With the help of yoga, we can realize what we want so much, meaningfully fulfilled, harmoniously. Yoga connects us with the spiritual powers of happiness and helps us to know our true, divine nature, our true being. Swāmījī once wrote, "Yoga empowers us to achieve whatever we most desire: a meaningful, harmonious, peaceful, and happy existence." Yoga will connect us with the spiritual forces in the universe and help us realize our divine nature, our true inner self. I think it’s time for me to invite to the stage His Holiness, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, to present to us the topic of meditation for inner power. It is now my pleasure to invite His Holiness Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Maheśvarānanda to present this evening’s topic, Meditation for Inner Strength. Please. Śrī-mālāchalam sarvadhi-sākṣī-bhūtam bhavatītam madriguṇa-rahitam sat-gurutam namāmyam dhyānamūlam gurur-mūrtyam pūjā mūlam gurur padam, mantra mūlam gurur vākyam, mokṣa mūlam gurur kṛpā, śāntiḥ śāntiḥ... bhavatu. Salutations to the Cosmic Light, Lord of our hearts, Omniscient and Omnipresent. In His Divine Presence, very good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Your Excellency, Ambassador of India, the Consul of Nepal, and dear Dr. Mojsa, thank you for your beautiful words. Indeed, today is a beautiful constellation that we are here together in this beautiful hall. This hall reminds me of many, many beautiful hours with many of you, and some are new now. Also, I would like to express my thankfulness to the city mayor of Ljubljana; from his very busy schedule, he came for a few minutes here. All dear ones, Slovenia is a special country. Every country is special, but in Slovenia, I am observing, for the last few decades, that spirituality is growing more and more. And the consciousness has awakened towards the healthy way of life. In Āyurveda, it is said that the first happiness is a healthy body. Some philosopher said, "Health is not everything, but without health, everything is nothing." We yogīs say, health is not only the expression of your physical body. We have five different bodies, and these five different bodies are influenced through the environment in which we grow and live. The imbalance begins with the environment of the soul. Soul is individual. The soul is a victim of destiny. And destiny is born out of our actions, the karma. Every action has a reaction, and every reaction will have an action again. Every excellent reaction is creating destiny. Now we don’t know, in the mother womb of the future, what kind of destiny is lying there. And that destiny will influence and lead our life further. It is the eternal truth that no one can escape from destiny. Time waits for no one. Even the Lord of the Universe will incarnate here. And karma will not leave anyone free. Doesn’t matter who is who. Even the giver of the law of karma is bound by karma. The president of the country has the same rights to follow the law of the country. This individual soul is fluttering on the waves of time, through the endless universe, experiencing pain and pleasure, light and darkness. Finally, we manifested ourselves and the body of the five elements on this mortal world. One thing we have in common, and that is called the Ātmā, the Self. The soul is not ātmā. The soul is not the self. The self is the Ātmā, eternal, immortal, everlasting, unborn, the ultimate Truth, the Cosmic Consciousness. Everything is played in that Consciousness. Our life is a play in the Consciousness. The final judgment is this: Know thyself to be liberated or to be free. From this cycle of coming and going, rebirth and death. The reality cannot change. Evidence will never die, whether we believe or not. It is so. The Creator has created 8.4 million different creatures on this planet. All of them represent the light of God. Out of 8.4 million, one is the human. And humans have got a powerful tool. And that is the intellect of the human. And humans got the endless ocean of love, and that is the heart. The human heart and human consciousness are given to humans to be on this planet as protectors. "Follow your dharma" means follow your obligation, your duty. Every day, think, "I am human." When we think just to become aware that we are human, then we cannot do something which is inhuman. What makes me human? The human qualities. What are these qualities? The hidden treasures within thyself, the hidden powers. To know, awake, and utilize the inner power through meditation. What does it mean for me to be a human? Do I know the value? If we know the value of human life, then we will understand what the human rights mean. And what is my mission in this life? Be a protector and find your Self-Realization. These principles do not apply to particular religions or beliefs. This divine science is given to us by great saints and designed for humans. But the humans created the barrier in front of them while indicating different religions, cultures, and nations. There is one point in the Rajasthani language. Everyone is fighting for their belief or religion. Everyone is acting only within their beliefs. But there is an eternal place where this person cannot reach. We have to break all the barriers and realize that I am human, and my prime duty is to protect this beautiful nature, planet, and all creatures, and to love them. Love them, feed them, don’t eat them, because you are human. It is said life will eat life, but humans are above this. All these global sufferings. Maybe this is what we call the economic crisis. Economic crisis is only there because of too much manufacturing and too little consumption. It is said in the Testament, "Do not sell, do not carry." Don’t carry with you so many things; don’t collect the things. Believe in God, that Father will give you everything you need. But humans lost trust in God. And that’s why we are suffering. So the answer has to be searched within ourselves. Compare ourselves with others. Suppose someone makes a mistake. And you are very angry. Emotions break out. How to overcome without shouting, without becoming angry? Imagine that you are the one who made the mistake, and the other one will shout at you. How will you feel? So, understand, forgive, give love, give understanding, give support, give a hand, give the rights, give the knowledge, give, give, give. Giving makes us happy. When Christmas time comes, or a birthday comes, or a holy or divine festival comes, we give people something. And we are happy that we could give. Happiness is in giving, not in receiving. Giving without expectation. Don’t expect that someone will say, "Thank you." When you say thank you, then you have paid him or her something back. So in India, we don’t say "thank you" very often. We don’t teach our children to say thank you. When I came to Europe forty years ago, I heard so many times, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." I thought, what kind of mantra is this? So don’t expect thank you; it is a kind of humbleness and respect. But keep it in your heart, and respect others. Anyhow, after all this, this evening is designed for meditation. But I want to tell you, His Excellency took all my words through Google. So we have to create something more in the Google. Meditation. Great Ṛṣi Patañjali, who lived 2500 years before Christ, is known as the father of psychology. He understood the human life and the life of other creatures: body, mind, emotion, intellect, consciousness, the thoughts, the memory, different levels of consciousness, the soul, and the Ātmā. He designed five different ways on the path of yoga. Haṭha yoga, karma yoga, bhakti, rāja, and jñāna yoga. Rāja Yoga means the yoga of the discipline. Rāja means king. A king has to be disciplined, and a king must find his own way. King should not become the slave of the slaves. If the king is a slave of the slaves, he is not a king. Our body is our kingdom. Our senses, our mind, emotions, intellect, are our citizens, but our Ātmā is the king. Ātmā should not become the slave of the senses, feelings, emotions. And the minister of the king is called Viveka. Very fine intellect, the cream of the intellect, which is ever ready to give the message of the ātmā. So he designed out of this field what we call Rāja Yoga. In Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra, the first thing he writes, the first sentence, is "Atha yoga anuśāsanam": yoga begins with discipline. Your practice will be only successful if you have self-discipline. So in English they used to say, the key to success is self-discipline. Patañjali said, after that, "Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ," through the practicing of yoga, purify, calm down, harmonize your thoughts. You cannot stop the thoughts; we should not block the river, but we can give direction to the river. No one can stop the thoughts. If you try, then you will be a victim of a psychiatric clinic. God gave us a thinking system to load and unload the daily stress. A yogī should be like a turtle; any time, they can become passive or extrovert. So, a yogī should have the indriyas, the senses, under his or her control. Not that you don’t use them, but use them with vivekā. There is a small story. As His Excellency spoke about the Guru, the Guru always tells us that God is in everyone. The light of God is in everyone. Trust God. We believe in God. We believe His words. Everyone is God. So he had one disciple, and the disciple went shopping in a small village. And people were shouting to this young swami, "Swāmījī, Swāmījī, run away!" He said, "Why?" A mad elephant is coming. He was thinking, when my Guru said, "In everyone is God," then I see God in him, and God cannot do bad things to me. People said, "It doesn’t matter what you think, go away." He said, "You people have no trust." And meanwhile, the infant became very angry. He took him in the trunk, and he fell in this swimming pool. He went back to his master, broken ribs, and said, "Master, there must be something wrong in your teaching." Why, sir? Why, my dear? You told me that everyone is God. And people were warning me against one mad elephant. But I trust in your words, Master, and everyone is God. So, I just went peacefully. People said, "Run away," but I didn’t listen. You see, I trust you, Master, and that’s my condition now, you see. Can you answer me, Master? Master said, "Yes." You didn’t follow my words. How can you say I went peacefully towards the bad elephant? Because you said, Master, that everyone is God. Master said, "But you didn’t believe." People who were warning you, you didn’t think in them is also God? Don’t you think God was warning you? Yes, that I didn’t think. And so it’s how we must trust, believe. So Patañjali said, "Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." You can control, you can neutralize, calm down, purify, relax your thoughts. So meditation is the inner way. Answer to your life. Answer to your question about God. Mahatma Gandhījī said, "When I am praying to the child, I have a consultation with God. But when I am meditating, I am sitting in the lap of God, like a child in the lap of a mother or father." There are two kinds of meditation. The active meditation and passive meditation. Active meditation is according to our activities. My work is my worship. Therefore, in every major religion, there is always an emphasis on helping. Even the system of the hospital, the system of the humanitarian societies, and non-profit organizations, is created by religious groups. There are many hospitals, and many nuns are working. Hardly do they have time for their prayers. But they believe in helping. Helping hands have more value than just folded hands. Help, help, help. Where help is needed, there is no argument needed. Help without conditioning. Help someone, but don’t take away from someone. If you work in the forest, you help nature, the trees, you help the birds, deer, and rabbits. That is called active meditation. If you go to clean a church or an ashram or some public place, it’s like a meditation. And that’s why Patañjali gave one particular part of the Yoga, which is called Karma Yoga. God Kṛṣṇa said in the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, "Yoga, your yoga practice will be successful through doing sevā, service, karma yoga." Yoga agni karma dakdhani, through the fire of yoga, you can burn out all the seeds of karma. Blessed are they who have the opportunity, the chance to do the sevā. Human life is given to help. So active meditation has the same effect as passive meditation. Then comes the passive meditation. Very clearly, Patañjali is dividing. Yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, yama, niyama, these are the ten principles: ahiṃsā, non-violence, no stealing, no lying, no collecting, exactly like the ten commandments in the Bible, which were given by Patañjali in yoga. Then the āsanas, the purification of the body, the controlling of the body, it is said two persons cannot sleep. One who is longing for God, or someone who fell in love with someone and has so much longing, can’t sleep. Part 2: The Path of Prāṇa and Meditation Or consider someone who is very ill, in great pain, and cannot sleep. In such a state, two persons are awakened: the yogī and the rogī—the yogī and the ill person—because there arises an intensive longing for God. Āsana means comfort of the body. It is easy for me to tell you, "Sit straight most of the time," but you may have immense pain in your back. You are just waiting for Swāmījī to say, "Relax." So the first principle is physical comfort. Do not torture your body. God gave you this beautiful body to take care of and to help others. Prāṇāyāma is the energy, the life energy. Prāṇa is a cosmic energy, not merely oxygen. Last Sunday we planted a peace tree in Linz, Austria, during multi-religious meetings. A Catholic priest there spoke the words of a holy saint—I am sorry, I forgot the name—who said the same thing: God said, "I breathe in the vegetation, in the trees, plants, and herbs, and they give you further as oxygen, as my energy, and you breathe that." God Kṛṣṇa said, "Arjuna, through the moonlight I enter into the vegetation as a nectar." That holy saint said, "It doesn’t matter through which technique or way you will go, finally I will be at the door." And exactly, Kṛṣṇa said, "It doesn’t matter through which religion or the way you will go, finally you will come to me." How are we meeting together? Through Prāṇa. Prāṇa is very difficult to translate. Sometimes we say prāṇa, as in "you are the lord of my prāṇa." When a husband is ill or dies, the wife calls out, "My Pran Nāth is gone." The husband often does not care as much when she dies. Man has a very hard heart, but women have a very fine heart; it is melting, flowing. When someone dies, they say prāṇa choddhyā—gave up the prāṇa. The prāṇa left. Is the prāṇa the soul? Or is the soul the prāṇa? Is the prāṇa the life, or is life the prāṇa? It is very hard to understand what prāṇa is. It is not only oxygen. Prāṇāyāma, the exercise of the prāṇa, is how to gain the prāṇa. The science of prāṇāyāma is great. Pratyāhāra means withdraw thyself from the external world. It is not easy. You think you are meditating, but in meditation you are thinking, "After meditation, I will go with my child to buy ice cream." So you are in that ice cream shop, not here. To withdraw means that whenever you wish, you can become calm and separate yourself from the external world. This is the Pela Charan; this is the first step of meditation. It means now you collect your energy. You block all the vents, you close all the vents, and the cosmic energy becomes more concentrated on you and within thyself. This is exactly, I would say, the technique to help ill persons, especially those who have cancer—as our dear doctor guest was talking about. This is the technique of prāṇa. In the body, prāṇa is missing. If you can supply the prāṇa, cancer will disappear. This is a technique with which we can also help patients with cancer, as our guest said. This is a way of collecting prāṇa in the body. If we are sick, it means that the body lacks prāṇa. What is immunity? Immunity is the power of the prāṇa. When you have little prāṇa, then you will become ill. Prāṇa comes through nourishment—liquid or solid nourishment. Society is also nourishment, thinking is nourishment, no thinking is nourishment, movement is nourishment, and no movement is nourishment. Breathing is nourishment, and no breathing is nourishment. So know how—that is the science of the prāṇa. As long as prāṇa is there, this plant will be very fresh and nice. In the Vedas it is said: peace on this earth, peace in the atmosphere, peace in the water, peace in the air, peace in the herbs, and peace in the trees. Peace in the cosmic Self, may you call Holy Father or Brahman. And that peace should be in me. You unite thyself with the entire universe. You become the center point of the universe, and all the cosmic energy is concentrated on you. That is meditation, the first step. But it can happen that you get lost. And when you are lost, you cannot find yourself. How funny it is—the Self is searching for the Self. Therefore, the next step, Patañjali said, is dhāraṇā, concentration. How? Like a rope dancer who is dancing on the rope. We are all happy, and we say, "Oh, oh, how nice it is." But he or she who is walking on the rope is also looking at us, smiling. But concentration is on the balance. So live in this world, but be alert, be aware of your concentration. If you miss the concentration—what they call micro-sleep—an accident happens. Therefore, concentration. A mother is working, cleaning, cooking, and so on, but her attention is all the time on what the small child is doing. Therefore, Patañjali said, "Dhāraṇā. Decide, dhāryate, take over, accept it, and then don’t lose it." How good is your concentration? No one can say. Only you know. Try it for me. Put one foot on the right, left foot on the right thigh, and stand on one leg, like a kingfisher bird. With one leg, motionless. Why is he putting one leg up and standing on only one leg, not moving? He is very clever because when the fish will come, he has to make it stay. When you take legs out of the water, the fish will run away. So ever ready to stay, but most of the time… So we should be ever ready to help, to work, to do something. But our concentration should be on our personal interest: meditation, achievement of spirituality, and God Realization. When concentration is mastered, then meditation becomes. You become one-pointed. There are three different stages of meditation. Either you sleep—that is also meditation—or you lose yourself. Nothing is there. That’s called Tantra Vāstu, half-sleep. Or, you are aware; you are gaining the knowledge. His Excellency mentioned two meditations: concentration, or Hindu, or the saints and Buddhist, Jain Buddhist. Prince Siddhartha left his kingdom and meditated. In his meditation, he was lost. He got self-realization, but he lost that consciousness. Nothing he could register. Therefore, after meditation enlightenment, he came back to his body, conscious. He couldn’t give any message. Only one: Nirakāra. Formless. And that is the truth. Because the Ātmā, the Self, is formless. God has no form. We give the name, and we celebrate and adore the form. When Buddha got enlightenment, then he was known as the Bodhisattva. Bodha. Bodha means wisdom. Bodha means knowledge, and Bodha means enlightened intellect. So because he was enlightened, therefore it’s called Bodha-Buddha. But Buddha, what he taught and practiced, is the same as what the Hindus said, because Buddha was a Hindu too. And then, in Buddhism, they developed some techniques called Tantra. Now, not that tantra which you think in Europe. Whenever we speak about tantra, people understand sex. This is the difference between Asians and Europeans. Europeans immediately go first to the lower cakra. And Asians will go to the higher cakra to search for the reason, the cause. Tantra means… tan means to expand, and tra means liberation. Expand your consciousness—positive consciousness, clean consciousness, pure consciousness—and liberate thyself is tantra. That meditation, dhyāna, means be careful, be alert, take care. When the child goes to school, Indian parents say, "Be alert." When you cross the street, dhyāna se dekhna, left and right, dhaya-bhaya. With dhyāna, with alertness, clear mind, look left and right, no cars coming, then cross the road. So, realize, accept dhyāna, the meditation. Then Patañjali said, finally, the highest state of meditation, which Buddha had too. That’s called samādhi. Samādhi means the highest consciousness. The levels of consciousness are unconscious, subconscious, conscious, higher conscious, and cosmic consciousness. We generally are traveling in 24 hours in three levels of consciousness, which are called unconscious, subconscious, and conscious: sleep, dream, and awaken. But through concentration, dhāraṇā, and dhyāna, through meditation, we come to the higher consciousness. Means now we are aware of all the three levels at the same time. That’s called turīyā, the state of the turīyā. Turīyā means the three levels: past, present, and future. That is known as Trikāladarśī, knower of the three times. Past, Buddha said, "I went through meditation to my origin, from the stone consciousness till the highest consciousness. When I came back, I didn’t find anything." So, trikāl darśī, higher consciousness. Now, this higher level of consciousness, again, Patañjali is dividing into two parts: savikalpa samādhi and nirvikalpa samādhi. Sabīja samādhi or nirbīja samādhi. Bīja means the seed. Sabīja samādhi means you have such a higher consciousness, but still, seed means the self-consciousness is existing. "I am. I am meditating." Still, there is "I." It means that there is your desire. Everything is crystallized in a very small form. That’s called a seed. In the seed are hidden the mighty trees. So in Sabīja Samādhi, anytime again you can go to your indriyas and fall into the world. And nirbīja samādhi, nirvikalpa samādhi—kalpa vikalpa means deciding, dissolving, thinking process. Śravaṇakalpa means still there are some concrete thoughts. And nirvikalpa-samādhi means no vikalpa; there is nothing. So on the final level of the Buddha, what does he say? Nothing. Which is said in the Vedas, which is said in the Upaniṣads. For more than eight thousand years, the Vedas have existed in written form. And the essence of the Vedas is the Vedānta philosophy, and that Vedānta philosophy, or essence of the Vedas, is the teaching of the ṛṣis, the great saints. That’s called śruti and smṛti. Śruti means what you heard. And smṛti means memory. What you heard, out of a memory, you speak to your disciples. That we can, Upaniṣada. Upa means near, śiṣya means a disciple. It’s called the dialogue or the gospel of the master and disciple. That’s the translation of the Upaniṣad. Now, the final, highest level of consciousness is called Nirvikalpa Samādhi. There, three becomes one. That is the final stage. Then this body will dissolve. Karma is finished. The soul dissolves. Ātmā unites with Paramātmā. That’s called cosmic union. So yoga means union. The union of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness. And that is the aim of practicing the highest level of yoga or meditation. Now three becomes one: the knower, the knowledge, the object. Now, you are the novel. You would like to know. So you are a novel, and what you would like to know is the knowledge. And what you would like to know is the object—either God or whatever you think, so it is said. The street of love is so narrow, two cannot walk together. Two have to become one. When I was here, he was not there. Now he is there, but I am not here. Because that street of love is so narrow, too; duality cannot exist. And that word is translated in English; I don’t know how it is in Slovenian. For example, you call it marriage. Marriage means two things merge into oneness. Two rivers flow together, that’s a merge, a marriage of the rivers. Similarly, when you marry someone, then you are one. One soul in the bird with two wings. Husband and wife, these are two wings. If one wing is broken, that bird cannot fly. Therefore, before getting married, you should know that you should not divorce. And if you divorce, be sure there will be no marriage again. And that’s why I understand very much that in the Church you cannot marry a second time. We don’t understand human love, and we don’t understand the human body. So we are talking not about marriage, but about meditation. So, this soul dissolves, or merges into the Cosmic One. That is the meditation. This was a glimpse of the definition of meditation. Now let’s come to the second point. Mother Nature, or Creator, or God—whatever you believe, or you don’t believe—at least you believe one thing: that you don’t believe. This is also a belief. God or Mother Nature has given immense energy as kuṇḍalinī, cakras, and prāṇas in the human body. Animals have too, but they don’t have the ability to realize and awaken. Therefore, when we meditate, we become aware of ourselves. In yoga in daily life, meditation is known as a self-inquiry meditation. Not only who am I, but how am I. How many chapters have you begun in your life, and how many chapters have you closed unfinished? How many difficulties you have in this world. How to get, solve these problems. You will never solve. Problems will solve you. So, my Master said: there is a tailor who is making a dress, has a machine, taking the cloth, ironing, cutting, and it’s knitting. Listening to the radio, talking with people, looking at how beautiful the cloth is, looking at how many cars are going, but the skin’s machine is continuing to function. And with no time, the shirt is ready. Therefore, worldly problems will never end. If you think you will run into the Himalayan caves to become free from the problems, I will ask His Excellency to give you a visa. But you come to the trees, you can see, it’s very cold. No electricity, no wood. High up in the mountain, anyhow you are sleeping back, and in the night come the snow bears. Somehow, you make it all slight, and he goes away. Then comes some other creature. If you are lower, come mosquitoes. Ādi Bodhik, Ādi Devik, Ādi Ātmik—these three tapas are constantly torturing us. Therefore, stay in Slovenia, in your comfortable home, sweet home. Go to India; it’s a holy land. How many thousands of the holy incarnations, holy rivers, holy mountains—see and come back? Practice yoga here. This will be better, so meditation. When we meditate, we dive within ourselves. And we concentrate on all the streams of the prāṇas. It is concentrated towards us, like there is light, very strong. Concentrate on me. Me, and my energy is concentrated on that wealth. So that energy which is coming from outside will regenerate your energy centers. Each cell of the body will be charged, recharged by that Cosmic energy. And what we call that immunity begins to be strong. First, the result will be good health. Then you will have a second mental willpower. For what? To endure the worldly troubles. To understand the world and to withdraw your self-based safety from these worldly troubles. And to concentrate to be successful in your business, or your health, or your spiritual life, or your family life. Every thought which goes out of the human brain will, sooner or later, be realized. Good or bad, therefore never think bad. In Australia, they have one weapon they are using; it’s called a boomerang. And boomerang, when you run, throw, it comes back to you. I was throwing, he didn’t come back. Then they taught me how to throw. So don’t throw like this. You must throw the boomerang like that. And then, with the air, it turns back and makes a beautiful circle, comes to you; you can hold it again and throw again. So every thought will go and come back to you. Positive thoughts will activate your energy centers. It will begin to develop some siddhis, perfections. But don’t use them. Still remain there, and the inner treasure will be open to you. The richness in your life, the hidden jewels of wisdom, will be opened for you. The unfoldment of the consciousness will lift up to the Cosmic Consciousness. Not to get lost in meditation. And not to lose the way, you have to repeat mantra. Without mantra, meditation is like a body without a soul. Mantra is like a torchlight to walk through the darkness. Don’t change mantra. Once you got it from your master, and that is called mantra mūlaṁ guruvākyam—the essence of the mantra is the instruction of the master. Liberation follows through the mercy of the Gurudeva, which in the Testament Jesus said to his disciples as their Master: "I am the way to the Holy Father." These are the Upanishadic words: "I am the master," which will lead you to Parameśvara. So meditation will help you to discover your inner strength. Yes, good question. How many days should we meditate? One weekend, or one month, one year? That I cannot tell you. It is individual. In Rajasthan, we are struggling for water. We are drilling a hole in the earth. Sometimes, in fifty-foot-deep good water, it comes. And sometimes, two thousand feet, the water. So, it depends on your destiny and past karma. So, meditation doesn’t matter in which religion you do it. In Slovenia, there are some monasteries. And you ask them how many hours they are praying and meditating. How many hours every day, standing on the knee, in the cold hole, there is no air-conditioning. Or yogīs in the Himalayas, or in the desert in the heat. And we sit comfortably with nice pillows and air-conditioning. That’s not a meditation. Endure something. Simple living and meditation. Meditation for the inner strength to awake and utilize for good things. Now we will have meditation. Would you like to do it, or should we be finished? Finished? No. Okay, thank you. Well, if you take off your shoes, you will feel more energy. Cross your legs. You may lean on your chin. Because we are not in the key, index finger and thumbs together. Symbol of this mudrā: the thumb is the supreme, the index finger is the individual. The end is that individual consciousness becomes one with the cosmic consciousness. Here are the energy centers, which are connected directly to the brain and which will calm down our vṛttis, the thoughts. Three fingers are the three guṇas: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Many of you don’t know, many don’t know. Pure quality, restless quality, or dark, negative quality. Of all three, you should remain one with the Brahman. Very short. Now, if you have a ball, looking at the palms looking upward, you feel more energy. But you can also put your palms touching your thighs and knees. It means your bio-energy will circulate in the body. Elbows should be relaxed, so don’t sit like this. In yoga books, we always make nice photos, and we tell the cameraman, "Quickly, after 45 minutes." So, the reality is different. Therefore, be comfortable, be relaxed, and whatever you want to see, now look at it. After, there will be nothing to see. So, close your eyes and withdraw yourself from the external world. Once, deep inhale and exhale. Relax. Become aware of your being here. Feel your whole body from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head to the toes. Just relax, no tensions at all, physically or mentally. Just relax, no concentration, no imagination, just relax. All day has passed. You were working hard physically and mentally, but now it is time to relax. Say to thyself mentally, "Relax, my friend, relax." Just relax. Let me be one with myself. And those who have a mantra may, with a relaxed mind, repeat it. Feel your both legs. They are relaxed. Relax the hip joints. Relax your stomach muscles. Relax your shoulders. Elbows and fingers. Arms, and relax your knees, relax your face muscles, no tensions at all, physically or mentally. And now, feel the motionlessness of the body. Your body is relaxed, your body is comfortable and motionless. Feel your breath. Do not change the breath rhythm. Feel, you know that you are inhaling, and you know that you are exhaling. Body is relaxed. During inhalation, the trunk of the body expands, and during exhalation, the trunk of the body contracts. Relax. I know that I am inhaling, and I know that I am exhaling. I am of the innovation. My body is inhaling the cosmic energy, prāṇa śakti. At the time of the exhalation, all the toxins are exhaled from the body. Relax. I know that I am inhaling life force, life energy. It acts at the center of my chest, inside. And channeling towards my navel, Maṇipūra cakra. During the time of exhalation, this prāṇa śakti, through the solar plexus, divides into the whole body, and all the toxins are used; cells are transferred out of the body. Medi-vidiham se ta prāṇa-śakti skozi centar. And at the time of the exhalation, every limb of the body is relaxed. Relax. Concentrate on the inner organs and transfer, try to transfer or imagine that this prāṇa, cosmic energy, is directed towards that organ which is your weaker, or feels pain or ill. You breathe in there, and you exhale from there. It is a matter of practice; it will become reality sometime. My limbs of the body are becoming strong, the organs of the body are functioning properly, and my mental strength is improving. Just relax. Prāṇa, prāṇa, only the prāṇa, the energy, energy, only the energy. And now, consciously breathe deep in and out. And we will chant OM one time and three times Śānti mantra. Inhale deep, sit a little straight so that you can have more air. Deep inhale, your fingers, close the fist and open the palm. And hold your palms and rub your palms. Place the palms on the face and gently massage and warm your face muscles. Our beads, and open your eyes. Well, this was the first step of meditation. Your yoga teacher will guide you further. It’s becoming very late, and you are tired. Thank you for coming. Wish you all the best. God bless you with good health, long life, and a happy life.