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Part 1: Yoga and Ayurveda: Sciences of Body, Mind, and Soul Yoga and Āyurveda are the sciences of body, mind, and soul. Āyurveda primarily cares for the physical body. When the physical body is healthy and everything is in order, we experience less mental tension, and this influences our mind, our feelings, and our way of thinking. Āyurveda is nutrition—it concerns what we should eat and what we are eating. Yet slowly, the quantity of our eating has increased. When we were small, we ate little; then, gradually, our diet grew larger and larger. Of course, a newborn child does not have a large capacity for food or drink. According to Āyurveda, the body continues to grow until the age of forty. To understand this, consider: half of forty-five is twenty-two years and six months. So do not think growth stops at twenty or eighteen years—we keep growing. If we have good nutrition, we do not need so much. The body will gain inner strength, and our life will become longer. Nowadays, however, the quantity of our eating has gone beyond all limits. Every day when we dress, we look at ourselves and see we are either too thin or overweight. If we reduce weight by dieting, we feel weakness; but if we strive to eat good, nourishing food, we do not need so much. Our nutrition, our diet, should be like medicine. Then our life will be healthy. Unfortunately, all of us—including the one speaking now—have lost this sense of limitation. We have crossed the boundary, and the food we eat only brings us disease. Āyurvedic food, and what we consume beyond our body’s needs, should be balanced through yoga practice and sports training. Siddha Paramparā teaches, “Nāhaṁ kartā Prabhu dīpa kartā he kevalam.” Then we go to acupressure, to the doctor for acupressure, but none of this can truly help. Then we go to the yoga doctor, and then to meditation. We do many things, but we should stick to one path. Our body has become accustomed to allopathic medicine. We cannot stop it abruptly—doing so would be like stopping life itself. Just as engines once ran on steam, then we shifted to petrol, so we are always changing. Do not give up allopathic medicine immediately. In parallel, you should take Āyurveda. Āyurveda will not act instantly. So pursue yoga and Āyurveda together. In Āyurveda, diet is included. And within diet, there is what the modern world calls junk food. Junk food contains artificial taste-enhancing spices. It may please your tongue, but it does nothing good for the stomach. The stomach suffers and asks, “Why are you giving me unnecessary work? I must digest everything and then reject it as soon as possible.” The whole body complains. Digestion tells us that in junk food there is nothing for the body; you just gain excess weight. So let us return to organic, natural food, even if we eat only a little. It is also said that we should eat at fixed times and drink water at fixed times. After eating, Āyurveda says, do not drink any liquid for one and a half hours. You may take a small cup of water, just for medicine or similar purposes. Try this for one or two months, and your health condition will improve immensely. You know how often we hear, unfortunately, of people diagnosed with Krebs illness, cancer. Where does it come from? Illnesses existed in the past, too, but they were not as prevalent. This is the result of junk food and our neglect of organic food. We should try to obtain more and more organic things. Through the practice of yoga, we should integrate this wisdom into our diet and āsanas. Āyurveda is not like the tablets we take every day. Nowadays, they make tablets, but the tradition has its own principles of usage. I recall that when I used to play the ḍāḷak, I heard that the real Āyurvedic practitioners performed niṣkām sevā—selfless service, helping without taking money. If they used expensive materials to prepare the medicine, they would accept only the cost of those materials. But now, Āyurveda has become such a big business that you do not even know if it is genuine. Once, someone brought me neem powder in capsules. I thought, “Why should I swallow the capsule? I can take the neem powder directly.” When I opened the capsule, I found maybe two percent neem; the rest was dust from the Āyurvedic factory. Unfortunately, I thought it was a mistake, so I opened a second box. Later, in Vienna, at a place called Nash Market, we bought the same thing from a different company. This had a little more, but it was dry yellow leaves of neem. You see, neem does not grow at high altitudes; it struggles above 800 meters. In any case, we do not know what is in that medicine, whether it is real or only psychological. At one time, the Vaidyas were spiritual persons. I knew a Vaidya near our Kailāś Āśram. That person is, sadly, no longer living. He was great. He would go to the forest and fields, looking for which herb served which ailment. He did not take them away; he simply knew where everything grew. Then he would say, “Okay, tomorrow I will prepare it for you.” He would go to that particular plant, recite a mantra—I was small and accompanied him with Gurujī—and say to the plant, “Please give me something from your part for this person.” He would take only one leaf of the grass. Then he made medicine with mantras, much like homeopathy. Homeopathy works with the essence, a very refined essence; from one drop, like homeopathic medicine, you can make a great deal. That is vibration. Homeopathy is a medicine of quality, not quantity. Poor people used to come and take this Āyurvedic medicine, and that Vaidya never asked for money. People became healthy. Someone might bring fruits or crops from the field, and he would say, “No, no… I don’t need. When I need, I will tell you.” Such a person, an Āyurveda Vaidya like this, is a spiritual being. Even if he gave poison, it would turn into nectar. That is sādhanā. Certainly one must study Āyurveda, but the path must be more spiritual, not commercial. Since it became commercial, it lost its quality. Similarly, look at the Master. A true Master will not demand money from disciples, saying, “I will give you this technique, and you give me this much money.” Nowadays, many exclaim, “Wow, only 25,000 dollars and I am receiving one kriyā!” So $25,000 goes to the master, who then teaches a half technique and promises, “After six months, when you master this, the higher level will be $50,000.” This is not a guru, this is not a master, and that is not a disciple. When the disciple finally receives a technique, it is of no real use, and neither does he call him “my guru,” nor does the guru say “that is my disciple.” The guru simply thinks, “It is his karma; he gave his money, that’s all.” In today’s world, yoga has become commercial, and Ayurveda has become commercial as well. But the Guru’s duty is to bless. That is all. Whatever one gives is offered as a donation to the ashram, anything. The true holy Guruji will never say, “Give me some money.” I am not sure that if I asked, you would give me money. I remember asking twice when I had no change—once in New Delhi or somewhere. I addressed the group, “Can I have some money, please? Can you give me some money?” because I needed it. I said I needed only 1500 rupees. In response, from various sources, one hundred fifty thousand rupees arrived. Then I said, “I don’t have a bag here.” The bag was being carried by Umā Purī or Maṅsā Devī or someone else. So, a master should not ask anything from disciples. If he does, his blessing will not function. Yes, a disciple may give a donation out of free will; there is no issue. But the master should not ask, and disciples should not ask, “How much money can I give you for your sādhanā?” Yet here, for example, we are staying five days. Electricity, water, cleaning, food—these are needs of the ashram. Not for me, not for Pārvatī, not for Arjun Purī. Supporting our shelter, our āśram, is different. That is acceptable. But there are some gurus who become trillionaires and millionaires, and they do not let you come close—only an appointment after three months, five minutes, and at that moment you think, “Oh, this Master is so great, how lucky I am,” yet it is only five minutes. Even an astrologer should live on sāttvic food. They do not use garlic and onion. Why? Garlic and onion are good medicine, but it is because of the smell from the mouth. Once, someone had a gastric problem, and it was said that for yoga it is not good to eat onions and garlic; they are rajas guṇa. Interestingly, those who avoid garlic and onions tend to explode when you tell them something. Whereas those who eat garlic and onions, if you say something, they simply reply, like Gajanan, “Okay, it’s your choice.” That is all. It is a matter of our nature. What is our nature? There is Kāma, Krodha, Madha, Lobha, Moha, and Ahaṁkāra. These are the enemies of humans, the enemies of the yogīs. So it is very important: kāma, krodha, mada, lobha, moha, ahaṁkāra. It is said that Holī Gurujī once told of a karma yogī bhakta in Jadān who was always angry. He was so angry—whether it was a man or woman, I am not sure—that for five days he could not get up from bed due to anger. One day Gurujī said, “Anger is the thief who will take away everything from you at the door.” When you want to bring something into your home, like wealth, the thief steals it right there. This means that when you become angry, your anger takes away all good qualities from you. Kāma—desires—are many: physical, mental, social, emotional, for money, peace, friends, and so on. If one person becomes your friend, others feel jealousy, and jealousy is like a fire. Even if you have piles of currency, your crown, and it falls into the fire, the fire will not say, “Be careful, take your money out!” No, fire is fire. It burns everything. Anger is anger; it burns you from within. And desire… Part 2: The Illusion of Vāsanā and the Eternal Refuge in Guru Bhakti Always and always, that desire is vāsanā. Vāsana is the cause of sorrows, as Holy Gurujī said. Vāsana means that hope, that craving. And the cause of all troubles is your vāsanā, kāma. So kāma, krodha, lobha — desire, anger, greed — arise. And moha, attachment. But moha means ignorance. It is the ignorance by which we do not know what is good and what is bad. When moha is there, we are attached to this, and when another one comes close, we become so jealous. There was a dog gnawing on an old, dry bone in the forest. In that dry bone there was nothing — it was his own blood seeping from his gums. Yet he kept biting, and when another dog approached, how did he act? He bared all his teeth at the other dog, and, oh God, the other dog went away. This is vāsanā and jealousy. So vāsanā is that attachment pulling you. And jealousy, it bares the teeth. Thus it is said: those who harbor vāsanā desires within are like an elephant. For an elephant, the two beautiful tusks are for smiling, and we say, “Oh, it’s a nice elephant, nice, nice tusks,” but for biting and chewing, it uses the inner teeth. So when a person talks sweetly outside but inside is jealous, that is like the elephant’s teeth. It comes through the mother’s pride. How long will you have pride? It comes through the mother, lobha, moha, attachment. This is the quality that makes us ill; it will steal all our spirituality, and you will feel, “Oh yes, this is good.” Greed has no end. Greed has no end: more and more and more. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said that if you are angry, do it, but you should know that everything will be stolen at your very door — all your spirituality. Listen, Guru Vākya. Listen, Guru Vākya. Jai Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān. So astrology is a mathematical science. It is indeed a kind of science, but to learn astrology is not only learning it as a mathematical science. The best astrologers have a different sādhanā, called bachan siddhi. Bachan siddhi means that his or her word is a siddhi. And nowadays, what you are learning, Āyurveda — it’s good, but it is kindergarten. All are putting data into the computer, and you are looking at the computer. The computer can never be exact. Look: destiny is different. There is one mother and father. From one mother, she gave birth to three children. One became a king, one became a beggar, and one became a smuggler. That is destiny, and even one who is born at the same moment in the same constellation — both are different. One becomes something, the other something else. One has a happy marriage, and the other cannot even find a woman. Astrology, therefore, is not like that. So do not run behind astrology. Do not think, “I will become an astrologer.” No. Yes, you can learn, but you should not prophesy. It will not be correct. Okay, we can say it now: today is Monday, and tomorrow is Saturday. That’s it. Well, astrology comes from the great saint ṛṣi from Satyuga. It is called Gargācārya. And it was Gargācārya who also performed the wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī, and he prophesied to the father and mother of Pārvatī, also to the Śakti, and he was also the kula guru of Kṛṣṇa’s parents. And Gargācārya gave the name to Kṛṣṇa and also organized the wedding of the father and the mother of Kṛṣṇa. Gargācārya had that blessing, that spiritual lineage. And so, we are all children of some ṛṣis. You and I and all others have some roots. And what they were doing, what was in their blood — that is reality. They are different. Dogs are dogs. All dogs are beautiful. All dogs are good. But the dogs that are simply running in the streets — in India, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, etc. — they are good dogs. Yet what is called the German Shepherd can also be wild somewhere. But what it can learn, what it can do, the brain capacity that dog has, another dog cannot have. Similarly, different ṛṣis, and so we are all, some of ṛṣis, the generation we are. And so the gene of that ṛṣi is going through generations, ages and ages. So Gargācārya was great, it is, and those who are coming from this family, they automatically have a blessing of astrology. My father was a great astrologer. Of course, he didn’t have university, nor college, nor high school. Hardly was there some school under a tree, learning on his own. But his astrological power — my father would have told the village, “Today nobody should eat from morning sunrise till midday,” and nobody would eat because whatever he said would come true. Yes, and his word was so sure. My elder brother, who passed away — when we made a ceremony for Om Āśram, the foundation stone, I brought some good, learned paṇḍits and astrologers. And I didn’t ask my brother. And he didn’t say anything, so I asked him between the ceremonies, because we performed Mahārudra Yajña — you remember all — so I asked the brother, “What do you think about this?” He said, “It’s good, whatever you are doing is good, yajña and this, but it will take time to build this Om Āśram. Many times it will stop; it will be dismantled. Again, it will begin to build. So it will stop and build, and it will take time.” Now I remember what he said, his word. So that is Jyotiṣ. Jyotiṣ means the light. Tithi means the lunar day within the thirty days of the month. And Jyotiṣa is the third eye of Śiva. But that need is sādhanā. So don’t run behind one astrologer to another astrologer. Yes, they have learned something. That’s the thing. But it will not solve your questions or your problems. There are different kinds of constellations. The twelfth constellation of the horoscope — in our language, it has a different name; in your language, a different name. So somebody asked paṇḍitjī, “What is today? Can I begin this work or not?” So, a half-knowledge astrologer rattles off: Mithuna, Karka, Siṁha, Kanyā, Tulā, Vṛścika, Dhanu, Makara, Kumbha, Mīna. “Everything is okay, you can do it.” He makes a muddle, no distinction. So the blind lead the blind. If the blind lead you, but you are not blind, then you should leave and find a way. Otherwise you become blind with the blind. There is one story of the blind. You want to know? Now it’s quarter to nine. I didn’t say the blind. It’s quarter to nine, but I can tell you a quick story. So there was one couple, about 189 years old, who didn’t have any children, so they were poor. At that time, there was not so much money — only the things that you have, like cattle for milk, or crops, etc. So they were old. They both used to go to the field in the forest and collect some dry wood for fuel, for cooking. One hundred and ninety-one years old. One day, the wife asks the husband, “Dear, we are 191 years old. Still, we have a little strength and everything. We are healthy. And we have no one — no children, no grandchildren. When we become old, who will take care of us?” A hundred-and-ninety-one-year-old lady put a question to her husband: “When we will be old, how will it be?” That is the strength of Āyurveda and yoga. No junk food. So, he said, “What do you mean? I’m asking you, František, Alenka, please, can you tell me when we will be blind? Old, and our eyesight is not good, how will we walk?” He said, “Yes, Alenka, you are right.” Then, “František, should we practice something?” That is a good idea. So, he said to his wife, “We close our eyes, and both of us take a stick in the hand to walk.” So they had a bundle of dry wood on their heads, both of them. He is walking in the front. She is walking behind, and she is holding the shoulder of Františka, and they are walking with closed eyes, and he said, “You promise? You will not open your eyes?” She said, “Of course, I always do what you say. When you told me in the evening, ‘Close your eyes and sleep,’ I do not open them until morning. But you must not open your eyes. It doesn’t matter what happens.” So we become blind. We are rehearsing how we will manage. So they had a stick and were walking slowly. Pārvatī and Śiva are coming, and Pārvatī said, “My Lord, in your world — not the kingdom, the world — there are so many people who have everything, and this couple, 190 years old, thanks to you, they are still healthy and young. But they are blind. Why don’t you give them something, so that these poor, these old people, they need not bring the wood home?” God said, “In their kismat, it’s not written. Śiva, don’t make a fool of me.” “Why? You can change kismat. You can change kismat.” He said, “Changing of the kismat is the work of the master, the guru. Well, therefore it is said, ‘The night makes the day, and the day makes the night.’ Who is that? The yogī, the master.” So Śiva said, “What do you want from me? Finally, ask.” Sometimes ladies go like that — it means sometimes they are the saw on the nerves; that man gets old quickly. So then Śiva said, “Let’s go half a kilometer far.” And Śiva put a lot of gold there, a heap of golden coins, and these blind people are coming, and Śiva and Pārvatī are standing beside a bush somewhere, watching, and Pārvatī said, “Thank you, God, you changed their kismat, and today was a good constellation of the Jyotiṣa.” Śiva smiles. They approached that heap of gold, and the blind man hit it with his foot, hurting his leg. František said, “Oh God, who put this stone on the way?” And the same thing happened to Alenka. Alenka said, “They are stupid men. Go to the hill. You don’t know how blind people will walk here. Why did you put the stones on the way? I curse you.” The man said, “František said, ‘Don’t open your eyes.’ ” We have saṅkalpa. Śiva said to Pārvatī, “I got now the curse, that was your haṭha — rāja haṭha, bāla haṭha, triyā haṭha, or yoga haṭha.” She said, “Františku, darling, don’t worry. We come home, and we will wash our feet with warm water. And next time we will come this way and clean the road. We should do something good, yes.” Alenka, when we will be blind, it will not be an easy life. Śiva said, “Look, in their kismat there are always the stones.” So astrology cannot change your kismat. You may say many things. God made the nature. Sometimes, also what we call the Vāstu Śāstras — many people break the windows and replace them and do this and that. And what is changing? Nothing. Therefore, kismat — one mother has three children, and all three have a different destiny. Therefore, believe in Param Pitā Parameśvara, that higher Father, the Holy Father, and believe in the Guru Vākya. Guru Kṛpā Hi Kevalam — only the Guru’s grace. That is why Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Brahmā — who is greater than Śiva and Rāma? Kṛṣṇa and Rāma? They are the kings of all three worlds, but they are surrendered to the Guru Bhakti. Jai Guru Deva.