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Yoga will save the Earth

Yoga is an ancient science of body, mind, and consciousness, reflecting the five elements of creation. Humans, uniquely endowed with intellect, are solely responsible for the pollution damaging the earth, from plastics to contaminated water. Conferences on pollution or vegetarianism are hypocritical when attendees' actions contradict their words; change requires personal practice, not just speech. The growing health crisis, including disease, is linked to polluted resources and the consumption of meat from distressed animals. Yoga practice cultivates the awareness needed to heal both the self and the world. It is not a strenuous sport but a gentle, systematic science of mudrās and āsanas designed to awaken consciousness through daily, mindful practice. True health requires balancing physical and mental well-being, achieved through consistent effort over years, not months. Theory is worthless without practice.

"Be the change you want to see."

"Tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice."

Filming location: Vienna, Austria

Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jāya! Śrī Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva Kī Jāya! Satguru Swami Madhavānājī Bhagavān Kī Jai! Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai! Our adoration to our Siddhapīṭha Paramparā. Bless you all. In the name of Ālagpurījī Siddhapīṭha Paramparā, welcome. Today is a beautiful day. We are approaching the International Day of Yoga. Around the whole world, people are celebrating, practicing, and demonstrating yoga. Yoga is one of the most ancient sciences of body, mind, intellect, soul, and consciousness. On the other hand, it is the manifestation of the five bhūtas, the five elements: space, fire, air, water, and earth. The combination of these five elements creates this beautiful world, a creation by God. This includes not only humans but all living beings. Life exists everywhere, even in creatures too small to see with our open eyes—in English they say "naked eyes," but our eyes are not naked. We can see them through a telescope or microscope. All have a certain tendency to live. We cannot say that only humans are complete or that humans are the best. Who declares that humans are the best? Only the humans. Out of 8.4 million different creatures, none of them except humans declares that humans are the best. That is self-flattery, self-ego. But one thing is true: humans have intellect, which has greater capacities. Recently, there was a conference about pollution, about how the earth is polluted. Now, out of 8.4 million species, which one has made more pollution? If we go into the forest—the rainforest, the large forests of Canada, Russia—and then there is the human forest. Who makes the most pollution? Plastics, dirt, polluting water, chemicals, and so on. The mistake is ours. We made this pollution, and we continue making more and more. Only a handful of people are struggling, working, and shouting, crying that everything is polluted and that we should create a better environment. Perhaps 98% act selfishly and make pollution. There is a conference about pollution, but at the tea break, everyone is drinking tea or coffee or water from a plastic cup and throwing it away. Someone said, "We have 'use and throw'—it's comfortable, good. We need not clean; we don't need washing powders." But use and throw—where to throw? We throw everything on this earth. At mealtime, similarly, there are plastic plates, spoons, cups, all while talking about solving pollution. If you observe afterwards, their way of life is completely different. We are good at speaking, we talk very scientifically, but there is no action. The environment begins from your own home, and inspiration comes from your own heart and your own intellect. So, who is making a conference about pollution? Not animals, but humans. Because humans are guilty, and humans are fighting with their own dirt. The first step to heal our earth is to turn towards a vegetarian life. Otherwise, there is mental, physical, and emotional pollution from torturing and killing not only millions, but billions of animals per day. There are conferences about vegetarian life, but so-called scientific, good people come and talk about vegetarianism. Yet when they go for dinner or lunch, see what they are eating. Therefore, we use this word, as Mahātmā Gandhījī said: "Be the change you want to see." That is a very good slogan. Last week, I was at a conference in India. The person who organized it had a very nice slogan that everyone accepted: "You are the solution." As long as we do not take a step, it is not helpful. So, the Day of Yoga is coming. The Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modi, has been very active, giving instructions to every embassy and yoga people. Definitely, awareness will change. It awakens in human awareness to come back to the normal, natural way of life. Yes, many misuse yoga. Many think we shall just exercise, that we can drink, eat meat, and do other things. There are such people. But the idea is this: when people begin to practice yoga, they will buy some yoga books and scriptures. There it is written about good health—physical, mental, social, and spiritual health—but it requires practice. The Bhagavad-gītā said, "Oh Arjuna, practice." This practice will not help you in two or three months; it takes years. You will feel benefits in the beginning, but we need motivation. We need the motivation to practice, and there is a very good result if you begin to practice every day. The biggest problem now is water. Water is very much polluted. Recently, a small earthquake occurred near our Nipple Ashram in the Pali district. A river flows there; on the ashram side, the water has very good drinking quality, coming from the mountain. But on the village side, for many kilometers, something changed with the earthquake. The water there became so polluted that you cannot drink it, even after boiling. They found a lot of urea and pesticide in that water, which had seeped into the ground. Every year, more and more pollution goes into the earth. This is a major water problem. In Europe, they control it better, but in other countries, if they are told to use 100 grams, they will put 500 grams out of greed, thinking more crops will come. We have polluted the water element. How long will the earth survive? We have taken all kinds of minerals from the earth. We must awaken our awareness through the science of yoga. When you practice yoga, then definitely out of 100 people, at least 40 will become aware about health—not only their own health, because you cannot develop health solely inside your body. Everything that comes to our body is from outside: the air from the outside environment, nourishment from outside, exercise from outside. So don't think, "I'm healthy, I don't need to do anything." Thanks to God that you are healthy, and we wish you very good health. But from where does health come? We see on our plate what kind of healthy food is there. Unfortunately, more and more people in the world are beginning to consume meat. That is why, in the whole world, nearly every third person has cancer. We don't know exactly where cancer comes from; it was not as prevalent in the old days. This is also from consuming meat—how they feed the animals, how they treat them. Animals have psychic problems; they have depressions. They have love. They have children. They have life. They want to live a happy life. They are not born to be closed in a limited space. That kind of fear, anxiety, suffering—physically, mentally, emotionally—animals have this too. When an animal is killed, this vibration, this karma, goes into the meat. With the meat, it comes and serves you. And what kind of food are they giving the animals? Corn, wheat—how much pesticide is in that? How is the feed developed? We know what happened in England nearly 18 or 20 years ago with the cows, how many thousands they burned alive. That karma will come back, and the illness is that people who are eating are suffering. Their generation is suffering. Therefore, yoga is something which will save the earth. It will save the life of many creatures, and it will save humanity, allowing us to live in peace and harmony. But we have to practice. I can tell you, in the last two years and now beginning the third year, awareness has changed a lot towards good health and feeling pity or love for all others. It's changing. Now, the yoga postures are not a sport. These are mudrās, postures. All these āsanas are designed by ṛṣis in the Śiva Saṁhitā and many other books. Śiva itself appeared, manifested himself in a meditation mudrā. So from where does meditation come? Meditation means to be one with thy body, thy mind, thy intellect, thy emotion, thy consciousness. It means your Ātmā, your soul, remains as pure as it is, as Śiva himself. If we change the path, then we are already going in the wrong direction. For ages and ages, humans have been going in the wrong directions. So it takes time again to find the right way. It's like a tangled thread, so mixed that we can't solve it, and to cut it is not a solution. We have to find the way within ourself, to expand our consciousness in the universe or in the world, and we take the good qualities and good things from the world. We filter this. So, through the postures, when we practice āsanas, don't run, don't do them too quickly. When we do postures, we should concentrate and feel our body. What is happening with our body? Which muscles, which joints, which nerve systems, the arteries, the ligaments? All that happens with this posture, and why, and for how long? Only a doctor knows that. He gives you an injection so you will not feel pain during an operation, but then it is gone. Similarly, when we do āsanas, we should not force and go beyond our capacity, but also don't think a little movement is enough. Therefore, in our system, the Yoga in Daily Life system, millions are practicing around the world. If they are not coming here, it does not mean they are not practicing. I have been in Europe for about 46 years, and there were always groups of people. Where are they now? Some practice, some don't, but they passed it on. Many people benefit from the books—thousands and thousands of books in many languages. We have translated and printed in at least 12 languages, plus Hindi, Gujarati, etc. These books have been sold, and many people use them as a master, a handbook to teach. Recently, I was surprised that the Prime Minister of India gave instructions for Yoga Day to practice exercises that are easier, very gentle, and beneficial. Our Yoga in Daily Life postures are like that. Yoga is yoga. It is not mine and not yours. It is Śiva's science, the science of Śiva. We developed some movements that we find easier. So practice, but practice with awareness. Awaken the awareness in your consciousness that it is for the well-being of your body, mind, and emotions. Make a saṅkalpa: yes, we will begin to practice. Let us begin together. I must also do something tomorrow. I will get up, go down the staircase, bring my water, and go up. That is also practice. We will do something: āsanas, prāṇāyāma. For those with physical problems or emotional problems, it will take two or three years. How many years have we had this disease? Give at least half that time to your body and mind to make a correction. How many years have we had a wrong habit, a bad habit? We harmed our body, our mind, our emotion, everything. If we misused it for, say, 30 years, then practice for at least five years. Then you will see how things have changed in your life. Therefore, it is said: tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice. We observe that our body is going in another direction due to two bad habits: one is no control over eating, and the second is not practicing. I observe myself and others; the kilos are growing. It doesn't come from outside; it develops from inside, but the source is outside. What we are feeding ourselves comes from outside, but our practice must come from our self. Then you will see your body come back to the right way. We can live long, healthy, and happy, and we can support others. So don't torture your body. I don't want to name anyone, but there is one style of yoga where many people like to torture themselves, stretching and putting sandbags on their back—one, two, even ten kilos—and then go into Paścimottānāsana repeatedly. That is not healthy. After 65 or 70 years, you will see your ligaments become loose, your joints are not under control, and your body will have problems. I know many people who teach this, but when they do it themselves, after a little more than a week they cannot move. They are in bed because of those extreme practices. Nowadays, many think yoga means getting strong, building muscles, and sweating, then saying, "Wow, that was nice." But when you practice gently, very gently, it is like a lymphatic massage. I mentioned this in German, and they said, "Lymph, leak," and I gave up. I go deep into my meditation and feel this massage going on. At first, you may feel like you have a fever; your temperature rises, and then it releases something. You don't need brute strength, but gentle power. I don't want to tell you something personal, but let's say one partner is okay, and the other partner is all the time gently putting negative words or pressure on the husband. "You can drink this, okay. You can eat a little bit. This you can do." He says, "No, I don't want," but she insists, "This is okay." How psychologically the wife is putting energy into her husband's body, helping him so that he gets better. Or the husband tells the wife. This is what's called a word—hypnotizing, a nice way of hypnotizing, negative or positive, gently. It's like a saw for the nerves, slowly cutting in such a way, nicely, like hair is cut, and the husband is again in good shape, or the wife. There are positive and negative gentle influences. But we are talking about yoga, the positive. Yoga practice brings awareness: why you should not practice very advanced postures immediately, and why you should do them slowly and systematically, day by day. When you give birth to a child, you do not tell the child to run immediately. It will not happen. Slowly, after one year, two years, then he will run. In ten years, he will run so fast you can't catch him. Step by step. Slow is yoga. Yoga is a science of body, mind, soul, and consciousness. Yoga leads us first to good health, and the first wealth is good health. When the body is good, it supports the mind more. But we should not say, "A healthy body has a healthy mind." This is not a good slogan. Some people have no healthy body, but their mind is brilliant and very healthy. Someone may have a lame or paralyzed body, but the brain is so good, brilliant. So we cannot say a healthy body has a healthy mind. And if the body is healthy but the mind is not, there is imbalance. We need both physical and mental health, with both hemispheres working properly. So practice yoga in daily life, and you should practice yourself. Many of you sitting here are trying to hide, not to practice. I don't want to name who is not practicing, but at least you are coming and listening. That will also influence you. I am perhaps gently putting something into you again, so you will begin to practice. Tomorrow morning, go to the bathroom and look at your stomach. I also do that every day. Then, of course, you might be angry with me: "What have you against my stomach? It's okay." Someone said, "If a man has no big stomach, then a man without a stomach is a sky without stars." But that is not good. That was what a wife said to her husband to make him happy. But as kilos begin to grow and the belly comes out, this is a sign of future illness. So what we say is: in every country, what you have to do tomorrow, do it today. And what you have to do today, do it just now. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya...

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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