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Christmas Time

A spiritual talk on seasonal festivals, well-being, and Ayurvedic principles.

"This month is the month of happiness. And if you become unhappy, then all this unhappiness comes to you."

"The first happiness is a healthy body, the second happiness is having wealth at home."

Swamiji addresses a gathering, weaving together themes of Christmas, other religious festivals, and the importance of joy during the winter season. He discusses the Ayurvedic pillars of well-being, emphasizing diet, pranayama, and harmonious relationships, while sharing illustrative stories about figures like Jesus and Krishna. The talk concludes with practical advice for health and seasonal greetings.

Filming location: Salzburg, Austria

Our yogīs from different countries have arrived, and as I said, this is the time for friends and parents to come together. It is the time to be happy and to make others happy too. We don't know, or I don't know, when Jesus was really born. But it was so that the people should have time. And now it is just for us. In this time, all the grain, everything has been harvested, fruit and so on. It is cold, and snow, rain, etc. The people, the people cannot sit in peace, in quiet. The people cannot come together calmly. So, we need to do something. From spring, we have worked a lot, we prepared entire fields. Then we brought a lot of vegetables, fruit, grains, everything there into the fields. We watched, and then came the time we harvested. We brought it home. So that was the first; it was the first festival. And what is said in Austria here, all the farmers bring fruit and jam and a lot of things together. Some come to the church or at home or so. How do you say this? Yes, and afterwards they make a joy, dancing. And this kind of dance, like in India, is the Holī. So, during Holi, a tree is brought to the middle of the city and placed there. And in the end, in May, it is made. And May, that is where the Holī begins. This May tree, and May tree, and then comes a time where a little joy makes who can climb up this tree? Who can then, with the village girls who are like sisters, friends, but one can dance with them. Yes, some people say that. I don't know, I didn't come there to dance, because I only came up two meters and then down again. And so is also the Diwali, Holi, sorry, not Diwali. And so then there is a passing in Austria. In Germany, I don't know anything. And the best place is in Villach. Yes? As many people go to Zāun, to Villach. This festival is beautiful, and then, after that, everything. We brought grain and everything home. Everything. What should we do now? Even they have also made alcohol, from the grapes and so on. And sit there and simply drink alcohol. And make the, some people make foolishness, or how do you say, the stupid things. Please? Foolishness. And that becomes, the health becomes saturated. Now, the time comes, so it is a time for Christmas. And this whole month, beginning in December until mid-January. So, we have the festival as holy, spiritual. But the people cannot only take the spiritual. They need something. They cannot sit and meditate. And there they make a wonderful festival. We come. December is a month of happiness. That December begins, and the people begin to celebrate Christmas. In December, in Austria, they bring in the tree, the cherry tree, the, how do you say, the Christmas tree. But, don't you know that in India, they already started in September? When you come, for example, to the airport in Mumbai or Delhi, they have already decorated a tree, and it's snow, snow, but not real snow, but the cotton, yes. And that's very beautiful here, like snow. And also, what's his name, the man with the beard, right? Nikolaus. He lives in Rajasthan, in India. He lives in many hotels. There, where the tourists are and so on. But that's the festival. All, all, the people think very much. It doesn't matter if they are Christians or Hindus. The Hindus and Christians, the fire, Muslim is a little bit smiling. And so he is called, the name is Smiler. Yes, the Smiler. So, okay, this is a festival we are taking. That means, oh man, rejoice. Rejoice, and I think there is a wonderful song. Rejoice, rejoice, yes. Oh God, I can't sing this one. No, no, no. First, complete this, okay? Okay, good. So, ARI OM. Dīp Nayan Bhagavān Kī Jai. So, FROE DIKH. Yeah? What? Frohe dich. Be happy. Be joyful. Now, Jesus will come. Yes. And when you know, then you should be happy. So this month is the month of happiness. And if you become unhappy, then all this unhappiness comes to you. Because mostly they are happy. So where should the unhappy go? You see, it is so. It keeps the holy, or the Goethe, and the Teufel. The army, Teufel, they should go there. They must also do something, but they have other activities. And now they have nothing to do. Because everything has become sacred, and so, if you are once a little unhappy in this time, then you sink deep into it. And you shouldn't do that, and therefore, I am not speaking for anyone or for our dear Anubhavīs. But I say to all of you, this time will be a time of happiness. Then this festival, this Christmas month, is divine, is happy. And when there are other people who are not happy, then they are like negative energies. And so, everyone, everyone, maybe someone doesn't want anything, but someone wants to make his wife happy. So the husband will go and buy something nice, something good for Christmas for his wife. Or the wife, she is not like that, but she wants to make her husband happy so that the husband is satisfied. The women are always satisfied, yes. Yes, nothing else remains. But the other way around, it is very difficult to let the man be satisfied. In what kind of happiness, joy, love, dedication, both sides, under God, happiness. And that, what we come under, can happen. Once a year, something, one time you were like this, the other time you were like that, and you were stupid, and the other time you were like that. But on Christmas Eve, we let everything wash. Then negative energy, we put it away, and we said to each other, "I'm sorry." I am sorry, and I want you to know I love you, I respect you. So, that is the giving. The giving, that, what you something did not want or could not do. And that makes you unhappy. Who is unhappy? Unhappy is the one who brings negative words inwardly. And therefore we give all that to the God's light or God's tree, or whatever we do. So, Thursday, December and January is a day for friendship. Be friends, be with the families, stay there, sing bhajans or your songs, read the holy books, and don't go too much to the alcohol and this and that. It was not, and children, they like, they love. They are waiting for Christmas Day because in kindergarten, in school, we all say, "It will be Christmas, it will be Christmas." And so it is time for us all. This is not only that Jesus will come or so, but we have made the atmosphere so that whether we want it or not, unconsciously or consciously, in our body, in our thoughts, there is spirituality. And in this time, nothing should happen. After that comes another festival. So, this is with another... I think there are so many things in Austria. I don't know what Fingsten is, yeah. And there is another one, something. And the Easter, my God. Yeah. And this is very interesting, that a rabbit gives a... What? This is a truth. Yes, this is real. And the truth is this: it was like this. A bird gave an egg. This kind of bird always gives the eggs on the grass, on the ground. But unfortunately, other animals come and the eggs are eaten or destroyed, and so on. And so on. So, a rabbit has seen a wonderful egg. So he didn't want someone to take it away or so. So a rabbit has saved this egg. Yes? And that suddenly, a rabbit sees a man or so, the rabbit runs away. But he stands there and looks at whether the man will go away there or go back again, and my eggs can sit. It gets the love from this, and so we have a rabbit. We got what? Was an ostrich. That's how it is. I have seen, sometimes, as I said, on Facebook, about the animals. A lioness attacked a small baby deer, but the baby walked back and forth, and then it came to this lioness like a mother. And she did not hunt this baby deer, but took it as her own baby. Did you see? And so the mother has a love. The mother has love, and so the house had love for these eggs. Okay? And now everything is clear. After so many thousands of years, suddenly a master came and gave clarity. And what do we do? We do it beautifully, with love, with colors, and so on and so forth. What does that mean? Eggs. And the eggs, we have eggs in the mother's body, or for birds and the fish, they also have the eggs, and there are also babies there in the mother's body, there are also the eggs. So, the first is the egg, and then the baby comes out again. So we wait, we wait, and one day there will be such a holy one, as we say, as Jesus. And second, God does not always come. So we say there is a Nitya Avatāra and a Nimitta Avatāra. And so, the nimittāvatāra is coming only in the yugas or so, and the other nityas come as the holy ones. In reality, by this, the craft is selfish. But sometimes it is so terrible. In this case, the Nimit avatāra also has a difficult life. We think that Kṛṣṇa was a joyful boy. Krishna was a very joyful boy. No, no, no. So, we tell Mother Maria how she suffered. What was her condition? And why didn't she give birth to a baby at home in the room? And why did she give birth to a baby in the barn? And not even had a cloth that she could wash the child or wrap it in her body. And so it was, I said, "Please give me that." Why? And the baby was laid on the grass. Yes, why? You don't know, and I don't know. The mother knows how many people she humiliated. The mother did not have it that easy, and so is Krishna's mother. Krishna's mother was also in prison, a very small prison. And her husband, and her husband... And their husband, and their husband... and How many problems she had, how many difficulties she went through. We can only pray for her, not for us. We should pray for her, just like Holy Mary. Then came Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa was not easy either. We love him very much, and so on. We do a little bit of good with him, and so on. But his holy Gurujī said, "Kṛṣṇa knows the Gītā." When everyone knows what Kṛṣṇa is, then you know what the Bhagavad Gītā is. Otherwise, Bhagavad Gītā is not this. Mother knows Pitta. And the mother knows who is the father of the child. And so the mother is suffering a lot. And still now, the frown, the light is here. But naturally, man is with. He is also suffering with togetherness. So when we can sustain this, then we will get love in our hearts. Yes. So, like Hanumanjī. And Hanuman and God Rāma were how many? A million, or how many million Yugas was Rāma born, and Hanumanjī? So when someone said, "Where is your God?" He said, "In my heart." Sita and Rāma. Show me. So Hanumānjī opened his chest, and blood came, of course. But inside is Hanumān. Look, there is Rāma and Sītā in his heart. And so gives Jesus his holy, or God's, heart. How do you say? His pain. His feelings, how Jesus suffered. And so we cannot give something to them, but we will pray for them. And his pain and all that, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Buddha, Jesus, and so on, we should also pray for them. And so we sit together and we forgive, we forgive one another. Your anger, hatred, greed, etc., are the things to heal this month. And then it's so beautiful. Yes, that's how it comes, right? For me, as a God, it's like a religion. Why do we celebrate different holy days or times? Because it's the truth. We make people happy. We make people happy at home. Or everywhere. All festivals in every religion. And some make a religion and slaughter the animals to eat. God does not accept that. God does not accept anything. No matter, humans or animals. So if it is like that, then think of a rabbit. How does the rabbit give an egg? We are going to play. Where are you going? We are going to sing. We are going to play again. Do you want to play now? He can play. Please open the window. This is one side. The other side is now we come to our health. Health in Āyurveda, there is a Mahā Mantra. Do you know what Mahā Mantra means? The greatest mantra, the best mantra. So in Ayurveda, when one says, "Oh, man," How does your life begin, and what should you pay attention to? And the first mantra is "pahala sukha nirogikaya, pahala sukha nirogikaya." Oh man, the first—this is the feeling of well-being, feeling of happiness, everything. Pahla Sukh is a good life. Sukha, you know what Sukha is? Sukha is good. Dukha is the troubles. So, Pahla Sukh, the first thing you should do is happiness. Pahla Sukh, Nirogikāya. And how should I do this? Niroga without roga, roga without the, what? So roga has this, we say, crank height. Roga is kṛṣṇa's height. In Croatian, the Slovenian language is called rogla, and this is something different. I don't know what this rogla is, but without the spite. A mountain for the skin, and we said this is the kṛṣṇa height. This is so rogla? Roga? What? Kṛṣṇa height or niroga is Gesundheit height. Oh, means first is the Gesundheit. Pehla sukha nirogī kāyā, dujā sukha, ghar meṁ māyā. That means, the soul's bold stand haben. Omens, you have everything. God has given you everything. Arbaite, market, so bold stand. Your well-being, you have to do it. God has said, "I have given you everything." Good hands, two hands, two legs, eyes, your head, everything. You are always standing on your legs, so well-being, well-being. The first happiness, Nirogika; the second happiness, Māyā in the house. Tijasuk, a good wife or a good husband or your partner should be so good that he or she always makes you happy and says, "Forget it, don't be sad, it will be good." A man is there for this woman to make her very happy, like your heart. And often people in Austria say, "You are my heart." My heart. Man sagt das. So let's make your heart happy. And also the woman, conversely, in the direction. When the man comes home from working, and now both work, of course, that is the. And when he comes home, completely. And one, how should you make your man happy? And how the man makes your wife happy. And so it is that the man works hard, sits all day in his office, and his muscles are totally red and, how do you say, it's like a, how do you say, from the tree, this heart, not heart, this rib. Your man has to, and one day he comes a little later, because he must work more. And he comes half an hour later, and the woman says: "Why are you so late?" And he has said, for your, for you money, or for you to earn, this and this and this. And she has said, that is stupid and so and so. The man is so sad. He is so sad. And she is so hard. He says something for her. He should have said something else. But he said a hard word for you and for yours. And that's what I did, and then she says other words. So when you come home, no matter how hard the work was, you should give your wife good words, and she also. Or the woman says, yes, you must make and this and that. That is also, then one is sad and she is sad. So, to have a good understanding, living together, that is not an easy life now. And now it's very, not easy. Very easily, you are going to divorce. This is not you getting divorced, but you are not happy. And you will not be happy again, for the next partner will come, then another partner will come, then you are just lost, a lost deer from this whole other group of deer. So, understand both sides, and that's why the problem is alcohol. Alcohol has destroyed humans. It is that many, many women are suffering because the man is drinking too much. Or some men are suffering because this woman, she is coming, and they have nothing to do but drink and drink and drink. Alcohol. So, to summarize, the first happiness is a healthy body, the second happiness is having wealth at home. Teja sukha, partner good. Teja sukha, chautha sukha, and bold stand, is dain kiinda. Dear kind souls, dear vartāhāraṇ. The child should not give hard words to the parents, to the father or to the mother. It is not education in the school, not education about your money or something, but it is that from childhood that is very important. Otherwise, your children, they will destroy everything: your happiness and joy, and everything will go. And in bad, bad society, they will drink alcohol and other drugs, and it looks like, you know, coming at home, and the father said, and then the wife, he said. It is your problem. You did it. You have not done. He said, "Not me, you." So they are fighting. Yes. So when the child is gone out of your house to the kindergarten, then he's gone. Yes. So chota sukha, santāna, obedience. Fifth one. This Ayurveda said, fifth one, you should have a good neighbor. The neighbor is like family. You are one family, and you have a wife and husband living in this house. Your brothers, they are living on this side. Our neighbors are all like one family. Often you see the farmers, they are coming, sitting together on Sunday, and now they are coming and eating together, speaking, etc. Family, there is a family. We are asking, do you have, do you have what they call the joint family? Very few joint families remain now. Yes. Wife is from China, husband is from Africa, and daughter is going to America. The boy is going somewhere to the, oh my God, what is that? I've forgotten the words. What is that? Happy, hippie? What are boys going to India? Hippie. Yeah. So one is a hippie, another is a tippy, another is a b.b. Where is the family? Where is the joint family? That's it. And here we were living, we had a joint family. So this checkpoint, sorry to my legs, because I'm today a little bit sitting too long, legs on the car and then in the train, so... Where was I? We were neighbors, hippies. So then, second or the last point, that's another point: in your house, your own cow. Yeah, those who have good milk, you have good butter, you have good nourishment, yes. And so these are, and then... The last one said, "Work with your earth and on vegetables and this." When you are, "Pehla sukha nirogi kaya," so everything is, this is very, very important, this point for you. But now population is too much, and population is too much, there is about 50 or 20 floors building. Now, who should have a cow? There, so we are changed. There are too many humans, but still we can do something good for our health. Next one: don't blame the doctor, don't blame the medical shop, don't blame that. I am the ill. Look, why I have too much kilos? Why do I have so many, so many... Ayurveda said, "What are you eating? This, yes? This, yeah? This, yeah?" Ayurveda says, "You should not eat this. You should not eat this. Do not eat this. You should eat little of this. You should not eat this at all. Not that either." So he said, "What's the location?" Ayurveda said, "Yes, I will tell you what you should eat." But I have so many kilos? Yes, that's why. So in six months, totally, your rest of all this fat, fat... fat goes away. And your face is so shining. Your body is shining. That is Ayurveda. That's it. But there are some ladies or some men, they have so many kilos, they are eating more. And then I did not know that men are doing, or girls, ladies are doing like this after they're 50 years. What are they doing? I made a joke. I made a joke to my doctor. I said, "You can give the injection here." Where? On my cheek. He said, "No, no... no." I said, "Why?" This is only for the people who have an old way of looking. So they give injections so it will be blowing and looks nice. But you should not touch their cheek like this or this, you know. Only for this, it's not healthy. So, according to Ayurveda, eating, Ayurveda is your kitchen. Āyurveda is in your kitchen, yes. So, what is in your kitchen? That is your hospital's treatment. And that hospital treatment means you are healthy and everything is good. But diet, habit, Holy Gurujī said, habit is the second nature of the human. Habit is the second nature of man. So now, what is your habit? What you are eating, you can't give up, and you are suffering. You are suffering, so why do you blame anyone? Give up this eating. Give up this so much bread. Give it to this, and eat every day a different kind of eating. Don't eat the grain, this, this, every day. Every day, this is different. And then comes the pranāyāma. Prāṇāyāma. First, Sūrya Chandan Vedan. Always begin to practice prāṇāyāma from the left side. Always. Always practice the āsanas from the left side first. Hold your hand there, right, not left hand. So there are principles. Prāṇāyāma, prāṇāyāma, prāṇāyāma. That lungs will clean, and many toxins from the body will go out. So it is now they made experiment that really the cancer removed through the prānāyāms. You have to do prānāyām long, long time because if you have this, so all this, and in yoga in daily life, I have. One, one, three months, or three years, prāṇāyāma system. But, of course, many of you did not learn. And we have this, so practice, practice, practice. Give up your food. Eating this, this. Finish, finish. Tomorrow you will say, "Swamiji, next by Christmas, I will not come." So, please test. Make it. So our problem is our tongue, and the tongue has two problems. One is, we can't control our tongue. The tongue is a gun. When you pull the gun's trigger, the bullet, as you call it, is gone. It will not come back. And if you tell the hard word, that will not come back anymore. And the taste of your tongue, always alcohol and this and that, it will kill you. So these are two things: the talk and the taste. These two are very, our tongue is the best. Our tongue has all kinds of remedies, many, many hormones, but we destroy them with taste. What we call, we take this. I was talking about my tea. Why did I say this? Because I am attached to this taste. But this taste, which goes in my mouth and till the throat, the vocal cord, till there is a taste. After, when it from here goes down, we... Don't know which is bitter, or the sweet, or the sour. All the taste is in the mouth; further is not. But that is this. So we are destroying ourselves. So the stomach said, "Please don't send me all the chocolate." The tongue said, "Don't take too much coffee." Yes. And also said, "Don't measure too much sugar. Everything." But taste is in the mouth. When it's gone afterward, you don't know; only your liver is suffering. Or, this is suffering. So many things, we should take the sweet. There is nothing against, but limitation: when and what. So try, please, try, try. You will be very healthy, and you will become very, very, very young-like again. I have one example, and I think, I hope this person will not be angry, and that is our Annapūrṇā. You know the Annapūrṇā? Is he there here somewhere? Where? So come here, Anupurna. Please, we are not humiliating you at all. But they launched it, your master is. It was a few years. I told her, "Now you have to fly and reduce your weight." I'm not making it humiliating, but I can tell you that she had two times, three times more weight on her body. Yes? She was going, yes? And always, I said, and then she followed my words. But after, when she's very good and makes other dresses and this, and then after again she goes. So I told her, now only for flowering. And I think, how many years? For thirteen years, she did not eat one piece of bread. She did not eat that and that, only phalahārī, vegetable soup, and fruits, and this and that. And I can tell you, she went to the doctor, and the doctor said, "You need not to come anymore." To me, everything is okay. So she is so disciplined, and now she is so happy, and she's enjoying. She can have milk, she can have yogurt, she can have apples, she can have grapes, this and that. And if I will eat this, oh my God, my sugar will go there. So, it is Āyurveda. I don't follow this, and I know, but she is one of the best examples for my disciples in health. One was Kṛiyānanda, who passed away, and second is C. Others are very good, there is nothing to say, but discipline in eating is not easy, and those who are flowery. And good, have the food. They are not angry, not aggressive, and many others. When I tell them, I said, "What?" But you know, so eating, please eat very much, eat as much as your stomach is full, everything. But don't eat those things which remain in your body in a different way. Eat, practice āsanas, prāṇāyāms. She is a yoga teacher, everything. I... I don't know, I never asked her how old she is, yes, and but she is very healthy, very good, and very many people are happy with her, and she's never angry, I, yeah, and so is this, yeah, so of course she's strict to the students, no, these students, those who... Are eating too much, so thank you. So you can make a saṅkalpa, you can make a saṅkalpa. I give you time after Christmas, okay? Enjoy Christmas, all kinds of things, and then, after the 15th of January, slowly, slowly then. Try to go slowly, so it means one grass. What you are, one bite reduce, reduce one bite. After five days, one bite more reduce, and after five days again, one bite. So it's three bites, and again after five days, again you have now four bites. And after five days, again, now the five bites less, and again, six bites less after five days. Then what comes? The spring, spring. So when the spring comes, there we will then try to eat less and less, not all at once. So it will take you time, about six months. Then you cross the ocean. From this sore to other sore, you will see after six months your body will show recovery. But don't say now, "Today, okay, a little ice cream I can have today." I'm flurried, but one day is okay. Then you lost principle. You know, one dies only once in life. Do you die twice in life? Sometimes the doctor brings you back, so once one dies. Similarly, if the flurry he's giving up, then he's gone. So our food, our prāṇa, our mom, our prāṇa, the mantras, etc., etc., eat stomach full and please try, you know, when I came first. At that time in Austria, there was not so much talk about organic food. At that time, it was macrobiotic food. They were giving many things, this and this, also very good. But now, it's difficult. So, Hari Om Tashyat, everybody. Thank you. So, Pela Sukh Nirogi Kaya, Second Sukh Garme Maya, your partner is good, what your children are, and good neighbors, and good milk from the cows or whatever you dig, not from the dairies. Then prāṇāyāms, whatever you eat, too much or anything, get it from prāṇāyāma, prāṇa, prāṇa... prāṇa. You can reap defeat from the flurry. Only prāṇāyām, prāṇāyām and flurry. You can eat everything, and you are like a flurry. But if you do the pranāyām, it is exactly good. And then eating is different, my dears, and then we go to the Himalaya. Or, if you want to practice for two months before the Himalayas, cross this mountain every day. This mountain, what is called this mountain? Monster. Much bear, okay. In this way, I wish you a good, happy Christmas and for your whole families, for friends, all live peacefully and God bless you. Dīp Nayan Bhagavān. Dīp Nayan.

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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