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A Call to Discipline and Inner Awareness

Discipline is the foundation of all spiritual practice. Without it, yoga and meditation are meaningless. Many come here but fail to follow basic rules, walking improperly, taking utensils, and leaving mess. This outer disorder reflects inner chaos. Practice without discipline yields no success. The mind must be observed and purified through breath awareness, rejecting harmful thoughts and cultivating inner stillness. Only self-discipline enables change; no one can do this work for you.

"Only outer things cannot influence your inner things, but your inner things influence your outer things."

"I know that I am inhaling. I know that I am exhaling. Try to collect all your thoughts... and try to select those thoughts which are very important."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Here, in the heart of Europe, in the Czech Republic, surrounded by lush meadows and rolling hills in the shadow of ancient pines, the village of Strilky is nestled. The most famous site in this charming village is its 16th-century castle. In the embrace of this vast and ancient building, the visitor discovers numerous halls and rooms filled with well-preserved, original craftsmanship, characterized by the whimsical forms favored by Renaissance artisans. Today, the castle and its grounds, filled with ancient trees and its lakes teeming with lotus blossoms, have been designated a national cultural monument by the Czech government. In these idyllic surroundings, the Śrī Mahāprabhudīp Āśram, named for the great Indian yogī, is settled. The halls and meadows of the castle are now the home of yoga, practiced according to the system of Yoga in Daily Life. People from all over the world come here to build true physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. Especially valuable is the living presence of the author of the system, Paramahaṁsa Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānandajī, who personally guides international yoga seminars here several times a year. This ambience and the guidance of Gurudev powerfully increase the benefits of practice. Therefore, numerous aspirants take every opportunity to give themselves the gift of these precious moments of revitalization. The vast park provides enough silent, secluded corners for those who prefer solitary sādhanā. Here, we regain almost forgotten closeness with family. Through summer camps for parents and children, organic vegetarian food with numerous variations to accommodate different diets makes one feel light and invigorates us to work on the harmony of body, mind, and soul. Like life itself, the ashram is full of possibilities. Here, seminars and workshops take place dedicated to healthy living, including courses in vegetarian cooking, Haṭha Yoga, Kriyā techniques for the detoxification of the body, Āyurveda, flower arranging, use of medicinal herbs, traditional craftsmanship, painting, sculpture, interior design, specialized yoga courses, and advanced courses for yoga teachers. We deepen our experience of ourselves. Welcome to Śrī Mahāprabhudīp Āśram, Strilky. Welcome to the home of body and soul. Welcome to a haven for the true renaissance of the being. Whatever language you speak, here the smile of a friend is waiting for you. Dīp Dharāyaṁ Bhagavān Kī. Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī. Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī. Sanātana Dharma Kī. Well, good evening to everybody. I think whatever I will tell you, it does not have influence on you. For the last four or five days, I have been talking about discipline. Atha yogānuśāsanam, and don’t be lazy. Cittavṛtti nirodhaḥ. You go out of the lecture hall or the lecture place, and then you are a completely different person. So I think I will give a lecture without you, only for the international people who are looking in on the webcast. When I give a lecture, you go into the garden and clean the garden. Many don’t follow the discipline. I told you on the first day, and one day before, and the day before yesterday. Do you know why you came here? Nobody follows the discipline. Even for walking, people don’t follow the discipline. And the forest where we are walking, we got a complaint today. We are not walking on the path which is described. Purījī, Purījī... I will go and search your tents. I will find how many spoons from the kitchen and how many cups or plates from the ashram are in your tent. Not that you want to have it, but you don’t follow the discipline, and you take it away, and you are not capable of bringing it back again. Many people dig this spoon into the earth. It’s easier, just push in, that’s all. And when you are gone, we have to clean the field, and then we find many spoons under the earth. This is not a joke. It is a serious thing. In many of the rooms, there are a lot of half-eaten apples lying on the table. I was going today, 2:30, around through every room, yes, and many bathrooms. Clothes are hanging there where you should not hang your laundry. We have a place for laundry, we have a place for cleaning, and so on. So, Mahāprabhujī said in his golden preaching: Only outer things cannot influence your inner things, but your inner things influence your outer things. So, how you are organized within, like that you are organized outside. A public toilet, or a common one where everyone can go, is a completely different situation. So unfortunately, you failed to be a good yogī. You failed to be disciplined. You can go walking, no problem, but within the Ashram area. You can eat, no problem, but all in the eating area. Go to five-star hotels. Are you allowed to take your food from the dining room to your room? So I understand the people on the Adriatic coast, ex-Yugoslavia. You know what they write on the dining table? Can someone tell me? Is there anybody from the Adriatic coast, from Croatia? Śrī Śrī... Breakfast and dinner. There is no lunch. So, what people are doing is having breakfast and packing all the bread, cheese, and butter in a bag to take to their room for lunch. This is human psychology. It means they need not come at lunchtime and pay money. And the same thing is everywhere. When we were in Vép, Hungary, do you remember? Remember, in Vārāṇasī, Hungarian Krishnānanda had always had a problem. In every seminar, at least 300 spoons and butter knives were missing, and many cups were missing. This is not something that some want to steal. No. Not discipline. Don’t follow the discipline. Therefore, next year we will have only a raw diet. No cups, no spoons, no knives. Yes, very nice, clean vegetables we will put on the table. You come and take it and buy it as you like. That’s it. So, discipline makes a man successful. And if you are not disciplined, you cannot be successful. All of this yoga practice that you are doing, if you are not disciplined, it is zero. So, for what did you come here? No one keeps mauna, no one is walking properly, everything. And therefore, you know, it’s difficult for a master to speak anything again and again. And it’s not against anyone here personally, but generally. I spoke once about disciplining, that people who don’t follow the discipline, Gurujī said, I asked him what to do. Gurujī said, "These people who can’t discipline their life, it’s like the tail of a dog." There are some dogs whose tails are nicely rolled back. But there was one man, a disciplined man like me, who would like to have the tail of the dog straight. Always, I try to keep it straight, rolled back. So I brought a bamboo, a long bamboo flute, and put the tail of the dog in the bamboo. And let it be one year in this. It has no chance to roll back. After one year, with great expectation, I thought now my dog’s tail will be straight like this. I took the bamboo out, and the tail was going back. And so you are. That’s it. What can I do? And when I tell you more strictly, then you are crying. Or you are angry, or you say, "Our Swamījī always makes jokes." Don’t worry, do what you like. Okay, then I will be making only jokes, and you do what you like. I don’t care if you get mokṣa or no mokṣa. I have no business with mokṣa, you know. There is one company called Moksha Company, but I don’t have a moksha company. So that my company will be more fruitful. I don’t have political influence in the Mokṣa Loka, so I will have more candidates. Anyhow, the hell, Naraka, has more candidates. But I want to save you from this direction. If you don’t listen and don’t follow, it’s a pity. That’s it. So what to do when you don’t follow? So, now I will not speak today. We will do prāṇāyāma. That’s it. So, all sit down, and whoever moves will get a bamboo stick on the head. Maybe practicing prāṇāyāma will help you. Sit straight, place your hands on your knees, stop your movements, close your eyes, and keep your body straight upright. And Prāṇāyām Mudrā, close your eyes, and if you can’t close them, then tie the cloth on your eyes. Inhalation and exhalation only through the left nostril. Only through the left nostril, inhale and exhale. Inhale through the left nostril and exhale through the right nostril. And observe your breath, how it is moving in and out, ascending and descending. Breath awareness. Also, be a witness of your vṛttis, citta vṛtti. What am I thinking now? How am I thinking now? What influence or effect do I have from Guru Vākya? What just now Swāmījī spoke? Inhale and exhale only through the left nostril. No movement. Keep your body straight. Keep your face straight. Don’t turn your face towards the left side or the right side. Abdominal breath. Deep inhale through the abdomen below the navel. Try to observe the breath deep below the navel. I know that I am inhaling, I know that I am exhaling, I know that I am inhaling, and I know that I am exhaling through the left nostril. Try to collect all your thoughts, all your vṛttis, and try to select those thoughts which are very important. Rest of all nonsense thoughts, send it away, clear up. Be aware of your thoughts. You know, there’s one man collecting in big baskets many, many small stones from the river. And out of thousands of stones, he finds one precious stone. He rejects all the other stones. Similarly, all our worldly thoughts, all the restless thoughts, all the thoughts of jealousy, anger, hate, greed, and laziness, they are not useful. Only one thought, ātmā, ahaṁ brahmāsmi; search that precious thought. I know that I am inhaling. I know that I am exhaling. My breath is very smooth, with deep inhaling and slowly, long exhaling. Relax, relax. Do not let any thought in or out without your knowing. Tadadraṣṭu Saurūpeṇa Avasthānam. What you will think, like that you will be. So fix yourself with ātmā jñāna, thoughts of ātmā. Only inhale and exhale through the left nostril. Your eyes should be closed. If you cannot close, then tie a cloth on your eyes and then practice. If you can’t close your eyes, you will not be successful. Because with your eyes, you have so many vṛttis. Close your eyes and be one with thyself. Take a deep inhale and slowly exhale. I know I’m inhaling. I know that I’m exhaling. I know what kind of thoughts are going in and out in my conscious. Those thoughts which make you restless, which make you angry, which make you jealous, which make you greedy, which create in you fear and uncertainty—reject them, delete them. Out of your citta, only pure vṛttis. I know that I am inhaling. I know that I am exhaling. Keep your body straight upright. Keep your body straight. Keep your eyes closed. Deep inhale and exhale. Check your citta-vṛttis, if you have reduced them or they have multiplied. It depends on you only. How you create the outer world, how you perceive the outer world, like that, that is a sign of your inner world. Deep inhale and slowly exhale, and now place your hand on the knee. Remain with closed eyes, observe your vṛttis. What kind of benefit do you have from the thought, or that vṛtti, which you have now? The kliṣṭa vṛtti means that which is harmful for your sādhanā, which is an obstacle for your spiritual progress, which is a destructive thought for you. That’s kliṣṭa vṛttis. Close your eyes. If you cannot, then tie the cloth over your eyes. Akliṣṭa vṛtti, which doesn’t create any restless negative thoughts. Good vṛttis. And you should know the difference between good and bad. If your inner world is like a wild jungle with many, many wild animals, beautiful and harmful, that means you cannot keep your eyes closed. If your inner world is positive and beautiful, then you are not afraid. You just close your eyes and be one with thyself. Always opening your eyes means you want to run away from your inner world, your inner karma, your qualities, not the qualities of others. Only you can help yourself. Again, Prāṇāyām Mudrā. Inhale and exhale only through the right nostril, Piṅgalā or Sūrya Nāḍī. Keep your eyes closed, keep your body straight. And how beautiful it is that this prāṇa flows with the oxygen, with this gentle, very fine air, goes through your lungs, the whole respiratory system. We supply to your whole body this beautiful prāṇa energy, which tranquilizes your thoughts and emotions, clears up all your restlessness, and you become one with thyself. I know that I’m inhaling through the Sūrya Nāḍī. I know that I’m exhaling through the Sūrya Nāḍī. My eyes are closed. Don’t try to look between your fingers at me. I know who’s opening their eyes and looking through their fingers. Don’t press your lungs. Keep your body straight. Nāhaṁ Karatā Prabhu. Dip your palms, place the palms on your face, and warm your face muscles. Gently massage your eyelids and open the eyes. Hari Om. And those who had closed eyes all the time now have open eyes. As long as you will not try to discipline yourself and make it clear in your mind, no one can help you. Because even if someone wants to help you, you don’t change yourself. There is one little story, but time is gone. It’s already six o’clock. A very nice story, so remind me, tomorrow I will tell you a story. Okay? Okay, the story is very nice, and I hope that by tomorrow I will remember it and I will not forget the story. The story is very nice, that God wants to help you, but you don’t want that, and that’s something very nice. So, all the best, and I wish you a very good appetite. Do think about what I told you before this lecture. Yes, you do miss the discipline. Still, you haven’t mastered the little bit of habit to change yourself. And this seminar is for us to change. If you are individualistic and only want to go with two or three people walking, then walk in our garden. We have a lot of work here. If you are in a group, then go in the group. If not, then stay here. But then, don’t take eating in your room and lying on the bed and eating. Discipline. Next time, when I find something in your room, like a half-eaten apple, and then you come into your room, you will not even find your mattress on the bed. You have to sleep without a mattress. 2:30. Remember, I was moving through all the rooms. Not a single room did I leave out, and every tent. So, tomorrow. Today we had this Prāṇāyāma meditation, how to control the cittavṛtti. Through prāṇāyām meditation, Hari Om, deep nayan, Bhagavān kī. And now I will see closed.

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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