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Good evening to all friends, practitioners, seekers, and spiritual yoga practitioners around the world. This blessing comes from Śrī Mahāprabhujī's Deep Satsaṅg Foundation in the beautiful country of the Czech Republic, from Střelka. If you have not seen Střelka, if you have not walked in this garden, I think many things are missing in your life. It is an experience we should all have. This evening, we speak about family. Most of you are sitting as family members—householders, mothers, fathers, children, and many as grandparents. As we speak of Patañjali's teachings on the citta vṛttis, nirodha, discipline, and life's difficulties, it is not about running away from family life. Those who try to run away often become stuck again, like a fly in honey. It is not easy. But for those who wish, it can be easy. Many listeners around the world are householders, working in offices and various professions. How can you manage to follow Patañjali's instructions? Can we achieve what he says? He speaks of dharma—principles and obligations. For the householder, their sādhanā, their spiritual path, is completed if they are able to educate their children. When you have a child and cannot educate them, that is a clear picture that you have failed on your spiritual path. It means you are not capable. If you could master yourself, then automatically your children would understand and follow you. For a householder, the first dharma is duty. Dharma means duty, obligation, responsibility, principle, and also religion. Religion speaks of discipline, following ethical principles in life, and giving ethical education to children. In modern civilization, humans have separated from one another. Five family members live separately, each becoming individualistic. Everyone loses confidence in each other, especially in parents. How does it happen that your children lose confidence in you? This is your inner picture because you do not have confidence in yourself. If you were sure, your family would automatically follow your footsteps. In our modern school education, ethical education is unfortunately missing. Only a handful of people do research and write articles. We have education ministers in various countries who have no idea what education is. Ministers are chosen by the majority but are not selected by the minority of politicians themselves. A health minister may have no idea about health. A health minister should be a professor, doctor, or surgeon with perfect knowledge of anatomy, medicine, and psychology, who can understand people and illnesses. Then they would be a successful health minister and implement what is good for children and people. There are ministers for nourishment who have no idea about it. Because someone wants to sell meat or alcohol, and it is implemented, they get money. They have no idea about a vegetarian life or a healthy way of living. This is a problem. In ancient times, people were chosen who had perfect knowledge of their functions in the country. Now everything is about money, power, or protection. We are the victims. In many countries, parents cannot say anything to their children. If parents have nothing to say, then who will? These are the vikṣepas, disturbances, kleśas, troubles, kliṣṭa vikṣepas. Sometimes one sits and thinks, "My God, if I had known this before, I would not have had children." But this is not a solution. Humans would die out, though not all think like this; we have enough people. If your country has fewer humans, many countries would like to come and help. Why not? Both hands clean together. Therefore, the situation is this: we do not have support even from the government. If they knew about the subject, they would support us. There are rare countries that care about the spiritual growth of their people. There are no parties that support open thinking, free thinking, tolerance, and manana—thoughts for the spiritual and ethical development of their countries. All countries run after money, constructions, and becoming a superpower. No matter how hard you work, you will never be a superpower. There is only one superpower: Almighty God. If you claim to be a superpower, you can be destroyed in no time. That supreme cosmic power brings an earthquake, and all your superpower collapses. Where are you then? What do people think higher education is? Academic education and the world's cultures find fulfilling spiritualities, but this is destroyed by so-called highly educated people. They become one-sided and lose reality. Therefore, yoga is something that brings humans back to their heart, and then from the heart back to the brain. Our thoughts should be colored in our heart with the color of love, compassion, mercy, understanding, and knowledge that makes everyone comfortable, happy, and spiritually developed. Thoughts from the brain that go out without touching the heart, without a deep heartfelt color, are like a plastic apple. We must come back to the heart to understand. So-called religious leaders around the world fight, saying, "My religion is the best." That is another war: political war, religious war, and a third cultural war—my culture, their culture, my mentality. How do we imagine being a householder in this troubled world? We cannot say this or that; we must keep silent, otherwise we are in trouble. Unfortunately, it is like this. So, what is Patañjali advising us? What should we do? It is said: nothing is impossible. Begin with grassroots work. Have self-confidence, and to keep that self-confidence and discipline, you must face many obstacles. Yesterday and today we walked. Every day we get up, walk to the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and so on. Today on the walk, hundreds, thousands of people walked—1,000 people. How many feet? Two thousand feet walking on that ground. I saw a very gentle plant standing up against the ground, blossoming with a flower. That was a will. Ask this small, gentle plant: "How many feet were on you?" For 12 days, every day, 2,000 feet—let's say a thousand—so 12,000 times. I was thinking how to say, "Crushed under your sole," but again, the inner strength, little drops of water came. In the morning, we went, and I saw how beautiful it was. On the way, all are walking there. That small, tiny plant gave me the vṛtti. Patañjali speaks about vṛttis, and the subject is about vṛttis. Abhyāsa, strength, confidence in the willpower to achieve, is not easy. The mountain peak looks beautiful from a distance, but to reach it, you must walk. It is not easy. Very often thoughts come: "My God, what am I doing? Why am I climbing this mountain? I will go back." But when you are at the peak, you don't breathe heavily; you say, "Oh, beautiful. What a wonderful view." That is an achievement. If you stop your project, your work, your sādhanā, you will not reach the peak. For a householder, the first thing—for everyone, all creatures, the whole creation—is good health. Pahala śuk nirogī kāya: the first happiness is a healthy body. That is why the Vedas say: "Oṃ Dhyoḥ Śāntiḥ Antarikṣaṃ Śāntiḥ Pṛthivī Śāntiḥ." Peace for all and good health. Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ: all should be happy. This kind of thought is given to us. First is our health. Second is your inner confidence, your inner health. If you are not inwardly healthy, you will always change your opinion, your path, your mantras, your masters, your wife or husband. Who is changing? I didn't experience this. Does the husband change the wife, or the wife change the husband? Only you can answer. Always changing means inside you have not found what you were searching for. For householders and everyone, it is essential to find inner contentment. Without it, you will not be happy or successful. Constantly changing is not advisable. If you walk half an hour toward the mountain peak, then change and come down 15 minutes, then decide to go up again, then go down, then go straight another side, you will never reach the top. Another thing: husband and wife should make a saṅkalpa and prayer. Purify the body, purify the thoughts, and wait for a beautiful constellation. Consult a good astrologer. There are many astrologers, but a good one is needed. There is a certain constellation when husband and wife decide to have a child. On this constellation, I can tell you, you will have a child—that sparkling star of the heavens. But nowadays, children are born out of alcohol. The husband is drunk, the wife is scared, angry, and quarreling. First, purify the environment, purify the body, purify the thoughts, and pray to the God in which you believe, or to pure energy principles. With this, husband and wife must have a saṅkalpa: "Lord, my child—daughter or son—should be the one who continues my work, my path, my spirituality, and my humanitarian, environmental projects." You are replacing yourself with your child. You give into your children's hands the whole culture, tradition, and relations of your house, with confidence that they will lead further. Similarly, a master constantly prays for a disciple who will continue these paramparās, who will have this light and strength. In sannyāsa, in the yogic way, there is a spiritual lineage, paramparā. In the family, there is also a paramparā—what we call the dynasty. Every family has a dynasty. Your child is born to replace you. When the child is born, you are happy, but you should know the lord of the house is already here. Slowly, as Patañjali said, make vairāgya: hand over everything to your children and go for meditation. Retirement—this retirement system we have now is an ancient system. There are four pillars of life, four quarters: childhood and student life (brahmacharya); family life (gṛhastha); preparation for retirement (vānaprastha); and retirement and detachment (sannyāsa). For a sannyāsī to go back home is a sin. You retired, you renounced; you cannot come back. For a sannyāsī going home, it is like spitting and then trying to lick it back. Can you lick back what you spit? Except chocolate, that's it. Similarly, for the householder, when you have children, prepare and give everything to them. Thanks to God, around the world, in this government system, you have a pension. You get a retirement pension and live from that. Good—thanks to God they give you a little pension. Why? Because if you get more pension, you have tension, always planning holidays. All days are holy days. Remain and meditate. You don't need to go anywhere. You eat very little, so the pension is also very little. That's it. So I admit, a certain government system is good: you get little, you have no expenditure. You have given everything to your children—electricity, telephone—they should pay. You retire to a small hut in the forest. What do you need? A few potatoes and half a cup of milk. Don't eat more, otherwise you will die quickly. After 45 years, our eating should be reduced by 60%. Then we can live more than 45 years. We are not dying from not eating; we are eating for dying. That's it. Do we live for eating, or eat for living? Of course, we live for eating. That is the problem. We don't eat for living. It's very difficult to say no. Today I got my dinner: salad, good; vegetable, good; chapati, okay. I ate one and a half chapati and vegetables. Soup came, which I didn't take—it was too sour. One and a half chapati, so much vegetable, I thought, "Now it's full." I gave back. Then came a bowl full of fruit salad with cream. That is the problem of our health. It looks nice, sweet. Okay, I ate a little. Then came something more. This is too much. It is good if you are alone in retirement, or you and your wife don't have much energy to prepare food—a little eating and meditating. So, the first duty of the householder is to educate children well. Second, maintain peace, harmony, love, and understanding within the family. Once I was sitting in a car; a family took me. I was on the road, stopping somewhere in Europe long ago. It was raining in summer, and I had one suitcase. A man stopped, and his wife said, "Okay, she will sit in the back; he can sit in the front." There was a sign: "I know you are a good driver." I asked him, "What does it mean? You are a good driver?" He said, "He says, 'Mister, it's not for you.'" I said, "Thank you." There are so many co-drivers correcting the driver: "Take care, red light." Of course, he's driving with open eyes. Why do you think about the red light? "Take care, somebody's taking over. Oh, God, somebody's coming in front." The person doesn't mean bad; they want to make sure you know, but sometimes it goes on the nerves. That person is called the "nerve soul," cutting the nerves. It means that partner at home has so many arguments. The joy, happiness, and harmony of family life for which you married is lost. Many people have this problem. It is lost so quickly, you can't imagine. How was it when you got married, decided to marry, wrote a wedding card? How are your feelings now? Maybe you kept your wedding card at home. Can you read it again? Second, our family should have mutual understanding: husband and wife, children. What do I mean by educating children? Educate yourself. Both husband and wife should behave so that children automatically learn how to live. You are an example, a picture for them. When you have no harmony and understanding, children don't take you seriously. So, for that, have good health. Practice āsanas, prāṇāyāma, prayer every day according to your beliefs. Love your children so they feel you truly love them. After two, three, or four years, they may not feel that love. They go sit and watch television. I was in Australia, and a family had a son about five years old. The mother was cooking and said, "You can watch children's films," and put on the television. He came to his mother and said, "No, mother, I want to see how you are cooking. I want to be with you in the kitchen. I don't want to watch television." She said, "Of course, you are welcome." She brought a chair; he sat because the working board was too high. He sat there. She said, "No knife," but gave him one piece at a time to cut vegetables. I observed that child for 18 years. He became a very good person; everyone admires him. The mother never said, "Don't watch television; come sit beside me." How you behave is how your children will behave. Lucky are those who have such children. Some are not like this. When everyone is sleeping, then meditate and do your Kriya. The householder should say: "Mera jīvana terī pūjā." Lord, you gave me this life. My life is a ceremony to you. My life is worship for you. My entire being, whatever I do, is worship for you, my Lord. Take care of me. As a householder, you must have many vṛttis. We have good days, good news; bad days, bad news; health problems, school problems, job problems—many things to think about. Twenty-five hundred years ago, when Patañjali was speaking, there were not so many humans, and all were happy. They had one cow and milk, many fruits. Wherever you went in the forest, there were big, nice, sweet fruits. You ate two fruits and were finished; you didn't need anything else. Now when we walk through the forest, there are few berries, and even they are poisonous. You can't eat them. Thanks to God, they are left for the birds. Nature has disappeared; fruit trees have disappeared. Look at beautiful agriculture and the thoughts of farmers. In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and other European countries, at the end of their land, they always planted fruit trees: apples, pears, peaches. Now we say, "These old trees are ill," chip them off, and plant other kinds of trees, not fruit trees. The thought was: they planted fruits for all. Whoever walked would have a piece of fruit. Now we say, "Creating flies," and destroy the science. This was a science for living; now it is living without any sense. There is no science to it. As a householder, keep your mantra in your heart. Keep the presence of God in your heart. Pray to God for your happy family: "Lord, may my family be healthy, happy, and harmonious." Work to feed them and create beautiful relations with neighbors. That becomes a society. Bring spiritual, positive thoughts. Try to give trust to humans that, as your neighbor, I am not your enemy; I am your friend. But how many people? We don't trust our neighbors; neighbors don't trust us. This is a problem. Patañjali gave instructions to yogīs who had a nice wife. When the husband said, "I will meditate," she said, "Okay." Now, when the husband tells the wife, "I will meditate," she says, "No, go shopping." In Patañjali's time, there were no shops; everything was there. What was needed was love and understanding. When you meditate in the evening or morning and pray, your thoughts will calm down. Automatically, many vṛttis will go down. "My life is worship to thee, O my Lord." The rest of the time, give all responsibilities of your life to God. That was, and still is in some places, mostly in villages, where high life and high education remain—what you call doctor, daughter, son. I can't promise about them. I speak about beautiful, nice farmers and people. It was advised by ṛṣis, great saints, and gurus of your dynasty to have an altar at home. It doesn't matter which religion you believe in. In a corner, a nice place, have an altar. When going out, greet the altar to take care of your life. When coming home, greet it. At sunset, light a candle, oil lamp, ghee lamp, agarbattī, or dhoop (tree gum that smells nice). In the Guru Gītā, it is said: "Pūjā jis ghar meṅ ho ve terī āratī." Oh Lord, well, āratī to you, ceremony to you. What happens in your house when you come? A person comes back, and instead of agarbattī, there is a cigar; instead of holy water, vodka or cognac. What will God do there? Asuras will come. You experienced asuras taking over heaven. Asurī śakti is the most powerful, and now too. Cultivate this tradition throughout the whole world. Humans had in their house their patrons, their house altar. When they traveled, they took it with them. It is not only blind belief; it is true. You are protected by some higher consciousness, and God is there with you in such belief. A bhakta said: "Ab sāp diyā is jīvan kā sab bhār tumhāre hātho meṅ, Lord. Now I give all my responsibilities, sorrows of my life, into your hands." I don't care if I will be successful or not, because it is in your hands. "Deen bandhu deena nāth merī dorī tere hāth." O Lord of the meek ones, the rope or string of my life is in your hands. Please sometimes move the string toward you so I can come closer. We are like puppets in the hands of the Lord, divine will. In this way, the householder leads Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, and Rāja Yoga—all four yogas simultaneously. The householder does one of the biggest, greatest works for God: continuing His creation. You have children; you are helping God. Yes, God is happier with you because if all become sannyāsīs, God would say, "Now where are my children?" No one would be there; the world would dry out. So, don't be unhappy that you married. Will you have God-realization or not? God doesn't care if you are married or not. He cares only how pure your heart and thoughts are, and how content you are. "Lord, wherever I am, I am happy." In whatever condition or situation, remember God. Through this, we will fulfill the vākyas of Ṛṣi Patañjali. For a householder, vairāgya means giving up anger, greed, conflicts, and ego toward others. That is your vairāgya—simple but with higher thinking. "God, forgive them. God, be with us. Lord, protect us all, not only us." In some countries, they say, "God, bless this country." We say, "No, God, bless the entire world." All countries are God's country. These are instructions on how to lead a spiritual life as a householder. The prime duty is that your children have that feeling, love, and spiritual following to complete your spiritual life. They are your successors. Their complete success will be your success, and their children's success will be theirs. This chain, one after another, is uniting chain work. If your children do not follow you, it means you did not try enough to develop yourself spiritually. You have no confidence, no certainty, and you have fear, so you couldn't do it. You failed. When you fail, who has failed? Go again into the creation cycle of 8.5 million creatures. You are again in that line, so beautiful. Don't think, "What will I do?" You will do a lot. Work begins with the grassroots, step by step. It can happen that in your family, no one respects you for being spiritual. Don't worry. Work step by step, continuously. One day, they will be proud of you. That's it. There is a story about a young lady and her husband. She is a strict vegetarian; he is not. At home, he doesn't eat meat. She thinks he eats meat on holidays. Once he was somewhere, and they served him meat. He said, "Sorry, I love my wife. If my wife knows I ate meat, she will be very unhappy. Sorry, friends, I will not eat meat." At home, he was angry, saying, "You are vegetarian," but inside he supported her. When she learned through his friends, she was in tears and said to her husband, "I didn't think you really love me, mean it, and care for my spiritual life." He said, "I do because I benefit; I feel your spiritual light." I'm telling you because I want to know how strong you are. Sometimes on holidays, you may say, "Okay, eat fish." He said, "No." So don't think your partner is against you. They are against you because you behave like a fanatic. There was a man who wanted to see me very much, but his wife was dominating. She said, "As long as you eat meat, you can't see Swamiji." So he came with a car, drove her in front of the ashram, and went home. One day I said, "I want to see her husband." He had gone away with the car. I asked why he didn't come in. She said, "Because I told you, only people who don't eat meat can come to Swamiji." I said, "When you came to me, did you eat meat at that time?" She said, "Yes." I said, "Why not him? He should come. Even if he eats meat or not, all are welcome to me. The decision will be his afterward." Forcing someone to become vegetarian is also himsā, is it not? Love comes from itself; renunciation comes from itself. So, take care of your household and family. Please look after our children here. I am very proud of you. They are so small, sitting, listening to me, and playing. Unfortunately, in other countries, we are surprised what children are doing. They don't listen to parents. It's not the children's mistake; it's the parents'. Parents should take care and know. So today is that. I wish you all the best tomorrow. We will speak of vaśikāra, saṅkhyā, vairāgyam, draṣṭānuśravaṁ, viṣaya. The best vṛtti is that. The best vairāgya is when your vṛtti is controlled. You can control your vṛtti as a householder, yogī, or sannyāsī. Vaśikāraṇa means control. Tulsīdās jī said: "If you would like to have all as your friends, then give up harsh words." Speak with the heart—sweet, understanding, loving. Accept when someone says something was not right. Don't say, "What do you mean? It's my thing, not yours." Yesterday, I saw people coming from Anuṣṭhāna Kriyā from the Saṅgam Hall. I was standing, and someone came out. Another said, "Don't put your shoes always on the way." She said, "That's not your problem." I was standing there, wondering: what chakra showed them? Did she do all aggression? It came out. Is this it? Thoughts after meditation? Then don't do it. Go work in the vegetable garden. Our carrots need water, you know? That's it. So think: what you are talking, thinking, and how you behave with people differently—that is your ID card, showing who you are. Tomorrow we will continue. I wish you a very good appetite. Evening satsaṅg will begin again at 7:30. Please keep more Mauna, walk, take your food, sit in the beautiful garden. Today the sun is shining. I have some duties; if there is still time after finishing, I will join you. Please take care of your children. Your children should sit beside you all the time in satsaṅgs and programs. Take care that no matter how old your child is, they must be with the group and not running alone here and there. Thank you. Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ, Sarve Santu Nirāmayāḥ, Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu, Mā Kaścid Duhkha Bhāga Bhavet. Om Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. Nipzar and Bhagwān.