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Satguru Swāmī Madhavān Jī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Alak Purī Jī Mahādeva Kī Jai, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai. Good evening to all sisters, brothers, yoga practitioners, yoga teachers, and great saints. We all work on this earth so that we may live in harmony, peace, and spirituality. The day is coming close when we will celebrate the festival known as Christmas. Millions of people worship, and many show respect. Similarly, there are all other festivals. Yet it is said that dust always accumulates. For example, we may have a very nice glass table. We clean it very nicely, with the windows and doors closed, and then go to work outside. In the evening, when we return, we can run a finger over it and find dust. That dust, that impurity, slowly, slowly settles. Similarly, for humans, differences always arise. We do not know and cannot say who causes this. Every religion is very great, and all worship in their own form. But within that, what is happening? In the Śiva-lokas, it is said that in the Satya-yuga, there was peaceful purity and love for all creatures. There is one very beautiful holy book from Bhagavān Rāma and his Gurudeva. It is a very great spiritual book that imparts immense knowledge. In it, God Rāma's Gurudeva is teaching him; it contains yoga and many other things. When Bhagavān Rāma returned from the forest to his kingdom, all people were peaceful and happy. One day, a dog came to God Rāma, crying. Bhagavān Rāma asked, "What happened?" The dog said, "A paṇḍita beat me with a stick. I did nothing to him." Bhagavān Rāma said, "Tell me, where were you? Who was the paṇḍita? Where did this happen?" The dog replied, "I was resting on the nice grass in a beautiful park, about two meters from the road. I was sleeping there. A paṇḍita, about 50 or 60 years old, was walking through the park with a stick in his hand. When he came close to me, he saw me, took his stick, and beat me. I cried and fell on my back. He beat me two or three times. I felt great pain. God, please, why did he beat me? What is the reason? You should tell me, Bhagavān Rām. I have done nothing. What is to be done?" Bhagavān Rām said, "Tomorrow morning at eleven o'clock, come to me here in the palace. I will call all people—many different good people, elders, and others." He also called the Brahmin Paṇḍita. All the people were seated, and the dog was there. God Rāma said to the dog, "My child," for God says that humans and animals are all His children. He said, "Please, dog, tell everyone again what happened." So the dog told his story: "I was lying on the grass. I was not close to him. I never said anything negative to him nor beat him before." God Rāma then asked the Paṇḍita, "Did you beat this dog?" He said, "Yes." "Why did you?" Everyone was listening. The Paṇḍita said, "The dog did not do anything to me. He was at a distance. But I thought, 'It is a dog,' and I just beat him." "Did the dog ever get naughty with you?" "No." God Rāma asked again, "What should we give you as punishment?" All the people present asked, "What punishment should we give?" The Paṇḍita said, "Whatever you wish to give me, I will respect it. Whatever the assessment, I will accept." Bhagavān Rām said to the assembly, "All the public is here. Please tell me what punishment we should give this Paṇḍita." They said, "God, you should decide, Bhagavān Rām." Bhagavān Rām, who is very humble and kind, first listened to everything. He then said, "My boy, my child, my doggy, you have heard that he did not claim you were a bad dog. Others have asked, and I ask you: what kind of punishment is needed?" God said something, but no one spoke; it was silent. God Rāma said, "We will tell you what punishment we should give this Paṇḍita. Dog, tell us what you say, and we will do it." The dog said, "I want a sādhu, or some yogī, or someone like this paṇḍita, to give him this punishment: in his next life, he should have a beautiful āśrama and become the head of that āśrama. Give him this punishment." All the people said, "He is a dog. He doesn't know what kind of punishment to give." So Bhagavān Rāma said, "Before we give the punishment, please tell us once again: when he was beating you, should people beat him, or this, or that?" The dog said, "No, no, no. I will not, and you should not punish him. But he will get his time of punishment. When and how? When this paṇḍita dies, he will become a pujārī again. As a pujārī, he will collect many things, use them, take everything, eat many good things, and not give to others. That is a good punishment: good eating, much money, etc." Then the dog said, "In the life after that, he will be punished in hell because he will take many things from others and not give to others." Similarly, it does not matter if they are animals, dogs, tigers, or anything. Their nature and our nature are separate, so we should be separate. It is not that because we are humans, we only care for humans and can kill others. From the time of the Satya Yuga, people mostly ate only fruits and vegetables; they were vegetarians. Others slowly, slowly began killing animals. You know now how animals are tortured—even burned alive, put into fire, and many other things. And so, again, these people who harm animals will come more and more in what we call the Kali Yuga. Yet many good people will still be there. They will go to Svarga, and after Svarga they will go further, because one returns from Svarga. Svarga and Naraka are always fighting, always fighting. Therefore, we should not torture any creatures—not only humans but also other animals. If we have a horse we ride, we should love that horse and give it enough food and everything. We get milk from cows, buffaloes, goats, etc. That milk is like the milk from a mother. We should not treat a mother's milk in a different way. We should not kill them and eat that milk, or have a bit more butter, from the flesh of the mother animals. The Kali Yuga is coming. Therefore, in the next one or two months, very terrible things will come—not only corona but different kinds of things. But we are praying, and we will all do more sādhanā for that. I am looking into Jyotiṣa, and sometimes I will give you guidance next time on what to do and how. With that, I will say: first, physical health is the best health so that we can do good. We should take care of our body. Many people have problems—knee problems, wrist problems, back problems. If we can do the Sarva Hitāsana programs, yoga will do the best for our lives. Tomorrow I will give you three exercises; our Umapurījī will explain. That is how we can control our knees, where the bigger problem is. But if it is broken, or doctors have cut it, then I can tell you it will be best again—yes, in the next life. Hari Om, Hari Om, dear friends. We continue again with our Sarvita Āsana part 6. As always, we start with relaxation. Place your head in a good middle position, arms beside your body, palms facing upward, and legs a little apart from each other. Take a deep breath in and exhale. Close your eyes and relax your whole body. Relax any tension that becomes known to you. Once more, deep inhale and exhale. Since relaxation has no end, we make it short and continue. We start by moving our arms above the head with inhalation, slowly. While exhaling, bring them back beside the body. These first movements are always the same, no matter the practice level. Please continue. Then bring your arms beside your shoulders, palms facing upward. Turn your head to the left and right side. Very good. Now start to stretch your whole body, each side separately—right and left. Stretch the whole right side. These are preparations for our movements, our postures, our āsanas. We do it again with Anta Kumbhaka to strengthen our blood circulation and nervous system. Always one side, then the other side, and again one side, and again the other side. You can do it twice on each side, alternately. Then, once, stretch your whole body. Stretch the whole body, rolling to the left and right side. Return to the middle and rub your palms together. Rub your palms, place them on your eyes and forehead. You can slightly massage your face, around the eyes, to the ears, and under your palms. Open your eyes and bring your arms beside your shoulders, palms facing upward. Now we come to our first movement: the torsion exercise with closed legs. This is very, very good for relaxing our lower back muscles, the deep muscles that connect the sides of each vertebra diagonally. Please bring your foot soles to the ground, bend your knees, and keep both feet and knees together. I would not do this if you are pregnant in the last months or have a slipped disc in a very acute state. This is the most contraindicated condition; there are no others for this exercise. But you must try for yourself and find out what is good for your own body. Every body is different. The main thing before starting this torsion exercise is to bring the lower back down using the stomach muscles. Then, while exhaling, turn to the sides, keeping legs and feet together, with the head turning to the other side. Keep shoulders and arms relaxed. Inhale, come back to the middle, lower the back down with the help of your stomach muscles, and turn to the other side. Practice each side three to five times, gently, without pressure. This gentle twisting, turning, and torsion is very helpful also for our side muscles. Now move to the middle and separate your legs at least half a meter, or about the length of your lower leg. A little farther is fine. Again, press down the tailbone; the movement is now more in the hips. This is a very good movement for keeping our hip joints flexible. The lumbar part of the back moves a little, so we do it slowly, very slowly. Press down your sacrum and, slowly while exhaling, move your legs to the side. Try to keep your pelvis down. To check the position, one knee should touch the heel of the other foot; this is the right distance between your legs. Return toward the middle, press the sacrum down, and go to the other side. In this distortion movement, you can remain for two, three, or four breaths. It is very pleasant, I would say. It is part of our relaxation. We include these torsion exercises before every āsana to truly relax the deep back muscles and hip joints. Once more to the other side. This is also very helpful for those who have had hip dysplasia since childhood, as it maintains movement in the hips and helps center them. Return to the middle. Stretch your legs a little apart from each other, toes up. There is one more movement for our hips: point the toes up toward the shin, then rotate the feet inward and outward with straight legs. This rotation works the hip, engaging the iliopsoas region and helping to center everything. Very good. Now release. Take one deep breath, arms beside your body, and slowly sit up into Daṇḍāsana with legs straight. Very good. Move your buttock muscles back a little so you sit on your sitting bones—not too much, just a little. Press down the back of your knees, stretch your thigh muscles, and relax. Once more. This exercise helps me greatly with the knees. If you feel pain in your knee, stretch these thigh muscles while sitting. Really strengthen the knee with full power, then relax. Very good. Now we have the exercise in our part 6: the rowing exercise, forward and backward. It is very good for our whole back muscles and shoulders. It strengthens our belly, our stomach, and is an activating exercise. Pregnant women can do it but are not required to, as it engages the stomach significantly. If you have your monthly period, it depends on you. We start by drawing forward. Bring your hands beside your hips. Inhale, lean back a little, make a fist with the thumb inside, and keep your arms beside your shoulders—not in front. So show in front, but keep them beside. Lean back, stretch your hands, look up, and exhale as you bend forward, bringing your hands beside your legs. Only make a fist when they are beside the hips. Go back slowly, lean back, make a fist, stretch up, open your fist, look up and forward, and exhale. Continue two or three times. Inhale, back, fist, and up, stretching. Look at your hands and bend forward. Exhale. Very good. Once more. We can do this movement dynamically, slowly, or as shown in our dear video. Very good. Now remain in this position. We also go in the other direction. Each variation is done ten times to really strengthen our stomach, shoulders, and whole trunk muscles. Palms facing upward, exhale as you go forward. Inhale up, looking up. Make a fist, thumbs inside, go sideways down. Open your palms, exhale, and go forward again. Inhale up, leaning back a little, fist with thumb inside to the side, open your fist, and go forward. Now, a little more dynamically with your own breath. Very good. One can feel it getting warmer, activating our digestive system, the Manipūra Chakra, and activating our whole body. Very good. Rowing forward and backward. Thank you very much. Sit in your meditation posture. Take a deep breath in and exhale. We can feel our heartbeat here; our heart rate is a little quicker, so it is quite a good dynamic exercise. We take time to calm down again. Take one more deep inhale. Relax your shoulders, elbows, neck, and belly, your stomach muscles. Sit on both buttocks to keep your balance. Let your tailbone lift a little, your spine and trunk upright. Place your hands in Chin Mudrā. Mudrā brings our energy very quickly to what it symbolizes. Here, it brings the energy quickly to one point within yourself: Jīvātmā and Paramātmā in oneness. In your mind and heart, hold your Guru Dev with gratefulness, thankfulness, and devotion, or your Iṣṭa Devatā, your personal God. If you have time at home, you can continue with your own Guru Mantra. We finish our session by singing Oṁ once. So, take a deep breath in. At the end, we sing one Oṁ. Oṁ. Dharma, Mahā, Deva, Deva, Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Release your Chin Mudrā and rub your palms together. Bring your warm palms to your eyes and forehead, and open your eyes. And forward. Ārāyoṁ Śrīdhar Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Mahāṁ Karatā Prabhūdīp Karatā Mahāprabhūdīp Karatā Hi Kevalaṁ Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Good evening, and very soon it will be good night—and a very good morning for the other countries. I wish you all the best. Enjoy, and tomorrow we will see you again. Thank you.