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Part 1: The Power of Meditation: Theory and Practice A very good evening to you all. I will begin with the mantra: Sat Parambrahma, to that Śhrī Guruvināma, the root of meditation is the form of the Guru, the root of worship is the feet of the Guru, the root of mantra is the word of the Guru, the root of liberation is the grace of the Guru. Meditation. Why should we meditate? About meditation, and why should we practice? Claudia has already told almost everything about the system. So, there is not much left to tell, because the essence of Yoga in Daily Life that she recited was memorized, and that was very beautiful, quite clear. It is said that correcting the words of a sage is a sign of foolishness. So, dear Claudia, congratulations on knowing so much about meditation. Thank you. Meditation is one of the most beautiful things one can do in life. Yoga is an ancient wisdom, scientifically concerning the body, mind, soul, and consciousness. The goal of yoga practices is, first and foremost, health. We strive to be healthy, but unfortunately, nothing succeeds completely. It cannot be, because the Dharma of the body is to be born, to grow, and to die. No one can live eternal life. The body is mortal. But what exists within our body is something special beyond our body. Brahmā, the Creator, has created 8.4 million different living beings on this planet, and one of them is human. I have a beautiful garland of flower paintings. And thank you for these beautiful paintings, because they have given me inspiration for what I should speak about today, for speaking about meditation is part of my daily routine. So I do not know what to tell you. We accept all those flowers, for example 8.4 million, and that creates a chain and a wheel, a circle. This circle is cosmic circulation. All living beings, including humans, have a soul. And the soul is also not without controversy. Seen as individuals, we are dispersed. There exists dualism. Every soul has its karma. The soul, what is that? The soul. Thank you. The mother tongue is completely different from the foreign language. Each one of us, as well as other living beings, has their own Śikṣā. Discipline, where does it come from? From our actions. Good actions bear good fruits. Negative actions bear negative fruits. So, the individual soul is a bundle of actions: cause, actions, and effect. A soul is like a snowball, growing bigger and bigger. This is how our karma is day by day. We accumulate karmas or actions. Some believe in nothing in karma because it is a Sanskrit word. But when we use the word, then we will believe, understand. And we tell the children, you should not do this and you should not do that. So this is karma. One day, a beautiful sun will shine with gentle warmth, causing the snowballs to melt. Well, in Austria at least there might be warm days. Four months are winter and eight months are cold. But now, unfortunately, as I said, global warming is becoming warmer and warmer, and that is also not good for our planet. After the soul comes Ātma. Nothing—breath, as the Mangalmuktamāṇi has very beautifully explained—body exercises, breathing exercises, social health, and one thing she forgot: she did not mention spiritual health, or I did not hear anything about it; that is what it is. Ātma. Ātma is the Self. Ātma is the highest truth. Ātma is the highest Self or God, as one calls it or wishes to say. As Ātma, we are all one. There is no dualism. All living beings and we ourselves, all of us are one. Who meditates and realizes self-realization? Then the first stage is, a thought arises: Sabhi Prāṇī, mērī Ātmā hai. Clear? Thank you. Ātma soi Pramātmā. All beings. Sabhi means all. Prāṇi, living beings, all of whom have prāṇa, energy, life, and the light of God. All beings, my ātman, my means mine. Ātman is the Self. Atme, Sohi, Paramātmā. And Atme is the highest Self. Ātma, which neither scriptures can cut, nor fire burn, nor water extinguish, nor death erase; no weapons can destroy the Ātma, no elements can annihilate the Ātma, fire can burn nothing, and death can take nothing away. Eternal, everlasting, immortal, eternal, death is the Ātma. This Ātma resides in my heart and also in your hearts. How are we to understand this Ātma? And Ātma has no karma. This is a most beautiful thing. Ātma is free from karma. And Ātma is not a victim of karma. Ātma is unborn, and therefore nothing dies. Breath is like space, sky, the space. Space cannot be inclined, cannot be burned, no one can destroy it. Everything that exists in the entire universe exists within the breath. And when everything else fades away, the breath still remains. And so in yoga it is always said, the goal of human life, the main goal, is self-realization. All the flowers here on the mala are different living beings. And I believe in the center there is a beautiful large white flower. This is human life. If we miss the human life, then the soul must wander. It does not have to be that a person, when they die, is reborn as a human. Disenchantment lies upon our destinies. And destiny is the fruit of our actions. And actions have causes. And the cause can be, the main cause is ignorance. Our desires, our feelings of hatred, anger, envy, greed, jealousy, and so forth. And that all exist in ignorance. And in ignorance, we do many things that one day will become such a huge snowball for us that we cannot bear it. The goal is that I am not this body, nor this mind, nor the soul, nor even consciousness, but I am an Ātman. Many things happen in our lives, unfortunately, both good and bad, but the greatest tragedy or the greatest misfortune that can happen in our life is that a person dies without self-realization or God-realization. We have missed our goal. There is an exit door in this hall. A blind person is sitting in the middle of the hall and now wishes to leave. We have our own technique for finding the door. So, he stands up, placing his hand on the cane, the G-cane, and rests his hand on the wall, walking slowly, slowly all around along the wall. When the door comes, he can leave. But he was only about one and a half meters away from the door and started scratching here, then moved on. He missed the door. He still does not realize that he has missed the door. He comes closer again and starts scratching here at armpit level. He missed it three or four times. Then he says, Lord God, how large is this hall? Someone observed him and said, my dear friend, you have missed the door several times. He was very angry, the blind man, he said. We blind people are not as foolish as you. We have our secure technique, and he explained it with his hand and so on. He said, yes, my dear friend, it is so. But whenever one came closer to the door, it began to scratch somewhere. That is true, that is true. So, this always means that whenever we have received a human life, having become human, this itching, this restlessness of passion and anger and hatred is so strong. And once again, we will fail at the door to the self or self-realization. Heaven or cave, it is a small room, a very tiny little room. Liberation, self-realization means being one with the entire universe. There, there is no cave, no heaven, and so forth. The goal would be to transcend this cycle of rebirth and death through meditation or other spiritual practices. Well, do I believe in rebirth or in nothing? This is my personal decision. If I believe, okay. If I believe nothing, that is okay. What does that mean? It means rebirth is there. Believe it or not. So how are we to achieve that we are never reborn again? Yes, self-realization. Self-realization comes in two types. There is one as Mokṣa. Did you hear the word? Mokṣa? No. Some of you did. Moksha means liberation. Simply put. Everyone desires Moksha, which means freedom from rebirth and death and so forth, but the mind or soul of the one who has attained Moksha is pure, completely pure, yet it still exists as its own vibration on the astral planes or in space. At some point, one reincarnates or is born again as a human, called a Bodhisattva or a saint, who voluntarily comes to this planet to help others. But it means nothing that he has become completely free. And self-realization means falling like a drop of water into the infinite oceans. There is only unity, nothing else. That would be a goal, why I meditate—to realize my goal. To be happy, yes, that would be nothing. But for how long? Sadness and happiness—they both go hand in hand. Once happy, once sad, once happy—that is life. There are hardly any people who are truly happy in a life-oriented way. Yes, one is very happy, but the grandmother dies. Suddenly, he is sad. Or the father, or the mother, or someone dies. Such a feeling of happiness and a feeling of sadness always accompany our lives. To be calmer, to develop inner peace. Yes, how beautiful. This is wonderful. Peace. Well, Elfriede? That is it. Yes, to meditate and to have peace. A man is sitting in a park, meditating for an hour already. He is sitting completely stiff. Because I meditate, I do not sit like that. I am completely relaxed about that. Because posture alone cannot grant us self-realization. Self-realization comes from wisdom, knowledge, and God’s blessing, the Master’s grace. He is sitting and meditating, and there was a man walking by. It’s too loud, I think. Can we lower the volume a bit? Okay, still, I am speaking loudly enough. A man went for a walk and he takes a round in the park, second round, third round, and it always looks like the man appears very lonely. And the wanderer said, terrible, this person must be very sad. He sits all alone, sad there. He came to him and said, "How are you?" The meditator says, good, thank you. Yes, I am here too, and I thought you were sad and lonely. Isn’t that true? He said, yes, it is true. As long as she was not there, I was one with myself, lonely. And now it is here, the disturbance begins again. So, loneliness does not mean sadness or abandonment or anything like that. It is beautiful when I can feel my inner peace. Self-inquiry meditation in yoga in daily life is used as an anti-stress meditation. A few years ago, on Austrian television, there were only two channels. Now, my God, so many press and press, so many programs come. And there was a scientific program, called, two, the two hemispheres, two divided parts of the brain, they say, two hemispheres. And many of you perhaps remember, there has been a lot of scientific talk about the human brain, what can happen, various diseases, and so on. Then they developed depression and schizophrenia. Whether there is a medicine for depression and schizophrenia. And there they said, there is the only hope or help. And they mentioned three things: prayer, meditation, or Eastern practices. They did not say Yoga. They did not want to do any Yoga practice. So, they mean yoga. And this is when we have too much stress, then, as many have said, our everyday stress can cause many, many illnesses. So meditation is a tonic, a mental tonic, when a person comes home and sits and feels their own stillness. Or an office. You can meditate anywhere, except while driving. That should not be done. Meditation is the path to oneself, meaning, who am I? Ādiguru Śhaṅkarāchārya says, koham katham idam jatam kove kartasya vidyate, Who am I, how did this arise, whose is this, is there a doer? I am not this body, not these thoughts, not these feelings, not this soul, not these emotions, and so on. Then who am I? I once told my student Hans Harschläger, he has been practicing yoga with me for almost, like many others, 37 years. And I believe, in 37 years, he missed practicing yoga only three times; otherwise, he practiced every day. And I explained to him once about the self. And he did not understand. He said, yes, even oneself. I’m not body, I’m not mind, I’m not emotion. But he said, in Austria, with us, there is nothing like that. So I said, there is really a lot in Austria. Then I gave him an example. Onion. Can you bring me an onion? I said, yes of course, there are adults in Upper Austria Zwiebel as well. I have said, of course, many things. Upper Austria is indeed a blessed land, a beautiful pillar, earth. I said, then bring me a garlic. Oh no, sorry, the onion. I have brought beautiful green-red onions. Now I took a view of onions and asked, what is this? I said, this is the onion pillar. Second, third, fourth, fifth. Whenever I asked him, what is this? Hans-Herr Schleger said, this is a piece of onion, an onion sale. In the end, there was nothing at all. I said, well, I was waiting for you to bring me an onion. He said, yes, I just gave it to you. I said, yes, but it wasn’t an onion. You always said it was an onion sale. So, I hope that one day he will bring me an onion. So, that means. Now, what is that? I’m not a body, I’m not a mind, I’m not emotion, I’m not this soul, I’m not this consciousness, I’m not the memory, I’m not this, this is my body, this is my head, my blood, my this, my, my,... My brothers, my mother, my wife, my husband, my children, always mine. And who constantly says mine? This is my soul. So who says my soul? And with the Ātman, nothing is said, my Ātman, but Ātman. He still didn’t understand, that Hansa hitter. He said, this is too complicated for me. I only want to do physical exercises, breathing exercises, and Kriyā-Yoga. So continue to practice Kriyā-Yoga diligently. He said, please give me an example so that I can understand that even a breath becomes one. Yes, then I told him little stories again. It was a statue made of salt, a gigantic statue, and I wanted to know how deep the ocean is. No one can say how deep it is. Some spots are only half a meter, and some spots are several kilometers. He said, I need a proper answer, not so much. It must be a truth. Yes, Hans, a truth. That is that. Then I say to the statue, do you want to know how deep the ocean is? He said, yes. Then jump in and find out for yourself how deep it is. And Hans is still sitting on the shore of my ocean, returning to the statue. What is happening? Melting. Becoming one. And so when I meditate, one day, quite naturally, I come to the highest consciousness, one with the infinite. Meditation is healthy for the body, mind, society, and everything. But through meditation, we can also make mistakes. And specifically, what mistakes? Some people are very greedy, proud, and have ego. A man who sits and meditates, his time for meditation has come, and his wife is ill. And she urgently wants to go to the hospital. And he said, whenever I meditate, you say that—give me time, I will meditate for an hour, and then we will go to the hospital. That means the man did not understand what it means for his wife to be ill and urgently need to go to the hospital. And that means this person also did not understand why I meditate. So, I always say, helping hands are more valuable than folded hands. This means that my meditation should not take time away from anyone. I should find the time when no one needs anything anymore, and I can sit and meditate. Meditations. There are many types of meditations. Each person has their own feelings, their own techniques. There are passive and active meditations. Both have the same success or fruits. Western meditation is more active meditation. Eastern meditation is more passive. And in yoga, in daily life, both are practiced together. According to Deśa and Kāla. That means where we are, in which situation and at which place. So Koham, who am I? And where do I come from? Many sitting here were born in Europe. Some from Vienna as well. Is there anyone here from Echtern who was born in Vienna? Yes, some. Thank you. But when I ask, where were we in the previous life? That is a beautiful question, and many would like to know. Once a woman called me and said, "Mr. Swami, you do past life regression." I did not understand back then. Part 2: The Nature and Practice of Meditation I clarified that I was only giving a demonstration, not conducting a regression. In yoga, one does not go into the past. The past is gone; it is lost. It does not help us. Perhaps a little insight can be gained, but it often brings more sadness. Therefore, one cannot truly see the past. Only through meditation is there a possibility; this is called Trikāla Darśī. Tri means three, Kāla is time, Darśī is to see. Through the highest state of consciousness, one can see the past, the present, and the future. When one has this ability, one no longer has worries about the past or the future. One lives fully consciously in the present moment. Many wonder, what is meditation? For me, one says, "Lord, my life is a ceremony for You. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace." When we work and live in this way, it is a meditation. Many pray. Prayer is also a form of meditation. But most of the time, when my students come to pray, as soon as they stand up, they say, "Lord, help me pass my exam tomorrow, help me find my job." So, constantly desires, constantly. When they come with such desires, then God leaves—"Oh my God, everyone is here"—He goes away. So, praying with worldly desires. You should not waste your time. One should think, "Lord, forgive all my mistakes and bestow your grace upon me, and let me be your instrument." And then continue. The second meditation is Mantra. Mantra purifies the atmosphere. Mantra forms a protective shield against all negative energies. Our own self—the soul, body, mind, and everything—has a beautiful balloon, a protective balloon, and inside it one can feel safer. Mantra is also a prayer, but a very short prayer. Meditation without mantra is like life or the body without the soul. Therefore, one should practice meditation with a mantra. What is a mantra? It is a sacred word. It has a certain meaning, a beautiful meaning. Every language, in every religion, has a very short name of God or prayer to God. It is not necessary to take a mantra specifically from an Indian Guru. Perhaps there is also someone like Hans Herzschläger, who has almost become a guru himself. We see the monks in the monastery, praying for hours and also repeating God’s Name as a mantra. The blessing of those is very precious for us. So, nothing becomes holy from a uniform or the like, but from the inner attitude and how one is inwardly towards all living beings. All beings, creatures, my own Self, all living entities are my Self. If I do something harmful to another living being, it means I have harmed myself. Ko'ham, kutah āyātah—who am I, from where have I come? Idaṁ jātaṁ—and where am I going? Why have I come here, and where will I go? Who am I, where do I come from, why have I come here, what is my task or duty, and where will I go? These questions are to be answered through meditation. In the end, there is supreme consciousness. So meditation is one thing; you cannot say, "Now I will practice meditation." Those who have the thought, "Now I will practice meditation," cannot practice anything. These are not physical exercises. This is not for practicing writing. Meditation is something that arises by itself. I often compare it to sleep. In the evening, we are tired and we say, now we go to sleep. A comfortable bed, a good pillow, eyes closed—and the alarm is already ringing. Sleep is already present. But I say, I must sleep quickly, get up at four o’clock because I have to go to the airport. I hope I will wake up and adjust my alarm once more, to see if it is truly correct. I am sleeping. Yes, and hopefully, I have packed everything. So, just thoughts disturb my entire sleep. And so, when I think, "I will meditate, I will realize the highest consciousness, I will have divine consciousness, I will become a complete saint," it will not work. Just be there, that is all. There are techniques where you can relax or practice concentration exercises. When meditation comes, everything disappears, all thoughts. "What did I think? What should I think? Why do I think? Is it time for me to think something like that?" Then it returns to itself. At the beginning, of course, one should practice a little, but then at home, everyone can meditate. Meditation is a path to oneself, which means a path to God. No saint in the entire world has succeeded without devotion and meditation. Mahatma Gandhi said, "My meditation, my prayer is my mental tonic. Physically I can fast, but mentally I cannot fast at all." That means we should meditate daily, but in different ways. It does not have to be as I will say today. But do we sit and think positively for someone? Yes, someone called, they are ill. "God, please help the people. Secure your grace." For me, this is a kind of meditation. Not just closing your eyes and that’s it. "No disturbance. I am meditating." That is selfish. So, positive attitude. Being there for everyone. Working for the well-being of the entire planet. Pray and, when you have time, think of God. This is how I imagine meditation: the power of meditation and prayer. A man lived in Kansas City in America. His name was Max Muller. He was very ill, and someone told him about Yoga and meditation. Meditation could heal him. So, back then there were no airplanes, so he traveled by steamer, learned prayer and meditation there, and truly became healthy. He came back, founded a prayer and meditation society, and built a school, a boarding school where many students were there and had a meditation program. One day, a head chef comes from his kitchen around 10 in the morning and tells Mr. Max Müller, "Today we have nothing in the kitchen and we also have no money. We have 200 students, and 12 come for lunch. Can you help us? What can we do?" He said, "Do we have no more money?" He said, "No." "Okay, 12 o’clock, you should ring the bell for lunch. I am going to my lunch room." He said, "Lord, we have nothing at all." He said, "Yes, I have understood, but you have understood nothing at all. I understood, the bell ringing said, exactly, so let’s do it. But twelve o’clock, not later." He went into his meditation room, performed his prayers, and meditated. What kind of prayer it was and how he meditated, I have not yet discovered. At twelve forty, a truck arrived with food and said it was for this college. The mayor held a party today, invited many guests, and provided food. He ordered the catering, but the mayor’s wife passed away and he canceled the party. And we didn’t know what to do with the catering, with the food. Someone said, "We could bring it to a college here, it’s warm, freshly packed, please." He said, "Yes, welcome." At twelve, the bell rings, and the food is here. At twelve forty, Max Müller came and said, "Is something left over?" He said, "Yes, sir. But what did they do? You only asked God to bring us food." So, God, it has been said, but one should never think that "I feed all living beings or my family." No. The Lord, the God, is the one who gives everything. So, trust in God and trust in yourselves and meditate. So, the power of meditation for me is, for example, that Max Muller became healthy; his prayer was heard by God. There are many visions; I don’t have to tell everything today because next time I don’t know what I will speak about. So, the power of meditation. Whenever I need something, I meditate. Please. Now, how do I personally meditate, how did my Master meditate, and how have some saints from other religions meditated—we will explore that later. Here there is a beautiful golden teaching from Mahāprabhujī. You see a picture here. Our Mahāprabhujī, my great master, lived 135 years in Rajasthan and spoke beautiful words, his golden teachings. And we have been given a small, beautiful Christmas gift. Someone told me he came today, is that right? Yes. And always hold on to the truth. Do not entertain negative thoughts and always engage in goodness. Opened the page. "Always hold on to the truth. Always remain in the truth. Do not think negative. And always do good. Always do something good." And now we will take a short break. So, before we begin with meditation, or as we start with meditation, today I have brought a beautiful toy. And it looks like this. And there is a red button here. I will press a little longer and then see what happens. Oh, what is with you all? Please. Thank you. Perhaps I have come too early, haven’t I? Yes, perhaps. It was more than 20 minutes. So, please, if possible, turn off the light. Exactly. Cameraman, relax. We have webcasts and it’s going all over the world. My lecture has been heard in several countries. It’s almost about 185 countries live. We have all been in so many countries. So, meditation. There are many techniques, but all paths lead to the same goal. When one falls into a deep sleep, all thoughts cease. Then comes the second, the dream. The dream is our reality. Every thought, every feeling, every encounter, and every relationship. At some point, it returns again, from the subconscious or from the unconscious. An ordinary life or a dream. Dream is a beautiful subject. Perhaps next time we will discuss dream. There is a technique by which one can master their dreams. That means, after a week, one can have the same dream again. That is beautiful. But I will not say that today. If you are not feeling cold and it would be easier for you, you may take off the blanket. Why? Because now the body feels free, and the feet have also done their duty, as they were confined in a small space all day and now they are free. But of course, when it is cold, then I can put on clothes again. It would be good if we touch the soles of our feet together, beautiful Mother Nature. This is our parquet floor, how beautiful it is. Fortunately, we have a parquet floor. I will not take off my shoes today, exceptionally, because I have a plastic floor. Then I feel cold. Plastic is good for some things. For example, when the current is down, then there is a seat. Good. So, in this room, or rather space, excuse me, hall—my God, beautiful hall—piano, Mahāprabhujī, speakers, painters, myself, my painters, everything you see here, please look at it carefully, because when we close our eyes, there is nothing new left to see. And therefore, we do not need to open our eyes any longer as long as the meditation is not complete. There will be nothing afterwards. I will not introduce anything new at all. So, it is human rights, not forced, voluntary. Hands, that is something beautiful that we have, thank God. In the hands, there are so many cakras, energies. There are 72,000 energy centers or chakras in our body. In yoga anatomy, there are 72,000 nerves. In this small body, my God. And the hands have the most beautiful cakras. Before, when we begin to meditate, perhaps we do that as well. It is also a meditation. If you have no objections, who would like to have an experience, then please hold your hands like this. Or like this. That’s how it’s done. We feel tingling, something. This is no miracle. This is not magic. It is only circulation, circulation. But I would like us to feel it 300 times stronger than now. To check again, how do you feel? And we begin to do something, more than 300 times, my God, please hold me, fold your hands. And now, hands riding. Those who do not act will miss out. There is no second time, a unique opportunity. I don’t always do this Śaktipāta, or whatever it’s called? Completely hot, until the sparks of fire-blood fall down. And now hold your hands like this. Do you feel it? Coming a little closer. One centimeter closer. You draw together. Now we feel like this. Let us do this exercise. Or like this. Can you feel it? With needles. These are the cakras. And now we fold our palms together again. Make a fist, hands underneath, and try again. It is gone. This is what the awakening of Tathā means. So in our entire body there are energy centers, and through meditation all blockages are automatically cleared. The energy comes alive again in the body. Every blood soul—how many, 5 trillion or how many souls are there in the body? Does anyone know? Today I read something and then forgot it again because I haven’t eaten an almond today. For memory, almonds are good. Automatically awakens the positive energy within our body through meditation. That was friction; friction generates heat. But we want to have something cool. Even more important centers are here on the tip of the thumb and the fingers. This is called a Mudrā posture, a hand gesture. But this mudrā is called Chin-Mudrā. What we spoke about earlier regarding meditation has symbolic significance. For example, the thumb symbolizes Brahman, the highest consciousness. Not Brahmin, but Brahman. The index finger, the individual self. Cosmic consciousness and individual consciousness. The goal of a yogi is union. Individual consciousness with divine consciousness. A yogi is one who has realized it. Secondly, these are the energy centers of the chakras, and they calm our thoughts. I was in Slovakia, there is a spa town called Sliac, near Banská Bystrica. And I was there for two weeks. I was surprised that every therapist and the nurses had the Yoga in Daily Life book. And back then, because during the Communist times they distributed my books, and everyone wanted to have them signed. Alright then, but after a certain practice that Svestes came to, she said, "Now, Lord Svāmījī, please sit down and relax or lie down. And please hold your index finger and thumb together; this will free your thoughts." I said, "Yes, miss, I will gladly do that." It has been scientifically proven; it helps. Three fingers represent the three Guṇas: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Sattva-Guṇa is pure energy, pure thoughts, balance, life energy, equilibrium, like Muttamani or Claudia said, more energy for life—or how do you always say it? Quality of life, right? More quality of life? Sattva. Tamas is laziness. Our greatest enemy is our laziness. No discipline. And Rajas is fiery, active, aggressive, angry, and so on. Further. A yogi is one who stands above the three Guṇas. Then comes the Brahma-Guṇas, the highest Guṇas. And symbolically speaking, this means highest consciousness, individual consciousness, union. Yoga means union. That is our goal. And about the three Guṇas. You can read more about Guṇa in the Bhagavad Gītā or so. Very good. Now, when we hold our hands like this, the palms can be facing upwards or we can touch our knees or thighs. It doesn’t matter. When the energy is directed upwards, we become more outwardly expansive. It comes in, but more goes out. That means it liberates. Depression—whoever practices this Mudrā and sits like this, it helps. And now is the time when depression knocks on our door. And so, onto the body, we touch our thighs, our energy circulates inward and helps us gain more strength. So please, it is your decision, however you wish or whatever is comfortable for you. So, now practice on the chair. Only be comfortable, because I myself want to be comfortable and therefore I want you to be comfortable as well. Very good. Now something begins. Close your eyes. Close your eyes very gently. Eyelids softly closed. The whole day is over. You have worked, both physically and mentally. Now it is time to relax. Withdraw from the outer world. Come fully consciously into this hall and be aware of your existence. It is a beautiful vibration of energy. Relax, relax. Relax. Tell yourself in your mind, "Rest, rest, my friend, rest. It is time to relax." To relax with full awareness. Legs, back, elbows, fingers, wrists, left and right, yes, relax the shoulders. Relax your neck. Very important, very, very important. Relax the jaw joints. Do not clench your teeth together. Relax the facial muscles. Relax the center of the eyebrows. Every thought causes a tension between the eyebrows. Relax your eyelids, relax your lips, relax your entire torso, relax your abdominal muscles. Take a deep breath in once, and slowly breathe out and relax. From the toes to the head and from the head to the toes. Relax the entire body. No imagination, no concentration, and no expectations either. Just be comfortable, relaxed, and happy. Relax. Consciously relax every part of the body. Feel the entire body and the stillness of the body. The motionlessness of the body. Just feel the motionlessness of the body. Comfortable, relaxed, happy. And now bring your attention to the breathing process. But do not change anything. Let the breathing flow just as it is, completely natural. Only, I acknowledge that I breathe in and I acknowledge that I breathe out. Also relax the breathing process. Relax. Work completely comfortably and relaxed. The breath flows very pleasantly and also relaxed. Relaxed. Feel your breath from both nostrils down to the belly. Entire airways. How wonderful it is to be able to breathe freely. What we did first at birth was inhale. The last moment in life. We will no longer be able to breathe out. Breath is our life. Life force. Relax. Completely relax. Body and breath. During the inhalation, our entire body breathes in. Life energy. Cosmic energy. During the inhalation, just like white clouds or mist, pure energy flows into the body. During the exhalation, we send out this energy, positive energy, to the entire world, especially our surroundings. I breathe in pure cosmic power and draw forth further, entirely positive, healing power, divine energy further. I am like a transformer or I am a channel, a conduit of God’s energy. During the inhalation, the entire torso expands outward, and during the exhalation, it contracts back again. Contracting and expanding our torso with the normal breathing process. No concentration. Let it be as it is. Only relaxation, śakti, life force. Consciously take the body. Every cell of our body becomes beloved again. Relax. Be completely comfortable. Relax. During inhalation, our body stores much prāṇa life force, and during exhalation, it breathes out all kinds of toxins, fatigue, and stress. But through our positive thoughts, those are what we have exhaled, it returns once again to pure energy. Relax. Now bring your attention to the center of the chest, inwardly. And feel your breathing process in the center of the chest—incoming and outgoing breath bands—local areas, chest and heart region, and chest area. Individualization is not necessary, but still, if someone wishes, they can bring attention to the center between the eyebrows. So, imagination or visualization between the center of the eyebrows and the feeling of energy in the heart center. But the main thing is to be relaxed and comfortable. I acknowledge that I breathe in, and I acknowledge that I breathe out. Now, if anyone has a mantra, you can slowly repeat half of the mantra during the inhalation and the other half during the exhalation. No concentration, no effort, just be there, one with your existence. Bring awareness of the breath to the nostrils and try to hear your breath inwardly. The breath flows completely normally. But I hear my breath. I feel a very pleasant fresh sensation when I inhale through my nostrils. A very pleasant warmth when I exhale. Exhale, contract, feel your breath, feel Kapha, feel Prāṇa, Śakti, life force. Something is happening within our inner self; it becomes calmer, restless thoughts disappear, clear thoughts emerge. And slowly breathe in a little deeper, and slowly exhale a little longer. Breathe deeply into the abdomen, breathe in deeply and exhale, and slowly extrovert. My voice, your breath sounds, the noise from the outside world, and slowly moving your fingers and making a fist, stretching your hands on your knees, eyes closed once again, and lifting your shoulders up and then lowering them. Bend the head forward and slowly bend it backward. Turn or bend once to the right towards the center, and then to the left back to the center. Make a fist, roll or rotate the wrists. And bring the palms together, do not rub, just fold them together. Slowly, very consciously press the folded hands up over the head, hands all the way up, like a flame. The life energy, it is like a pyramid. And again, slowly bring your hands in front of your chest, greet once more in your mind the Highest itself, lean a little to the right, a little to the left, then back to the center, and rub your palms over your head. It is like the energy is raining down on the head, placing the hands on the face, then pressing with our hands, opening the eyes, warming the facial muscles a little, opening the eyes, and then removing the hands. Now you can draw your Suen. That was it, and one could meditate as long as one has time. It can also be just three minutes, five minutes, half an hour, or an hour—whenever, however much time one can dedicate. So this is the beginning, what are the exercises for meditation, very simple and as Self-Inquiry Meditation Level 1, and then you can continue on your own. Thank you for your listening, thank you for your patience, and I wish you all the best, health, harmony, peace, and God’s blessings. Have a pleasant evening. Thank you very much.