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Hari Om, dear yoga friends all around the world. Many greetings from Dāṅgog Āśram in Australia. You may have expected a lecture from Swāmījī now, but about ten minutes ago, I learned there will be no lecture from him today. We have karma yoga instead, which means we are clearing the fields—removing grass and roots from the earth around Swāmījī's place. Since not everyone in our group received this information in time, a few people are here in our satsaṅg tent expecting a lecture. Swāmījī asked me to come and advise everyone to join the karma yoga at his tent or to be here for this talk. Because there was also a request for a lecture for our webcast, it is proceeding like this. I am sitting here, and you can surely see our surroundings today. We have beautiful weather. It is a great thing to have this weather now after ten days of constant rain, fog, high humidity, and cold. Now we are truly experiencing an Australian summer. It is a beautiful day for all of us, and this alone opens the heart and brings joy to be here. To speak about karma yoga: "karma" means to do something. It refers not only to physical work but also to thinking, speaking, and acting—or choosing not to act. That is karma. There is a universal law: what you do will come back to you. There is no exception. I often think it is a great pity that people in the world do not know about this law. If we understood that every action causes a reaction, and that this reaction will return to me personally, I would naturally be alert and aware that everything I think, do, or do not do acts upon me. We can consider all consequences through this law: the relations between family members, between neighbors, with friends, with people in my city and country, and with other countries, mentalities, and traditions. Everything can be understood through the law of karma. There are beautiful words from the scriptures, from the highest plane, given to us: the whole universe, each and every living entity, is my ātmā, my very Self. In origin, we are all one. In our soul, in our Self, in that which makes us alive, we are all one. Only the outer form creates differences—the form of our body, where we live, and so on. In our inner Self, we are all one. Yoga is the force, the ability to reunite with this wisdom. For every human being, yoga is this balancing principle. When I practice according to the instructions yogīs give us, we come into balance in our entire being. This does not mean only physically feeling better or having healthier bodily functions, but also coming into balance in the mind, in thoughts, in the intellect, in the conscious level of being, in the ability to understand and decide, to be clear-minded, and to come into balance in emotions. Everything we balance and harmonize makes us feel better. Then we are at peace. Then we are more connected to our inner Self. That is what we are all searching for, because in our inner Self we feel contentment, peace, love, and completeness. Then we are happy. Of course, we also seek to understand and to know. All this we can achieve through practicing yoga, this balancing principle. This is something that does not occur only in the mind. I can understand a little when reading or listening, but the experience of what it means comes only through doing, through practicing. Therefore, we have the tools given to us by yogīs, tools that are thousands of years old. If you consider different kinds of sports or physical practices, nothing is so ancient. We know that something which lasts so long and is still alive, still possible to practice, must be good. Now, to come to the point of bhakti and karma yoga: it means to be in love, to be in devotion, to give myself for something, and to help, to work. When we begin practicing yoga, we feel better in body, mind, and emotions, and we become clearer in consciousness. We can understand better. So what we come to know, we should put into practice. The yogī says, "See, what you are doing will come back to you." We always expect and hope that good things will return to us. I want to be happy with the people in my surroundings. I want to share with them my thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I want to have people near me who share the same visions and aims. For example, in the aspect of karma yoga, when you are at home or in a community working on the same project, everyone is happy when others come to share, help, give their knowledge, wisdom, and time—to build something, clean something up, renew something, expand together. It is such a joy to do this together. It makes us strong; it makes the whole community strong. In the same way, when we are doing yoga, we feel and know that what we are doing is for all of us. From my experience, when I see something needs to be done—it does not matter what—it enters my consciousness. I know, yes, there is something to be done. I might think, "Oh, I would like to lie down and rest, or eat something nice, or read, or sleep," or I had planned to do something else. But I cannot do these things for myself. I always have this information: there is something that must be done. If I go away, who will do it? Maybe nobody will, or somebody else will. But after it is cleaned and prepared, I will use it too. Then I feel ashamed. "Oh my God, they will do it for me, and afterwards I will use it." Then I cannot. I say to myself, "Okay, I have the time. I will do it now, and then I can do my things afterward." I feel better inside. Then I do not have to think, "Oh my God, they were doing it for me. I saw it, but I did not do it." My heart is lighter; it is free from that burden. Even if I do not know about this law of action and reaction, we can look at this subject from another point of view. Yoga, yoga, yoga means to come into balance, to have clearer understanding and consciousness. This is always connected to purity. Balance can only come when something is pure. I like to consider these points from a different perspective. We can think about it, or we receive the information from yogīs who are one with that aim—what we are searching for: to be with ourselves in completeness. They tell us the universe is made of, or began from, consciousness and energy. When it is completely pure—the energy and the consciousness—when there is nothing in between, then there is no border, no limitation. Then there is only oneness. When creation starts and the energies come together, the elements form. They become more and more dense, and through this density we cannot see through everything. So it is no longer so clear to us. This process also occurs in our body. Therefore, yogīs always begin with purification: purifying the physical body externally, which we do daily, and with Haṭha Yoga Kriyās internally to make it more pure. This all works on the energy level. We know that our thoughts, feelings, and intellect are very strong in our Self. This is not the physical part. I cannot see my thoughts—sometimes luckily for others and for me too—and I cannot see my feelings with my normal physical eyes. But I have them in me so strongly; they guide me all the time in my life: what I will do, what I do not want to do. Feelings and thoughts like that determine how my life proceeds. To purify these levels too is the work in yoga. As I have experienced myself, it is very helpful to be active, not only in the mind but also with the body. Yes, I can do āsanas; it is very good, very helpful. But I will not do them for eight or ten hours per day. I have to do other things too. I know that, and you may share the same thought. When the field around me is cleared up, I feel better. I am content. Then the outer world is in balance, and this is a mirror of how it is inside me. Now, when we can do something for all of us, or we can clean up around Swāmījī's house, what a great job it is, reflecting on ourselves inside. It is reflecting; it is clearing our inner field. I like to use this comparison, these pictures. When I take some roots out of the earth, I am taking out some roots inside. I am clearing my inner field. For me, this is true; it is not only a picture. When I am able to do something for somebody else, this energy that moves me, this ability in me which says, "Yes, I will do it, I am going to do this," opens an energy in me that clears up, that purifies. So when I do something for somebody else, the energy in me flows; it is open. That helps my whole being to balance, to become pure, to clear up. I also like to compare: we had many rainy days; the earth is soft. Now is the best day. Yesterday it was too muddy; too much earth would come out with the roots. But today it is very easy to take them out. So it is just the right day to do such things—to purify, to give away. I have often thought: not only to pick up leaves from outside. For one, two, three days maybe, we will see only earth and nothing else. But if the roots are still inside, they will grow again. The same is true in me. This is what yogīs do. I observe how I am inside, acting outside, reacting inside: thinking, planning, comparing, deciding—yes, no, I will do, I do not want, I have this experience, no, I will not do this again, I will try to change. So I am always looking at my roots, to take them out. And that is what this outer work shows me. If I am really cleaning, then they are gone. But it also requires looking after again and again. We know in our gardens we have to work daily, or every second or third day. When we do that, not so many weeds we do not like will grow again. We are purifying always. We purify our body, our laundry, our home every day. It has to be done. Also, I think doing something for others—for me, sometimes I think, "Why do the others not see this and do it? Why? They see, or do not see, and do not do. Maybe they see but they go." But I think, "No, I do not want to be angry about that. This is an energy that harms me, nobody else." So, a double problem: the work and the anger. No, I do not want that. Deep inhalation, long exhalation, and then, yes. Then I say to myself, "Maybe the others still have so much other work to do. I am free from that, maybe, yes." Or I see, "No, I will do it now," and I do it. While doing, I feel better and better. And when it is done, it is done. Whatever work I am doing, I am working on myself, within myself. I feel that when I prepare something for somebody else, people like to come. They feel better when it is done, when it is purified and nicely prepared. So then I receive this feeling back from others: "Oh, it is nice to be here. I like to come. I feel happy when I am in this area, in this group." So then we are helping each other with friendship, with love, with being accepted, and by putting the knowledge of the yogīs into practice. This is what will bring us nearer to our aim. The yogīs teach us the aim of human life: for a human being, it is Self-realization. The meaning of Self-realization is to realize God. The first time I heard that, I thought, "Sounds good. How to understand? What does it mean to realize God?" I can only say: through the practice of yoga. And the best is to practice a system from a Self-realized master, because he knows; he is one with that. He can show us the way and give us the practical experiences, the practical tools to reach this aim. And he will help us on the way to overcome our weaknesses, to overcome our bad habits, to purify. From my own experience, some feelings we are alert to. When I am angry, I know. When I am jealous, I know. When I am greedy, I know. But there are so many subtle things inside we are not aware of. And these are barriers to our aim: to be always happy, to be always in love, to be always content, to feel always whole, in unity. So for that, we need the help of a master. I would like to say to you: search for that. It is the help we have as human beings to reach this aim: to be free from these karmas of doing and coming back, which mostly, after a time, bring us suffering. We do not want to suffer; we want to be happy and free. And the Self-realized saints give us this way; they show us how to become free. These are the paramahaṃsas, liberated souls. It is not easy to overcome our own habits, to overcome our own laziness, the feeling of being tired, not wanting to do—not now, later, yes, but now I have this. I mean, everybody has their time. Every seed has its time to grow. We should not make ourselves feel guilty for being as we are. Good. To look at ourselves as we are and use what we have from yoga to work on ourselves, to work for others—we will gain only good: strength, love, happiness, not feeling lonely, but having a real aim. And when you have someone to guide you, you can be sure you can reach that aim, because he is there. He knows the way. So it is not some "maybe, can it be?" It is that which makes us strong. So for today, I think that is all. We are continuing now on our yoga path with Swāmījī, with our karma yoga, with love. Hopefully, in the evening, Swāmījī will be here. For all of us here, and for you too, everywhere around the world, we hope to see you again. Thank you very much.