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Hari Om, dear brothers and sisters, here and at your home, watching Swamijī TV. On the way here, I was thinking about what would be good to talk about today. My mind was completely empty, which is excellent for meditation. But when I arrived, three different ideas immediately came. Now they are fighting inside, as there is only a small door; they are fighting over who will go out first. When we think about the teachings of Viśva Gurujī, sometimes an instruction from him is not immediately understandable for us. For example, many, many years ago, there was a tradition: after a yoga class, people would go with the teacher for coffee or chai. It was okay, as it allowed discussion of things not possible in a mixed-level class. But then a directive came from Viśva Gurujī, almost like a law: never go with your practitioners for coffee or such things. For many teachers, this was hard to explain. Some were a little angry. I didn't have a problem with it, as I had classes in a row without interruption. It is always good to observe when you are not personally involved. I saw many people had a problem with this, and I wondered why Swamijī changed it. He gives the best explanation through stories. When you hear a story, you immediately have a picture, an emotion, and you remember it. Theory alone is boring for most of us; it goes in one ear and out the other. I also learned from other people: if someone is drowning, never jump in to help them without first creating a little distance between that person and yourself. Why? Swamījī explains it nicely with a story. After the monsoon, two friends were walking around collecting things. One friend saw a blanket far out in the water. He said, "I will go and take that blanket. We will wash it, dry it in the sun, and have a good blanket." The other friend said, "No, it is too far, leave it. We will find something nearer." But the first insisted: "I am a good swimmer. I am strong, young. I know how to swim. I will take it." He jumped in the water, swam to the blanket, and the moment he caught and held it, he realized it was not a blanket. It was a half-drowned bear. You know the saying that a drowning person will clutch at a straw. In that moment, the bear clutched that man. You may be strong, young, and know how to swim, but a bear is a bear. The man started to sink and scream, "Help! Help! I am sinking!" The friend shouted from a distance, "Leave it! Leave it!" The man cried back, "I can't! It holds me!" That is the problem. We think we are able, we have knowledge, strength, we are spiritual, we know how to swim. But from a distance, it looks like a blanket; when you come near, it is a bear. Therefore, always keep a distance. Lifeguards on the beach always have that orange, saffron-colored buoy—something orange because it is visible. They always put it between the person sinking and themselves. It is always important to have this little distance. If you don't have this distance, that is the problem. You are no longer in a position to help because the relationship is different. It is not that you will also go down, but you will not be able to save. This dynamic exists. Remember your previous life—not a life in another body, but your life before yoga. Some of you don't have such a 'previous life'; some of us do. Remember the time when you went to parties. Of course, you remember. There was always one or two persons at the party sitting like this [demonstrates]. One book nicely explains that such a person is like having a hook above their head; they are fishing with this position. Normally they are showing, "I am not good," and they really are showing. It is beautiful to see with dogs, too. When your dog is injured, emotionally injured, it starts to lift a leg up; it doesn't have the strength to stand on it, or it is hurting. Whoever had a dog has such an experience. What does that dog expect from you? "Oh, everything is okay." And after that, it is jumping, running—no problem anymore. The same principles are everywhere. We are not different. The only difference is in our clothes. They have hair; some of us have it too, but we hide it. That is the difference. But the moment we start spiritual life, we start with this human life. What we hear in the stories from previous days, everybody has the same thing. Those people at the party are also like the dog with the leg up, or offending: "No, I don't want to talk with you." All of this is catching your energy, sucking it. But it's okay. We are yogīs; we are not in fear that we will lose energy because we will give energy, and when you give, you get more. It is no problem. But be aware that it is sucking, and you will not help such people by being caught on this hook. Helping is making them understand they need attention. Pochopte, že oni vlastně potřebují pozornost. Sometimes for that they need a long, long, long time. Někdy na to potřebují hodně, hodně času, aby to došlo. Mostly everybody tries to catch attention: with dress, with behavior. You put strange hair color, strange dress. It's normal—to be visible. Because of that, never judge people with the hook. But it is important to understand. This is a great lesson for us. When I go through the city, I have some professional deformation. I observe people. I observe knees, the position of the pelvis, kyphosis. Because of that, I know how it is possible that a golden chain just disappeared in this area. Or after summer, they talk about 'white line syndrome' because a white line remains here. Why? Because the neck is protruding forward. But how will you observe people? Not through judging. Look at this position of the body and everything you know about this position. Observe it. How will you, in a yoga class, suggest a change? Or, in that moment when you see on public transport that a chain has completely disappeared, try to be aware: how is my mala? Maybe my whole mala disappears in the neck area. Immediately, you correct your position. They say the world around us is a mirror. In that mirror, try not to judge "this stupid monkey, how he's jumping here and there," because that is the mirror showing that this apica, this monkey, is us. Through that reflection in the mirror—which is what this world means—we are able to correct ourselves. Therefore, there is a nice saying: never judge other people, because you will learn from that and correct your own behavior. They also say when you see a beggar, "The beggar is here for us"—for practicing giving, for practicing feeling for such people. What does this mean for us? All of this is practice for us. What is the most important thing? Everybody says the same, from the Indian tradition, Satsaṅgatana Dharma, to the Western tradition. You know a very nice book, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a 2000-year-old book from the Roman Empire. If you haven't read it, try to read "Meditations." He had a notebook near his bed and wrote so beautifully. Everybody says that your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. Whether you will be in heaven or in hell depends only on the quality of your thoughts. If you have the idea that somebody is observing you, somebody is always working against you, it will become your reality, and your whole life will be like that. You will be in hell. If you break your leg or hand, or if you are pregnant, you will suddenly see so many pregnant women around you, or so many people in plaster casts. You have such an experience, yes. Suddenly, so many people have problems with broken limbs. You observe this because you are in that problem; you have such thoughts. If you live in the Kali Yuga, and if this world is hell, everywhere is disaster, and in your mind is disaster, you will be in that world. I remember once Viśva Gurujī said that whether you live in the Kali Yuga or in the Satya Yuga depends on your thoughts. Here, you have completely different thoughts, I hope. We are here in nice nature. Your thoughts make everything beautiful, and you are in heaven. I will tell you something from my experience. Before we made the ashram outside the city—thirteen hectares of land—I really loved green grass. But now, after a few years, green grass means a big problem. A few years ago in Zagreb, there was a mayor. We joked that he put asphalt everywhere. Now he's my idol. You know, no grass, no problem. Because all the time, when the grass-growing season starts, I have one problem: how to cut the grass? When we came to the ashram, everything was nice, green, and natural. But now I think it would be good to put stones here, no mud, no cutting grass. You are able to sit in a nice place. Excellent. But if I do not think about this, I will say, "Oh, what a nice green meadow." I come here and think, "Oh my God, it is nice, cut it. Who is cutting this grass?" I think about it, and I know those who take care of the ashram also have the same problem. Again rain, again the grass will grow. That is how it is: in that way our thoughts are, in that way we will see the world around us. How to change this? Only by changing our thoughts. It is not easy to change thoughts because negative thoughts are much stronger than positive thoughts. We know this is not because we are bad persons, but because of evolution. Truly, through evolution, those individuals who were not thinking bad thoughts, but who were thinking all the time about problems—such individuals would survive. If you observe a nice sunset and enjoy the food, very soon you will become food. But that time has passed, thank God. We have evolved. Now we are human, now we are protected, and now we do not need such thoughts. Okay, when you are driving a car, you have the same thinking. When you see or hear children, you immediately think about possible problems. A to není negativní myšlenka. To je bezpečnost. Ale ostatní negativní myšlenky: somebody will cheat me. You hear that somewhere somebody is laughing, and you say, "Yeah, he's laughing at me." Our life becomes hell. To change our life, we need discipline. We need to change our thoughts. First, we need to be aware. Be in the present time and be aware of our thoughts. If such a thought comes, just say to yourself, "Delete, delete," and change that thought with a positive one. Keep those positive thoughts longer—they say approximately three times longer. Slowly, slowly, we will change the patterns in our brain, our synapses, and we will slowly change our brain from, as they say, a sad brain to a happy brain. Nowadays they call it neuroplasticity. But we know this through yoga—not only yoga, which is why I mentioned this Western tradition. Everybody knows this, and that is the way to change our life. For that, we also need the master, a self-realized master Guru, who will put us in some situation so that we are able to see and to recognize. For beginners, we see problems in others, but be aware that this world is the mirror, and through that mirror we are able to see. For guys, when you are shaving, you need a mirror. In ancient times, one guy was shaving—not with a nice razor, but with a knife—while looking into a lake. In that moment, his friend passed by. The friend said, "Hello, I will go to the city. Do you need something?" The man said, "I need a mirror. I hear there is a mirror. Please bring me one from the village." You know, it took two weeks to go and come back. Finally, the man brings his friend the mirror, nicely wrapped in a big cloth. The friend said, "Oh, thank you, thank you, but I was thinking about something small." "No, no... for you." The man opened it and saw inside the stand of the mirror; he saw a book. He said, "You give me a book?" The friend said, "No, no... That book is the mirror." Which book was it? The Rāmāyaṇa. We talked yesterday about the Rāmāyaṇa. That book was the Rāmāyaṇa. What Swāmījī said: in the Rāmāyaṇa, you will see every situation in your life. They are so, so old books, but the problems are the same. If you are wise, you will find exactly your problem in the Rāmāyaṇa. But not only find the problem—that is what a modern coach does. They show you the problem, they laugh about your problem. Okay, laughing is okay, but you need a solution. Inside the Rāmāyaṇa, you will find the problem, but also you will find the medicine. Because of that, all scriptures are very important. All literature is very important. Don't think only about Sanskrit texts. You can also find this when you read Shakespeare, or the Iliad and Odyssey. All these kinds of books are excellent. They will explain the problem. You will be able to see the problem, and if the book is good, inside will be the medicine: how to cure this disease, how to solve the problem. That is important for reading. That is important to observe. The world around us is not for judging, but for learning about ourselves—not only mistakes of behavior, but also the position of our body. That is the knowledge we got from Viśva Gurujī. That is the beauty. That is yoga in daily life. Siddhīpāda Bhagavān Kī Jaya. Thank you. Śānti, Śānti... Viśva Guru Mahādeva, Kī Jai. Śrīdīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jai. Hindu Dharma Samrāṭa Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Śrī Mādhavānanda Purījī Satguru Deva Bhagavān, Kī Jai. Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Śrī Maheśvarānanda Purījī Gurudeva, Kī Jai. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Pozdrav Kosmickému Já. Salutations to Śrī Alagpurījī Siddhāpīṭa Paramparā. Pozdrav Śrī Alagpurījī Siddhāpīṭa Paramparā. Nand Pūrṇam to our beloved Gurudev, His Holiness Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Maheśvarānanda Purījī. A pokorný pozdrav našemu Guru Devovi, Jeho Svatosti Svámímu Māheśvarānand Jīmu. Om Namoḥa Nareṇdra Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Viveka Purījī and all the Sannyāsīs. Pozdravy Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Vivek Purījī a všem Sannyāsīnu. And good morning, and Hari Om to all of you present here and watching through Swamiji TV. A dobré ráno vám všem, kteří jste tady a kteří nás sledujete přes Swamiji TV. The lecture will be in the evening, but today we will start with the new sūtra, the first mantra of it. Who has it? Maybe they are distributing; who does not, it is here. So whoever doesn't have it, please raise your hands or come here. It's Guru Pādukā Sūtra. I have one lecture about the Guru's feet and the importance of the Guru's feet. And pādukā means the shoes which he wears. In olden times, we used to have the klompen, the wooden shoes. So this is the stotra of the Guru's pādukās. Śrī Gurubhyo Namaḥ. Hariḥ Om. Ananta-saṁsāra-samudra-tāra-naukāyitābhyāṁ, guru-bhakti-dābhyāṁ, vairāgya-sāmrājya-dāpūjanābhyāṁ, namo namaḥ Śrī-Guru-pādukābhyāṁ. So this is the first mantra. For those of you who are writing, please write. Salutations to the sandals of my Guru, which are a boat that helps me to cross the endless ocean of life. So, Ananta-saṁsāra-samudra-tāra-naukāyitābhyāṁ, guru-bhakti-dābhyāṁ. Salutations to the sandals of my Guru, which are a boat that helps me to cross the endless ocean of life, which endow me with devotion to my Guru, and by whose worship I attain the kingdom of renunciation. Guru-bhakti-dābhyāṁ, vairāgya-sāmrājya-dāpūjanābhyāṁ, namo namaḥ Śrī-Guru-pādukābhyāṁ. We will do this in the evening then. Tohle nás čeká večer. So, we have today: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We will do two ślokas a day, and the last day we'll do three. We will manage. If not, then you will manage without me. Maheśa, Gaurā, Maṇebhyo, Śubham, Astu, Nityam, Loka, Samasta, Sukhino, Bhavantu, Om, Śānti, Śānti,... Oṁ, Śrīdīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī, Jai, Hindu, Dharma, Samrāṭ, Parama, Svāmī Śrī Mādhavānanda Purījī, Satguru Deva, Bhagavān, Kī, Jai, Devādeva, Deveśvara, Mahādeva, Kī, Jai, Śrīdīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī, Jai, Viśvaguru, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Parama, Svāmī Śrī Maheśvarānanda Purījī, Gurudeva, Kī, Jai, Hara Hara Mahādeva Śambhu.