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Nahaṁ kartāraṁ prabudhipa karatāṁ, mahaṁ prabudhipa kartāhi, krīvalaṁ śānti, śānti, śāntihi. Śrī Yālakorīḍhī Siddha Pīṭha Empire, Kījeṭ. Hari Om, dear friends, dear brothers and sisters. It is always a little hard to start a seminar when you expect Viśvagurūjī here, and Viśvagurūjī is not here. There is always a disappointment. But you know how it's said in life: if you have an appointment, you will have disappointment. Yet it is good to expect and to consider it normal that Viśva Gurujī is with us. It is somehow normal, because Swāmījī is in India, and tomorrow is Devapurījī's Mahāsamādhi. That is always a big festival in Kailash. And, of course, the day after that is Viśva Gurujī's birthday according to the lunar calendar. If you have made a journey to India during this period, you know that Viśvagurūjī, on the day of the Mahāsamādhi of Devapurījī, visits the Kailash Ashram, and the whole night is a nice satsaṅg. Perhaps tomorrow we will have darśan through the webcast. People are always complaining, "Oh, Kali Yuga is not good, Kali Yuga is a terrible time." But if you know how to utilize it, Kali Yuga is also excellent. In Kali Yuga, you are able to fly without so much practice; in six or eight hours, you are in India. Also, without so many practices, you have darśan from a far distance through webcast. Other things that are not so good in the Kali Yuga depend just on us. We need to be like a Paramahaṁsa. You know this story about the haṁsa, the swan? It lives in the Manasarovar Lake, below Kailāśa. They say that the Paramahaṁsa eats only the pearls, or that it drinks only the milk. If you put, into that huge lake—the lake of our mind—a glass of milk, the Haṃsa, which is our soul, drinks only the milk and leaves the water. What does it mean? We should be like that. In this world, we have so many things. I must say, in this Kali Yuga, we have so many opportunities, so much information and knowledge, but also so much garbage and wrong knowledge—more than positive. But that is normal, and we should be like the Haṁsa: take the pearls, take the milk, and leave the water. We are living in the Kali Yuga, but it depends on our qualities inside us. It also depends on our thoughts. We will be in the Kali Yuga or we will be in the Satya Yuga. De a mi gondolatainktól függ, a mi belső minőségünktől, hogy benne leszünk a Kali Yuga-ban, vagy pedig a Satya Yuga-ban leszünk. We are here at the Vép seminar. Swāmījī is not here physically, but the energy, everything is here. Itt vagyunk a Vépi Seminarumon, most nincs itt fizikailag Swāmījī—and not to please you, but really, if you try to think and not be disappointed in the first place, if you try to be calm and relaxed, you will perhaps feel the presence of Viśva Gurujī much more than even in physical form. Just try to relax. Try to utilize this time in as good a way as possible. This means we have time here for our practice. Today is the first day with our friends; maybe we haven't seen them for some time, and we need to socialize. That is important, because in that way we make our family connection stronger. We need this strong connection. They say that in the Kali Yuga, strength is in unity. In that way, we will feel that connection and feel much more protected in our sādhanā, because it is not easy to practice. As said in one bhajan, it is not easy to practice yoga. When you start, your family and friends do not give you much positive support. Mostly they will tell you, "Oh, you are stupid," when you say you are vegetarian. Oh my God, I remember when I said I was vegetarian, that was okay somehow, but when I said I was not drinking alcohol, my father was completely crazy. And if you are not going to the late evening parties, you are completely crazy. És ha nem veszel részt a késő esti partikon, akkor meg igazán hülyének tekintenek. Because everything we are doing is not normal for other people. Rare are those among us who had support from their family. This new generation has parents who support and cook vegetarian food. I remember once Krishnānand talked about the beginning of vegetarianism in Hungary. Emlékszem, egyszer Krisznan beszélt arról, amikor kezdődött a vegetáriusság Magyarországon. From a lecture on vegetarian food, they went directly to the police. Yes, to the police. Talking about vegetarianism. És onnan az előadásról, ami a vegetáriusságról szólt, azonnal a rendőrségre mentek. Also, practicing yoga at that time was not so easy. But we survived, and we continue with our practice. Now it is much easier, but also harder, because other things, other sweet toys, are around us. To stay, to remain on the path amidst all this, we need the support of our family—our spiritual family. And we are here, this spiritual family. I remember a time when Viśva Gurujī was trying so much to direct our behavior and thoughts to be a family, to help each other. Not only in practicing, but also when you have some work at home—some painting, walls, or something like this—your family comes to you and helps. Nem csak a gyakorlásról van itt szó, hanem arról is, például, hogyha otthon valami munka van, felújítás, festés, ilyesmi, akkor jöjjön ez a család és segítsen. You prepare some food and everything that is needed, and you eat and have a good feast afterwards. It is not only karma yoga. We need karma yoga in the ashram, we need it here and there. But also, we need to have such a way of behavior and thought that we help each other, like in the villages hundreds of years ago. Such big work is impossible for one family alone. When there is harvesting, one day the whole village comes to one family; another day, to another family. In two weeks, everything was harvested. We needed this. In Kali Yuga comes a time when we are only thinking about ourselves. The behavior of people around us on the street shows that everybody is thinking only about "me," my needs, and only "I." First, in that way we are very weak because we are not able to survive. In previous ancient times, a single person or a single family was not able to survive. The same is true with spirituality. We need our spiritual family. That is okay. We need this talk, socializing; it is very important. But also, we are here to do something for ourselves. What we hear many times from Viśva Gurujī is that in ancient times in India, there were also holidays, but that kind of holiday was for recharging our battery. That was Ekānta Vās. "Eka" means one; "Vās" we have in our languages—place, village, or... What does it mean? To go somewhere to be alone with ourself. Usually, during that holiday free time, people used to observe mauna, because mauna is so important. I know that Mahāprabhujī said that for people, two things are very hard: to forget somebody, and to eat a little. What we have seen in these, I don't know how many years, of Anusthān that Swāmījī has led, is the Mauna. It is not necessary to have mauna and afterwards be like a pantomime. A little talk is okay, but try to be in the silence. It is important to stop the inner dialogue. If you are not talking, but inside you have three, four, five people chattering in your head, that is not it. That is a psychiatric clinic. Try to have a little peace inside your head. When you have this peace inside, we are able to let our whole year slowly come to the right place. We will understand what happens to us and will be able to see how to go further. You know how it is now with the Olympic Games. In basketball, when players make a lot of mistakes, the coach calls a timeout—for the players to come together. Not so much information on what to do, but just to come down. Also, in football, when you see the ball going everywhere, it is very easy in that moment to score an own-goal. You need to stop the ball, to stand on the ball. That is what we try to understand in these summer seminars. We are playing some football, or basketball, or any other game, and we need to stand on the ball, to make a timeout—not to run away from the problem, not to run away from life. Usually, people say, "Yes, you are practicing yoga, and that is running away from life." No, we are not running away from life. We have time for ourselves. We have time to calm down, to understand what is happening around us. When you have a problem, you just step out from the problem and look at it. If you are able, for a few minutes, not to be emotionally connected with that problem, not to be so subjective, but try to see it from the side without emotion... Take a deep inhale and exhale. Relax, and objectively, with thinking and rationalizing, see the problem. After two or three minutes, come back into the game. You will see that the problem is not so hard, and you are easily able to solve it. Because of that, our meditation, our practice, is not to run away from the problem. It is the timeout, and then we come back into the game. Now we have time, one week for ourselves. We have time for practicing, for Kṛyānusthān. You are able to do something that you are not able to do during the year. I know it is hard, but everything is hard. Try, practice. Also, in other programs, we have time for āsanas, prāṇāyāma. Many of you are yoga teachers, and when you are a teacher, you are usually leading the class. But now it is time to inhale, exhale, and you don't need to think. We have time for practicing. Prāṇāyāma is very important because it is for everything: for our physical health, mental health. Also, without prāṇāyāma, how will we practice kriyānusthān? Coming down... the mind is, you know, what to tell about this. If you want to come down, there will be more and more vṛttis inside. You know that story: a disciple comes to the Guru and asks, "Gurujī, I want to meditate. Please give me advice on how to meditate." Gurujī says, "Oh, that is easy. Sit, relax, breathe, repeat your mantra. Oh yes, and don't think about a monkey." "Okay, I'm not thinking about a monkey. It's not a problem. It's a very easy thing. Just sit down, relax, breathe, repeat your mantra, and one thing is important: don't think about a monkey." And that poor śiṣya sits down, relaxes the body, kayasterium, no movements, okay, breathing, everything. Repeats the mantra, excellent. Szegény tanítvány akkor leült, kajasztérium, lazított, lélegzett, minden. "Oh yes, and never think about monkey. Okay, I'm not thinking about monkey. Tényleg, ja és igen, ne gondoljak a majomra, de hát én soha nem gondolok a majomra." And in that moment, you know, the monkey was jumping everywhere in his head. I remember one thing, I think 30–35 years ago in Zagreb, some very wise person came and said we need to be without movements during meditation. That is okay, but during meditation, maybe you swallow two or three times. And you know what happens? All these people who had this stupid idea... It's like at the dentist: when you are at the dentist, you produce so much saliva. The whole meditation was about swallowing. First time, I have to, two times more, okay, etc. Thank God it was a short time, but so many such ideas come. We need to have Viveka, common sense. Common sense to see what is right and what is wrong, what is completely stupid and what is reality. That is important for our practice. It is important to have common sense—no fanaticism, but common sense. We talked about this in Strylki. Always have the question, "Why?" It does not mean you are a sinner if you have the question "Why?" But you need to understand why. When you have understanding, not dogma because it's in the book, chapter this and this, that verse... no, no, that is religion. Megértéssel csináld, és ne dogmatikusan, úgyhogy ne az legyen a válasz, hogy azért, mert ott van a könyvben, ezen és ezen az oldalon, az vallás. But when you have a real understanding, in that way you no longer have belief in something, but you are knowing it. És hogyha igazi megértés van benned, akkor... And when you know, you are like a mountain. When we are knowing, when we are sure—not any belief or not—but we are sure, we are on the highway. Now we have time. Try, really try to utilize it for practicing. Try to be with yourself. Try to calm down the waves, because you know, when the waves are so high, we are not able to see what is on the bottom of the sea. We need to calm down the waves, and we are able to go deep inside. How to calm down the waves? It is through prāṇāyāma. It is very hard to calm down the thoughts. When the prāṇa is shaking, creating waves, our thoughts are also in big waves, because prāṇa and mind are connected. Because of that, try to practice prāṇāyāma. Through prāṇāyāma you will see that your prāṇa comes down, and your mind will also come down. Try a little more practice, a little more coming down of thoughts. Also, through āsanas we will come down in our movements. You know, when somebody has so many thoughts inside, they can't sit; you see so many unnecessary movements. You see immediately when somebody is fidgeting with so many unnecessary movements—like a monkey, or you feel you must go spray yourself against bugs—our mind is so disturbed. We have such nice practicing of āsanas through very nice, slow movements; we will calm down our mind. Also, you know, when people are practicing āsanas, they have so many unnecessary movements. First, they have so many things around the yoga āsana: a bottle of water, all the other stuff. All the time you don't need to drink so much water. That is a psychic problem, really. Today I was looking at the Olympic Games, and when somebody is a little stressed, nervous, what are they doing? Sucking the bottle, sucking the bottle, not drinking the water. Because the bottle is not a bottle of water anymore, but they have water. That is an oral obsession. I was really reading and studying about this. Look, we drink water with a glass, a glass of water. We drink water like this. But in modern times, we have this bottle for sucking. Everything is okay if you're riding a bike. But why do we need to suck the thumb? Research, look, read. You will see what happens and why people suck their thumb. Why do children suck their thumb? That is the problem. And we don't need this. Also, when you practice āsanas, we try to make the fire, agni. You make agni, and when you make fire, what do you do? Immediately put a bucket of water on the fire. You need again and again to make a fire. Because of that, they say: two, two and a half hours after eating, do not drink water. Why? Because food is remaining in your stomach. You need acid to dissolve it. After one, one and a half hours—especially if you are sitting in Vajrāsana after eating—it will be quicker. The acid will nicely do its work on your food. You need a strong acid for taking the essence from the food into your body. After that, the intense time is finishing, and you are able to drink. If, while you are eating, okay, drinking, but when you finish eating, you constantly drink water, you will not have concentration of the acid. All the time, it's like you are burning something in the fire and putting water on it. You will have a problem with your digestion. The same thing when you are practicing āsanas: you are not drinking. You don't need the bottle near you. You have one and a half, two hours of practicing āsanas; you don't need to. I remember last year in Strylki, Svāmī Umāpurī was saying all the time, "No drinking so much, you will always go to the toilet between practicing. If you are thirsty, drink two glasses of water, okay, finish." But all the time, drinking, and especially sucking the bottle, is the problem. That movement will create a problem in your head. Usually, I'm not drinking, but thank you. That is also important. When you practice, try to... not only for a nice picture. You know Swamiji said so many times, you know so many things, like you are a Cherga, a Gypsy Cherga, yes? There is so much stuff around us. You know this? Yes? And you know these posters in front of the door, this... this stuff around, yes? Why? Not for a nice picture so we will look nice on the webcast. No. But all the time we are doing something, and when we are doing a lot of this stuff, it is open. That is disturbance. It means our mind is so disturbed. Our mind is reflected in our breathing, reflected in our movements, everything. Because of that, if we want to calm down our mind, make it so that we do not have so much stuff around us. No sucking the thumb. Be nice, relax, and try to have this focus. It is very important to have this—I will not say concentration, but focus. Also, when you look at sport, it is very important to observe people before they start to run. They need to have this focus, and you will very easily recognize it. What is important? Nothing else that is around exists, only the line. If we practice in that way, we will have good results.