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From the day before yesterday, I spoke about imagining that you always have the possibility to meet the golden fish and that you need to have three wishes. Do not be ashamed of your wishes. Everything that comes is good; try to see it and be aware of it. Usually, our problem is that when we have a difficulty—be it a problem, a behavior we are not proud of, or certain thoughts—we want to put that situation, idea, or thought under the carpet. We are always trying to push it down. If you push too much down, in one moment you will not have any more strength, and it will jump up. Vishwa Gurujī said many times that if you have a problem, a fear, or something similar that comes in your meditation or in your thinking, just calm those thoughts and feelings. Yet we tell ourselves, "No, no, it's not good. I don't know, it is... I don't know, shame, or oh no, it is... I can't think about this, that is prohibited," and we just put it down. Okay, for some time you are free of that thought. But the next time, that thought comes back a little stronger. Because when you put it down into the basement—or not only the basement, but who knows which level below our consciousness—that thought, that feeling, collects similar stuff. Like a magnet, it attracts similar feelings, and that skeleton in the closet, yes, you know the saying, "Everybody has a skeleton in the closet," becomes stronger. Again, we are strong. We build a whole life around pushing down different things. Again the pain comes up, we are strong, and we push it down a few times. In the end, we are not able anymore to control this, and it jumps up really like a monster. Because of that, they say if you dream something not so nice, some fear or something unpleasant, immediately in the morning try to tell somebody your dream. Because by talking, it loses energy. You might even start to laugh about your stupid dream. But if you say, "No, no, I will not tell anybody," and you press it down, then the problem starts for you. We are slowly making an elephant out of a mouse. But our aim is to make a flea out of the elephant. How will we release our problems? We need to laugh. Never take them seriously. Especially laugh at our own mistakes, problems, and fears. Also, try not to put them under the carpet, but be aware. Not in the way of, "I have a problem, I don't know what to do." In that moment, you are finished. Instead, start to joke about your problem and never run from it. Look it in the eye. It is not easy. Everybody has fears, and it is completely normal to have fear. But they say about those people who are brave that it is not the absence of fear. You have a fear, and you are controlled, and you slowly overwrite that problem. Because of that, we also hear many times that spirituality without love is a terrible thing. I always remember from Kahlil Gibran, "God, please protect me from spirituality without laughter." Remember all the satsaṅg with Swāmījī. There was always joy and laughing in satsaṅg. Not the kind when you are in a cafe, "ha-ha, he-he, ho-ho," but real joy and laughter. Maybe I am boring you because I always talk about one satsaṅg during the conference in Bratislava, yes, the story about Sonamukhī. With Swāmījī on the stage was Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Nirañjanānandajī. It was amazing; do you remember? That is pure spirituality. It was a talk about a spiritual topic, but with laughter and joy. That is spirituality. If you are all the time, "Oh my God, it is a problem," you will injure yourself. It will be a problem. For stress, anti-stress techniques are yoga, prayer; in yoga, it means meditation, etc. Yoga is yoga, meditation is yoga, prayer and laughing and workout. Especially people who have a lot of stress at work—not this in-the-office stress about love, not love, problems, etc., but real danger in life, like the fire department, first aid, police, that kind of stress, real stress, not this homemade stress—they need workout, practice. They need laughing, especially at their own problems. When somebody has a real problem in a stressful situation and he or she is just frozen or makes a mistake, that person will be aware of the mistake. But others, and that person, will laugh about it. Many times they will talk about this anecdote and laugh. They say: if you fall down from a horse, you need to immediately jump back on the horse. Immediately. Because if you don't do it that way, you will start to have a problem with riding. The same thing with practicing yoga. If you make a big deal about falling down from a headstand, you will have fear all the time. But I remember people who fall down and start to laugh at how they fell, and they start again with no problem. That applies to every problem in our life, and laughing—but not this "he he ho ho ha ha" coffee shop laughing, these empty jokes, and all the time "ha-ha-ha-ha-ha"—that makes us lose energy. With that energy, I think we lose awareness, concentration, energy, integrity. But a good joke, from which you learn a lot and release the problem, is very important. Prayer is also excellent against stress. You pray to God, but also the other way. In the rare moment when you have a prayer, you give this command. This is in the car or in the plane. Whatever command you have, you just give it, and you are not controlling anymore. You are on autopilot, and you have a prayer, and you just give everything, control everything to the Divine. And what happens in that moment? I remember what Swāmījī said: he once asked Gurujī, "Why do people during prayer start to yawn?" And Gurujī said, "Because they are relaxing." You know, when stress passes and you are relaxed, you start to yawn. Because in that moment, you are just put on autopilot. You are not anymore trying to control everything; you are not anymore a control freak. And really, nāhaṁ kartā. In that moment, you are releasing all stress from your body, also in meditation. What we say during meditation, even today, is that you are observing the clouds. Clouds are coming and going, changing their shape. You can't stop a cloud; you can't change a cloud. Only if you think too much, "Oh, I am so great, I will change the shape of this cloud into a unicorn." And of course, only you will see the unicorn. Just sit, relax, and let everything that comes, come. Let everything that goes, go. And you are the observer. You have your mantra, and that is excellent. I also have a picture: when you are a small child, and you have a hyperactive child or a hyperactive dog, what you need for the dog when it's hyperactive is just to put it down on the floor and keep it down for a few seconds, and it will relax. We are like that, sitting in the lap of the Divine Mother, Father, completely protected. You don't need to think, to control, to do anything. You give everything into the hands of the Divine. Just inhale, and that is also the best against stress. All this we have in yoga and daily life. We have so many nice stories that we got from Viśwa Gurujī. You will see that almost in each story there is a comic situation. Very serious, but also, during the telling of the story, Vishwa Gurujī always put a laugh inside. I know when I laugh so much at some story, it must be connected with my problem. Because deep inside, I understand that problem. After some time, we say it comes from down to the head, which means kuṇḍalinī. It comes, and you say, "Oh yes, I am like that farmer." That is also important: to not be so serious. Because when you walk through the city—I think it is a little different from the village, but especially when you walk through some big city—you will see so many very important, very serious people. Yes, so important, self-important persons, and very serious. Such people are very afraid of laughing because they lose that influence to control you. The best way for protecting yourself from such people is a joke. Be with a smile, and such people really hate this. I always tell one story about a witch. Now comes another story, also about a witch. Witch. Hexen. And that witch was living near a village. But my view is not negative. I am not such a person who would put a witch in the fire, because a witch is somebody who has knowledge. Maybe all of us will finish like witches in previous times. But when we talk about witches, we think about negativity. That witch was living near a village. She didn't have power, but she was clever. If you want to control people, you need to create fear in them, to make them think that you are so strong that you will do something wrong to them. And always, this important image: how you look. For me, nobody will be in fear. But if I change the dress, behavior, etc., that image will make people think, "Oh, he's dangerous." She was practicing that. She looked dangerous. Fekete magia. Like black magic. She always asked the village to bring food, money, everything. That witch had one rooster. A rooster. Not a male kokos. Yes, kokos is a rooster? In Hungarian, kokos is the male hen. In Croatian, kokos is female? No, no, no. She had one rooster. She told the village people, "If you will not give me what I ask, my rooster and I will go away. And if my rooster will not in the morning make this sound, the sun will not rise." You know, if you don't have knowledge, if you don't understand, and if you are in fear, you will believe that this rooster is the cause of the sunrise. People were so in fear. Somehow they did not want to, but they could not refuse what the witch asked. Because slowly, slowly she became more and more greedy. She became increasingly demanding. She said, "Okay, tomorrow I go with my rooster. And you will not have any more sun." People were so in fear. The whole day crying, what to do? One yogī passed through that village. He asked for food, but nobody had cooked anything; there was no fire in the village. "Doomsday tomorrow, the sun will not rise." The yogī asked, "What is your problem?" They explained what happened because of fear. We said, in fear you have very open eyes. You hear everything. When you are in fear, a little bug will make you think, "Oh my God, a thief is in the house." That yogī said, "Don't be in fear." Tomorrow morning, when she was packing her stuff and the rooster, just for showing, the whole village, along with the yogī, went out to her house. Without fear. The yogī said, "You think that your rooster is the cause of the sunrise? Go away." She was in shock. She started to, yes, but, no, but go away. In that moment, she lost complete power. That is a very usual problem when somebody is blackmailing you. Never negotiate with the terrorist. I don't think about terrorists with guns, etc. We have enough terrorists inside. Never negotiate with the terrorists. You know which terrorist is the worst? "Five minutes more for sleep." On your alarm, yes? And five minutes more, and five minutes more. Because of that, I put out that solution for snooze, snooze. No plan B. We have so many terrorists, and we start to negotiate. Fasting day. Today was a fasting day. Okay, I will fast. But okay, I will drink coffee. Coffee is okay. Chai is okay. But without milk and without sugar. And we put a lot of milk and a lot of sugar, so that we will catch diabetes. And if you put too much sugar and milk in it, you will get diabetes. Okay, one apple is okay. That is fruit; we always have a little fruit. But an apple is a problem. When I eat an apple, I am more hungry. You have such a dialogue with yourself. Yes, of course. Openly, yes, everybody has such. We say, "You give a little finger, and they take the whole hand." In the end, you finish the fasting day by eating more than on a regular day. "Today is hard weather. It is a little chilly. I need more energy." Excuse, excuse, excuse. I know. I have my terrorist. It is good to laugh about your terrorist. Next time when you have a fasting day and this terrorist starts, "Okay, a little coffee is okay," you say to yourself, "Yes, okay, it's no problem. I will drink coffee, but without milk." Sugar? Yes, or black tea without milk and sugar. Okay, it's not tasty. Yes, and try no, this little snack. "I need a little because I am sick." Look, fasting is for health. If you want to be healthy, you need to fast. You know what Vishwa Gurujī always said: remember your mantra dīkṣā. A few things were important. Be vegetarian. Do not change your mantra and guru every few months. That is for your whole life. Practice regularly, and try—not try, but try—to fast once a week. That is hard. It is good for your health, and don't be in fear. Nowadays, thinking changes. Now everybody talks about intermittent fasting. But yogīs have talked about this, oh my God, from the beginning. You talk about the full moon, or Amāvasyā, or Pūrṇimā, and one day a week, Monday, or Wednesday, or if you want Gaṇeśa, something, some other days, it's depending. Vaishnavas mostly use Ekadashi, but always take one day. Here in the West also, it was one day, but we spoiled it a little. On Friday, people eat so much fish. What is a disaster? But one day of fasting is good. Not only for your health; it is good for observing your thoughts and telling your thoughts, "No." That is important. Never negotiate with a terrorist. Also, do not be fanatic. Sometimes you need to change something, but that is very, very, very rare. Try to be, when you have a problem, try to laugh at your own problem. You have your good friends. With them... You know who is your good friend? You are joking about your problem and their problem. Nobody is offended, but they even laugh more about the problem. That is the best way for releasing stress. But here we are not in stress; here we are relaxed, nicely. Maybe those who are on the Anuṣṭhāna are a little in stress with the Cakraśodhana, time, etc. But relax. Same as what we talk about in Nāḍī Śodhana. When you relax your shoulders, you are much easier. You are able to keep the rhythm of breathing. The same thing when you are practicing and you are not in stress, you will manage this. What is also very important: many people always think, "Only I have this problem." We are not talking about this problem, and slowly we make an elephant out of a mouse. But if you tell, "I start with the one apple and finish with the fruit garden," and you laugh, you will see that immediately there are 20 people with the same problem. Sorry? Garden, fruit garden. Yes, fruit garden. You start also with the, "Oh my God," scream, scream, and you are screaming for more. You will see that other people also have the same problem. Also try not to be self-important, so that your walk through the city is so important. Usually, it shows that such a person is without self-esteem. Also, these very serious people are, or try to manipulate you, psychopath or not. So we said, "with the salt in the head," which means with intelligence. And be very serious also, not too much "hee-hee-ho-ho-ha-ha." When we are also in our buffet, we are friends together. You have a nice topic, but also when we start in the moment that is only "he, he, ho, ho, ha, ha," in that moment it's good to leave, especially when you have your sādhanā and anuṣṭhāna and something like this. Try to avoid such kind of laughing. If this laughing begins, then small talk, we will say. This so-called small talk, then, if you are... Also, many times people ask how to come and greet the altar and your guru, and so on. Many times, people, especially those who are just starting with yoga for the first time at a seminar, the second time, or even after many years, are looking at what other people are doing. And always, there must be some special yes and some choreography. No. It is your feeling. If you do so many choreographies, bow down, do everything, but you don't feel anything inside, or you are just, when there's a lot of people in the hall, observing if somebody is looking at me, and if somebody is looking at... you, and you make a performance for what? It is your personal feeling; it is your personal relationship with your Gurudev. Nothing of that is by the law. If you do by the law, that is religion. And if you don't do like this, you will finish in hell. Spirituality is not at all like this. Your inner feeling is important. Also, when you come and you see that we put our hands above the fire, the lamp, it is important that it is the light that has a fire, not without fire. Why are we doing this? Because we know that light makes darkness disappear. When you put a candle or a dīpak, immediately the darkness in the room disappears. The same thing when you do this: just as this fire makes darkness disappear, so the light of knowledge makes the darkness of ignorance and all negativity disappear in my inner world. That is the meaning of this. How you bow down, you will come with a flower, with this and that—that is not important. You know that story about Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa visited the Kauravas for eating. He was invited for eating, but the atmosphere was not good. And he went to Vidura's house, but his wife was not prepared for lunch. Imagine in one moment Swāmījī entering your home and saying, "What is for eating? I am hungry." Vidura immediately ran to some market, or to the garden, because at that time it was not a supermarket, but his wife immediately brought some bananas and, peeling the banana, she gave it to Kṛṣṇa. After some time Vidura came and saw that his wife had given the skin of the banana to Kṛṣṇa, and she had eaten the banana because she was completely frozen and her bhakti was completely confused. Vidura said, "What are you doing?" In that moment she realized, oh my God, sorry, sorry. But Kṛṣṇa said, "No, no... that was the best food I ever ate." Why? Because with such energy, with such love, she gave the skin of the banana. That was full of taste. In the other house, the food was so tasty, but on the other hand, without love, without anything, only showing and being serious. "Look, who am I? And look at my food." The skin of the banana was full of prāṇa, and this food was completely empty calories because everything in that house was self-important, very serious, without that joy and love. That is the recipe for how to cook. That is the recipe for how to meditate, how to practice yoga, how to come and greet your master. Very easy. Because of that, we always bow down our head. Through that mudrā, we are trying to make our self-importance go down. And on that way, if we do, everything is good. And now we will. Bye-bye.