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Good evening and welcome. It is nice to see you all again. Today is another beautiful day with the sun shining. Unfortunately, we have no rain, and we need a lot of water, but that is also good. The sun will come one day. It shines for one or two days. This evening’s subject is Trāṭak. From the first Haṭha Yoga Kriyā, at the very beginning of this Sādhanā camp, I spoke about Trāṭak. Now, let us discuss how, in a practical way, Trāṭak should be practiced. We could have done the practice here today, but due to the strong wind we cannot have a candle flame; therefore, we will cover just the theory of the technique. As I spoke before, Trāṭak means gazing on one point. The best is gazing on a flame. A good ghee lamp, with good ghee from the cow—not from buffaloes, goats, or sheep. Ghee has its own technique for how to make it. If ghee is made nicely, then the flame is very pure, meaning without smoke. The flame is very bright, very clear, very pure. If there is no ghee, then you can use very nice oil, but cold-pressed oil creates a lot of smoke; therefore, you should use what they call refined oil. Some people like that; they should practice Trāṭak on the candle flame. That is also very good, but unfortunately, most candles have chemicals inside, petroleum. If we take a candle made from wax, then there is a lot of smoke, and the flame is not pure. The second option is to gaze upon a black dot. You put a very nice, round, small black dot, about one centimeter in size, on white paper. The third option is making Trāṭak on the tip of a beautiful leaf of a tree, or Trāṭak on the picture of your iṣṭa devatā, your Gurudev, or any holy incarnation in whom you believe. Some people advise practicing Trāṭak on one’s own face in the mirror, but this practice has been proven to cause psychic problems for many people. Sometimes, through your face, through your eyesight, your inner qualities come out; your face changes, the light of the face changes. Sometimes it comes like this, you know. And when something comes like this on your face—that you have a horn, for instance—then of course you are scared about that. Therefore, one should never practice Trāṭaka in the mirror or on one’s own face. Some people practice Trāṭak on the rising sun, just for half a minute, not more. When the sun begins to become a little stronger, brighter, do not do it, otherwise you may lose your eyesight. Some would like to do it on the full moon. So, it means gazing on that object. That is called Trāṭak. Gazing on that object means to develop concentration, purify the mind, to get rid of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and to clear the antaḥkaraṇa. Trāṭak is a very useful technique. It is the technique of Haṭha Yoga. While practicing Trāṭak, after 12 years—it means you practice every day, morning and evening, without interruption—after 12 years, you will get a siddhi. That siddhi is not negative or positive. It means you will have a very pure, very kind, and merciful look in your eyes. You see, to anyone, they will become your friend. In a positive way, it means our eyesight attracts others nicely. If you have done a Śaṅkalpa for Trāṭak, if you have not done it one day, it is finished. The chain should not break. But there are some people who can do even 24 years or 50 years, but this Siddhi does not come to them. Why? Because they are so negative inside. So Mahāprabhujī said, "A crow, you can wash a crow or bathe a crow with many different kinds of samples, still he will remain black." So, there are people always thinking negative. It is not your problem. It is not a personal problem, but you are constantly creating problems, and that is why you cannot. So Trāṭak—even there are some yogīs, when they look, through their look they can make a fire. They put dry grass and paper, and they make a Trāṭak and fire begins. But so far you need not to do that. And please do not do it in Australia, especially with fire. Then yoga will be prohibited, you know, Trāṭak yoga. Those who practice Trāṭak with discipline become very good writers or poets, and become good speakers. It is called kaṇṭha kamala. Kaṇṭha kamala means the Viśuddhi chakra. Kamal is the lotus, kaṇṭha is the throat. In Kaṇṭha Kamal, when the Divine Goddess Sarasvatī sits, takes a seat—because she is the Goddess of knowledge. She is an iṣṭa devatā, a goddess for the students. When you go to school, you should greet Sarasvatī. When you have an examination, then you must pray to Sarasvatī, that please help me. Sarasvatī will sit in your Kaṇṭha Kamal and in the Ājñā Chakra, on your intellect. It is not you who is speaking, it is she who is speaking. You know, to give a speech, to make everyone happy, and that everyone has more and more interest, that you speak more and more, that comes from Sarasvatī. Mahāprabhujī said in one bhajan, "Aisā merā satguru andar bole." Like that, my Gurudev speaks within me. I am not a speaker; it is he who speaks. On the day when you want to give a lecture or speech, and you think, "I will do it," and you write on a piece of paper many things, and you have the ego that "I am talking," you will fail, and people will not be impressed by you. But if you think, "Lord, you should speak," nāham kartā, "I am not the doer." Prabhudeep kartā, Prabhudeep is the doer. Mahāprabhujī kartā, he kevalam, only Mahāprabhujī is doing. So it is God who is doing. We are only instruments. We are only instruments. So let His will, let His divine mercy, His divine love flow through us. Surrender. So, whoever practices Trāṭaka becomes a very good speaker. It awakens Sarasvatī in Hṛdaya Kamal, in the heart also she appears. So that person can write a very good poem. By writing a bhajan, writing poetry is the subject of the Anāhata Cakra, not the intellect. And then the goddess Sarasvatī is moving. She is looking, she is doing. You remember the story yesterday about Vidhātā, who is writing the destiny? She said, "I am one instrument; I am holding only the pencil." It will move according to divine will, according to his or her karma. And who practices Trāṭak, becomes the best artist as a painter, painting. You will get beautiful intuition. You will get beautiful colors, beautiful inspiration. So it is the Trāṭaka which will illuminate your Cidākāśa. It will make your Cidākāś colorful. You will see the light with closed eyes. And it is the Trāṭak practice which will remove all the restless vṛttis and will make you calm and peaceful. It is the Trāṭak that will lead you to meditation. The Trāṭaka Śakti, the power of the practice of Trāṭaka, will awaken extraordinary Śakti in your body, and it will awaken your cakras, and it will be very easy to awaken the Kuṇḍalinī. While practicing Trāṭaka, your Kuṇḍalinī awakens automatically. Practicing Trāṭak improves our eyesight, and practicing Trāṭak will give power to your words. You know, your words will have more balance and no more heaviness. It means meaningful. Every word is coming from your mouth or your lips, like pearls or diamonds coming. "Baṇī aisī bolī, man kā apak hoī." Speak such a language that everyone is merged into that. "Baṇī aisī bolī man kā apak hoī. Oran kushitāl kare apushitāl hoī." It makes everyone happy, and oneself also becomes happy. Enemy becomes your friend. What do you want? Because your words have a certain quality. It is said that before you speak, you should measure your words in your heart, how heavy they are. Make sure that they do not hurt someone, that they are not heavy for someone. Otherwise, it is better not to speak. Ahiṃsā, non-violence and violence. You can make violence through words. If you are injured by a knife, the wound will heal. But if you are injured by some hard words, lifelong it will not heal. It remains so deep in your subconscious. It does not matter if someone says, "I am sorry," and, "I am sorry." Okay, one will say, "Okay, I forgive you." You forgive, but you cannot forget. And what you cannot forget, that becomes your problem forever. You know the one beautiful story. There was a master living in the forest, who had many disciples, and these disciples would travel around the country without shoes and not stay in anyone’s house. They would stay in a temple, a monastery, or in the forest. And always, two disciples go together. After twelve years of wandering through the forest and everywhere, when they come back, the master will give them a mantra. Now they are worthy. And then, after 12 years of wandering through and through, the Master will give them Kriyā. And after 12 years of wandering, then the Master will give them Brahmachārī Dīkṣā. And then after 12 years, give them Sannyāsa Dīkṣā. Now we want to have immediately tomorrow Sannyāsa Dīkṣā. What a joke! So it is not a pond full of orange color that the Master puts you in and out, and you are orange. No. Orange color is a fire, and if you do not respect the fire, this fire will burn you. Well, so they were two brothers, spiritual brothers. They were traveling through the forest. After twelve years, they should come back. One day, they were sitting under a tree, a beautiful banyan tree, big, nice, cool, shady, and having some fruit. And there was a river flowing, and they had to go to the other side of the river. So they thought, "Let us have our fruits here, and then we will swim through." They were eating fruit. There came one young lady. She came and said, "Brothers, yes, sister, can you help me, please?" What? My father sent me to go to another village for something, but I do not know how to swim, and there is no breeze. "Can you help me to swim or bring me to the other side of the river bank?" I said, "No problem." She said, "Sit down and have fruits with us." So after half an hour, they said, "Let us go." So there was one brother who was a very good swimmer, a very good man, very kind. Kind, very spiritual, like our Gopālpuri. Another one was also very nice, very good, like our yogī sitting on the chair. So Gopālpuri said to that girl, "You sit on my back, hold on, but do not hug me too tight, otherwise I cannot swim. Just hold onto my shoulders, and I will swim through." So she was holding him, and he swam through. The other brother was swimming beside. They came to the other side of the river, and he said, he dropped her and said, "Here you are now." She said, "Thank you very, very much, but what can I do for you? You helped me." Ask anything, I am ready to help you. So that man said, "Well, sister, we have no wish." But she said, "What, any time?" Then he said, "Yes, good. Then I have one wish: learn swimming. Then next time you do not need help. Thank you." They went this side, she went that side, that is all. Eleven years passed now. They were walking toward that direction where Gurujī was living, like in the forest in Dungong. Like you all came from far distance, from many countries and from Australia. What brought you here? What kind of feeling did you have when you left home? Where are you going? You bought a ticket, you were going by aeroplane, by car, by train, raining, sleeping in the tents, windy, dark, no electricity, no warm water, no laundry machine, no dishwasher, no dining table. What brought you here? Why did you come here? And still, you are more happy than in a five-star hotel. So, something that you have, that love for... Someone who, like a magnet, attracts us, so they came. It was passing 12 years, and full moon day, Guru Pūrṇimā day. Tomorrow will be Guru Pūrṇimā, and about 25 kilometers they were far from the Gurujī. It was evening, like this time. They said, brother to each other, "Tonight we will..." Spend here. It was a beautiful rock, a big, nice rock. There lies a water fountain or a waterfall, nice temperature, neither hot nor cold. Both brothers are sitting and having satsaṅg. Spiritual people only talk about satsaṅg. Negative people will talk about negativity. And how happy we are, and tomorrow we will have Gurujī’s darśan. The moon was shining, beautiful light, very gentle light. They were happy. They could not sleep. They were so happy that tomorrow they would have a darśan of Gurudev. And they were talking, yes, and Gurujī will ask us how we are, will he respect us, will he accept us, will he let us come, will he talk to us, and so on. And he will ask what we did, and so on, and the other one said, "Yes," and he will ask if we follow the rules. Yes, brother, that is good. I hope we follow the rules completely and we make no mistakes. The other brother said, "My brother Gopal Purī said, what?" You know, when we left, Gurujī said, "Do not touch any woman." But you remember, 11 years ago, you did not touch her, but you carried her on your back. When Gurujī will ask you, what will you answer? He said, "Yes, you are right, but I will answer the truth." Then he asked him, he said, "I am so much wondering." He said, "What? What will you answer?" I said, "Why?" I did not touch her. He said, "No, no, you did not touch her." But, you know, brother, I was carrying her from one side bank of the river to the other side bank of the river, which took us half an hour. But you are still carrying her 11 years in your memory. What will you say, my dear? I said, yes, brother, that is true. And so, is that easy to forgive but difficult to forget? And there is blackmailing in your brain that you cannot forget. Maybe it is your personal problem or an impersonal problem, but it still makes you like a black sheep. So it is said that there is one rope made out of straw grass, yes? When you dip it in the water, that becomes hard. So even if you dip it 100 times in the holy water Gaṅgā, it will become hard still. "Kapaṭī jan sudhare nahīṁ so santan ke saṅg." Such a person cannot become good or learn with hundreds of sādhus. Even the straw rope you put in the Gaṅgā, it will become more tight. So, such a feeling, that is called Kuṣaṅga’s effect. Many, many lives and ages, this Kuṣāṅga’s black spot will be on you. Therefore, Holy Gurujī says, "Kusaṅga se prabhumo ye bachāvo." Lord, protect me from Kuṣaṅga. So while practicing the Trāṭaka, your words, your heart, your Antaḥkaraṇa becomes very pure. Now, practicing Trāṭak, you will all gain only when you have a Guru Mantra, a personal mantra. So, personal mantra while practicing Trāṭak, then you get that; it is called guru tattva, that light. Guru Nānak Sāhib said, you know, the Nānak Sikh religion’s Guru Nānak said, "May hundreds of moons rise and thousands of suns rise, hundreds of moons and thousands of suns cannot illuminate your heart, cannot remove the darkness of your heart. Only Gurudev can remove the darkness of your heart." But to follow, to understand, to be Gurudev, you see the Śiva Purāṇa, Śiva Līlā, but we do not understand the Śiva Līlā. We do not understand how it is that God can do this, Brahmā can do this, Viṣṇu can do this, Śiva can do this. What a testament Śiva had. Did you see the Satya yesterday? How do you understand now? That is it. So this is beyond our understanding. We are still in the darkness. And that is why great Kabīr Dās said, "I must laugh with a full stomach when I see a fish in the water thirsty." Though the fish is in the water, it is thirsty. Similarly, you are in the satsaṅg of Gurudev, and still you have stupid thinking, and you are suffering. Then you are that fish, thirsty in the water. Practicing Trāṭak with mantra, so as Guru Nānak Sāhib said, "Thousands of moons and suns can rise, this all cannot." Make that much light. Without Gurudev, in the heart will be ever darkness. So the practice of Trāṭak is a Bhakti Yoga kriyā, but it is very powerful, very beneficial, and has so many benefits. But if you practice Trāṭak without a Guru Mantra, if you practice Trāṭak without the guidance of a good yoga teacher who knows about Trāṭak, then you may have mental problems. So many people have mental problems because they deny the Gurudev. They say, "We do not need a guru. We have this book, and we can practice." Yes, do it. They are doing. After a few years, they are wandering here and there like a lost deer or a lost kangaroo from the group of all kangaroos. Now, therefore, Trāṭak practice. Now, how to do? You have to find in your country, in your village, in your city, a good yoga and daily life teacher or any yoga teacher from any yoga group who knows practically and who has practiced and experienced the Trāṭak. Clear? You sit in a straight posture and make sure that now you are very comfortable. That half hour or 40 minutes, you need not move. Make sure that after 5 minutes you will not sit like this, or do not sit like this and after you sit like that. So, each centimeter movement will be counted. So, sitting straight in the practice of Trāṭak, and then you stretch your hands like this, my hand, and thumb up. So, this is the right distance where you should place the candle, or Ghee Bhaṭṭī. The ghee lamp should have the tip of the flame exactly on your anāhata cakra, on heart level. And the distance is one hand when you stretch. Then, that is now you know the height, you know the distance. Now, there is one exception or equation. What about people who are using eyeglasses? Yes, they can do with or without. Good would be that they do without, so that the eyesight will improve. In that case, it is individual. Some have to put to far distance; someone who has a little near distance, that you have to adjust yourself. That is individual. Now, when this is the level of the candle, and distance after one minute, when you go like this, is wrong because distance is now cut off. Therefore, maintain distance and height, and that is why you have to practice yoga and daily life first. Second part and third part, so long till your body is relaxed, your muscles, your ligaments, all are nicely relaxed, and you can sit without any problem, your both knees touching the ground. That is it. Posture, after that you light the flame, take your mālā in your hand, repeat the guru mantra, and close your eyes. Repeat one round of your mālā with your guru mantra. After one round, which will take you five to eight minutes, then slowly prepare yourself innerly to open your eyes and look at the flame. When you open your eyes, you will only look or gaze at the flame, not left and right. Therefore, do not put chocolate near your Trāṭak candle. No objects and no restless picture behind. Gazing, looking at the candle, at that time do not move your eyelids. Do not close and open the eyelids like this. Yes, it can happen after half a minute or one minute you feel burning in the eyes and the tears come. It does not matter, do not do like this. After the time when the tears come or you feel tension, after half a minute or maximum one minute, do not overdo it. Maximum one minute. Otherwise, half a minute is very good. Then slowly close the eyes. Eyeballs, with your physical eyes you are looking down. With inner eyes you will see beautiful light, a flame. Or you will see like a beautiful blue ring. Different lights—do not care about that. If you try to catch what it is, it will disappear. This is a game, like you have to catch a fish in the water with the hand so peacefully. About five minutes, half a minute, you were looking at the flame, or one minute, you were looking at the flame, and then, after five minutes with closed eyes, you repeat your mantra, still with the mālā, and concentrate. Engage with your inner eyes at the center of the eyebrows, behind the forehead wall, in cidākāśa. After one round of the mālā, you open your eyes and look again at the candle. Now, this candle has three lights. The light down where, from wick till end of wick, about half a centimeter, this is a little radius like a fire, a dark. Then, one centimeter is a very pure light, and then above is a little bit smoky, so now the very secret of the Trāṭak practice is that you have to gaze on the tip of the flame, the brightest flame, which is in the middle part of the whole flame. So again, one minute gazing at the flame, repeating constantly your mantra. Close your eyes after one minute, practice your mantra, and gaze at the center of the eyebrows. What beautiful light will appear. Suddenly dawn, like this morning, or suddenly like the sun rising, the first ray of the sun, brilliant. Do not try to cage it, do not try to leave it. Let it come, and if it goes, let it go. Five minutes, one mantra. Best is: "Oṁ prabhu dīp nirañjan sab dukha bhanjan. Oṁ prabhu dīp." Prabhu dīp... bhanjan. This mantra is connected with the cosmic light, and this light, which is coming to your siddhakas and connecting you and the cosmic light together, is a link between you and the cosmic light. After one mālā, again open your eyes and gaze on the tip of the flame for one minute. And then again, close your eyes for another five minutes. Now it became eighteen minutes. Five minutes with closed eyes, and one minute looking. And before that, you were sitting five minutes more. That means twenty-two minutes now remain. Only eight minutes. But after the last round, three rounds are enough. The last round, you have to meditate at least 20 minutes, so this is one hour practice. Do not take it easy, my dear. Now, do I do Trāṭak? Close eyes for one minute, five minutes looking. One minute, close your eyes. This is not a Trāṭak. "Dekhā, dekī, saje, yog, ghaṭāy, kāyā, baḍe rog." If you are imitating, practicing yoga only through some book, or from such a teacher, a yoga teacher who has only a ten-day yoga course and comes home with a yoga teacher certificate, such a driver cannot bring you safely to Sydney, not even to the Dungong. A 10-day learning driving car, and you give a driving license? I think no driving school is so stupid. So it is a great pity that many, many people advertise yoga retreats for 10 days, holidays, and yoga teacher certificates. And then they come at home, "I am a yoga teacher, I am a yoga teacher," and putting "yoga teacher" like some certificate, and advertising, and making Trāṭak, and then that person gets crazy. What will a yoga teacher do with this person? How will he correct him back? That is it. One hundred students have no problem. Okay. But one student broke his arm. The newspaper will bring that yoga practicing broke the arm. One hundred have a good benefit, but they will not write. Therefore, yoga and daily life, teacher, after nine years of practicing and teaching, now you can say I am a little teacher, like a nine-year doctor’s degree. My dear, you must know the entire background, philosophy, psychology, all about yoga. And this is one of the best things that people like around the world, that yoga in their life is serious and they have good, trained teachers. And we have thousands of yoga teachers around the world. Just look at the website yogandaylife.org, you have it. Practical training of the yoga teacher and the Trāṭak is most beautiful and wonderful. With this, I wish you all the best and a very good night. And to all others who are with us through the webcast, bless you and wish you a very nice day or good night. Dīp Nayan Bhagvān Kī Jai.