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We are civilized beings, taught to develop our thinking process. Our thinking develops day by day. When a small child is born, it begins thinking and developing the mind. At the beginning, it thinks only about eating and sleeping. The brain develops accordingly—it looks different after one year, different after two, different after ten. We are taught or led to think, and we are led to think about what we do. We think in order to act, but if we act without thinking, then there is a problem. It is important that we give ourselves the chance, through the help of our mind, to find out properly through the thinking process. Water must flow. It remains clear; similarly, thoughts should flow. They remain clear, and you gain wisdom. What it means to control thoughts is only for a particular time. For example, you are driving a car on the highway, and you immediately think of sleeping; that is not advisable. You should be aware of the thing you are doing; your thoughts should be occupied with that subject. While thinking, we put ourselves in a particular condition. And after creating the condition, the mind should not run away. Because that condition, without mind, without intention, without thinking, could be dangerous. Therefore, we should train our thinking; we should think sharply and very clearly. We shall give arguments in our thinking. What I am thinking is wrong, maybe; then what is right? Then find out the right, the truth. If not this, then you should think another way, but thinking you have to do, and that will make life easier. However, do not mix too many thoughts; that creates stress. We shall pray, and while praying, we are thinking about what we are praying for. Today we are praying for someone who died. Tomorrow we will pray, perhaps, for someone who is born. We cannot say every day we should pray only for the one who died. So someone's death and someone's birth have both created a thinking process in us. Both need help from us, or we would like to help both. Similarly, day by day, such things are increasing, and therefore, we are thinking more and more as well. But we should have some time to rest from this. So God gave one system, and that is sleeping. When we sleep, our mind is active but not so much. After sleep, you feel relaxed. What is relaxed? You do not feel tired anymore. What does not feel tired anymore? Which part of the body? Where is it? It is in the brain center, so it is good to give the brain rest. As much as the brain has rest, it must either develop or regenerate. Little children sleep and sleep because they are developing their brain; for children, sleep is very important. So God gave them the first step of life: drinking and sleeping. In other creatures, it is different; they do not need that kind of thinking process, or they do not have the kind of thinking process which we have. So God gave the mind definitely with good intention. Otherwise, one will say this person does not have a mind; he is stupid. The mind is a mystery. To understand the mind, you can read the book The Hidden Power in Humans; there is a little subject about the mind. In one way, the explanation of the mind is: the mind is a process to bring the message in the form of different impressions to the subconsciousness. From the conscious to the subconscious, it works out, and brings it again from the subconscious to the conscious. We gain information through five senses: smelling, tasting, listening, seeing, and touching. These are the only five senses which give us information from the outer world. That information goes, through the help of the mind, to the subconsciousness. In the subconsciousness, the seeds of the impressions begin to sprout, and that is what we call the vāsanās. These vāsanās, the desires, are still not clear. So the mind brings these vāsanās to the conscious mind, to consciousness. And consciousness is dharma to give the judgment. So the mind is collecting, making saṅkalpa, and dissolving the saṅkalpa. You become creative; you are active, and the mind is active. You can say the mind is active and consciousness is creative. Consciousness and the mind are standing very close together. In different cultures and languages, it is very hard to explain what the mind is. In the German language, the mind is different from the thinking process. In German, there is a different word for the mind and a different one for the thinking process. So it is possible to understand it this way. Therefore, it is necessary to keep thinking; you should learn to think. Sometimes we think too one-sidedly. We think too much selfishly; we are receiving and receiving. Now we should also think to give. We should think to give, so learn to think. Learn to think with multiculturalism. There was one frog in a small hole, and there was water inside. The frog was swimming happily, jumping here and there—a kind of pond, you could say. And the frog was saying, "My world is the biggest world." The frog said, "My world is the biggest. There is no such big world anywhere. It is here: comfortable, clear, beautiful, very deep." There was one house nearby. Children liked to play with the frog. So they went on holidays, and the children took water in a bucket and took the frog with them. They arrived at a big lake, a very big, sweet lake, and they were playing and they put him in the lake. Now the very happy frog was swimming, swimming, and swimming, and there is no end; he turns back, no end, so big. Then the frog said to himself, "I thought my world was the biggest one, but this is really endless." We have to think universally; narrow thinking is the biggest problem in the world. "My pond is the best and biggest because you have not seen another." But now media technology has widened human consciousness. You can see the moon now very near; you can touch the stones of the moon. Before 50 years or in the last century, all of it was a dream, a miracle. Technique is developing; you are sitting here and talking to Japan. At that time, to talk in Japan, you had to go, I think, one and a half years from Czechoslovakia. And it was not sure that you would arrive there. Now we press the button and we say hello. That has also widened our consciousness, and that has also created more of our thoughts, many kinds of thinking which we have that our grandparents did not have. Such thoughts as we have, our ancestors did not have. Our grandparents, the grandparents of our father, did not know what e-mail is. Our ancestors, great-great-grandfathers, had no idea what e-mail is. So this thought was not existing in human consciousness. Thus, this thought did not exist in human consciousness. But we have created new ones, and we have created it as new. So every day, a new thought is born. And that is good; it makes humans comfortable. It gives humans space to move, to understand, to accept. So we should think wide, not narrow; we shall think universal, not selfish. We should not think with complexes. We cannot stop the mind, and we should not stop the mind. It should flow freely and clearly. And when you want to relax, "Well, I will now relax," that makes life happy. Otherwise, if you want to minimize your thoughts, that would not do good to your health, physical as well as mental health. So develop the wisdom in the thoughts. If someone asks you, "How does China look?" you should know how China looks; you can tell him immediately. But unnecessarily, while sitting, why should you think how China looks? Then America will say, "Why don't you think of, about us? How does America look? How does China look? And how did the Soviet Union look?" So we should have information, and we should be able to select, collect, and order our thoughts. What we are trying to learn, or what Patañjali says, is order your thoughts, put them in order, like you tidy your room; then life is beautiful, comfortable. To order the thoughts, we need wisdom. And the way to order the thoughts is meditation. Meditation means to make your life in order. Make clear decisions and do not do too many stupid things. That is what the mind, meditation, tells us. We are human, and we have human weakness; we have made many mistakes. Though our mind or our consciousness does not allow our intellect, and though we do not want to, some things can happen, and they happen. So as we humans are taught to do, if there is a mistake, pray to God for forgiveness. In this mortal world, if we make a mistake, we also tell the people, "Please excuse me." That makes a better situation then. So when humans are able to excuse us, definitely God will excuse us. So with this kind of confidence, belief, and hope, we pray that God will forgive us. Therefore, the mind is a most important instrument. It is that mind which makes the human; it is the mind which works. It is the mind which makes beautiful things, and it is the mind which makes ugly things; it is the mind which makes peace, and it is the mind which creates wars. This is a mighty power which humans got from God. Now it depends how you will use it: use it for good or misuse it. There is a knife; you can use it for cutting your fruits and vegetables or butter on your bread, or you can use it to kill someone. Life will not say no. Similarly, the mind is like that. So you should know in which direction you will utilize your mental powers. So develop and utilize your mental powers, the hidden powers in humans: mental power. So let thoughts flow and clean them. If you think negative, you can say to yourself, "Instead of negative, I can think positive. If this person made a mistake, but still the person is good, a mistake has happened. Instead of thinking negative about this person, I can think positive also, because it has happened, and that could have happened through you too." In this way, sometimes our own thinking makes us unhappy, depressed, and like this. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar