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O Sukham kem gyam dvandatitam gaganasadrashyam tasmasyadi lakshyam ekam nityam vimalachalam Sarvaddhi Sakshibhotam Bhavatitam Matrigunarahitam Satgurutam Anamamyam Satgurutam Anamamyam Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Salutations to the cosmic light, Lord of our heart, omniscient and omnipresent. In his holy presence, my dear brothers and sisters, brother Bhante Vimala, what a beautiful morning it is today in this middle of the Kali Yuga. We found a few minutes to be together and think about God, to speak about love and compassion, understanding and forgiveness, and to distribute love to all creatures. God is beautiful, and His world is beautiful, and each and every creature is full of divinity. It’s a blessed morning. We are always speaking about yoga. What do we understand? What is yoga? Is this the yoga, just what we see, the book on it written? Or how do we understand, or we should understand, and develop in our consciousness what yoga is. Anant Brahmāṇḍ Śāstra Sūrya’s endless universe, and thousands of the sun and moon systems exist in this universe. That is ananta, endless. And we are limited ones. How should we understand that one? We cannot. We don’t understand, but we shall try to become one with it. In this indescribable universe, there are two forces, devī śakti and āsurī śakti. Devī śakti is divine, positive, harmonious. Āsurī śakti is the destructive power. They also, from time to time, dominate their powers in different parts of the universe, and also on this planet, and in the heart and mind of humans too. It seems at the present time the Āsuric Śakti is dominating. Tato āsurī, tato daemonická síla má navrch. That is the tool of love, compassion, prayer. Nothing is stronger in this world than prayer. Mahatma Gandhi always used to say, "Whenever I need some solution to some problem, I pray." I fast. Physically, I can fast, but mentally I can’t fast. The prayer is my mental nourishment. That’s very strong. In this indescribable universe, there is eternal consciousness, everlasting, immortal God consciousness, cosmic consciousness, but that consciousness has some power, Śakti, and that Śakti is another power in the universe. Both have to keep balance. Yoga is the balancing principle which balances the entire universe: planets, stars, moon, sun, whatever we call them, visible and invisible elements—everything is balanced by one power. That’s called yoga. From the śūnyākāśa, the void, empty space, Nāda rūpa-parabrahma, that divine sound, nāda, nāda awakes in that consciousness which never sleeps. That sound is Aum, Akār, Ukār, Makār, and out of that sound the Trinity is appearing: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśa, Creator, Protector, and Liberator—as a liberator or destructor of the negative. Three guṇas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. From that sound, the five elements are created: fire, air, water, earth. Space is there already. These five elements have to be balanced. Out of these five elements, our physical body is created. This is indescribably beautiful, the temple of the living God. This body is known as the temple of the living God. This element should be balanced too. And there are a number of functions in our body: mind, consciousness, memory, thoughts, words, actions, emotions, desires, longing, and so on. These should be balanced. If the mind and body are not balanced, then something is wrong in life. If mind and consciousness are not balanced, then we are permanent visitors of a psychiatric hospital. What we call the screws are loose. Everything needs a balance. Yathā brahmāṇḍe tathā piṇḍe. What is in the universe exists in this body. Where there is balance, there is harmony. And here, yoga means harmony. When there is harmony, then comes unity, the oneness. So finally, what you read in the books, yoga means union: union of the individual with the cosmic Self. And we are travelers. Śaṅkarācārya said, "Who am I? From where do I come? Why did I come? And where will I go?" If we know this answer, then all problems are solved. We get to salvation, or liberation, or mokṣa, or whatever you call it in different religions. Theoretically, we know very well. Practically, we don’t know. We know that we are immortal beings. Our self never dies. The body is born and the body will die. The self continues the journey. When we are immortal, then why are we afraid? We are sitting here peacefully, and I tell you, you are immortal. Don’t worry. You never die, only the body dies. You are the immortal one. And in this minute, what happens? The wild few tigers jump in this hall. What will be the condition of your immortal one? Will you still remain listening to Swamiji, what he is talking, or will you escape the emergency exit? This means that we have a theoretical knowledge, but we don’t have practical knowledge. Tons of theory is nothing compared with a gram of practice. Einstein said, Albert Einstein. Yoga is a practical way, not a theoretical way. Practice makes perfect. An individual can only become one with the cosmic or the universal one if we develop the quality. You heard the word spirituality. Spirituality comes from the spirit. But spirituality is a dead spirit, which is a purity, pure. Our spirit, our consciousness, our mind, our being is not so pure as this. Our quality is not that quality which can become one with the. We can find the colors which mix together, but it is very hard to find the qualities which mix together. And that’s a normal family life problem between husband and wife because of different qualities. And those who have the same quality have an eternal partnership. Quality unites. You know, very often I give you an example. I have in the glass water, very clean, transparent. And someone who brought the water here, before they put ten grams of salt inside, mixed it with a spoon and thought, "Swāmījī will not see, and he doesn’t know there is salt inside." Because salt became one with the water, I drink. It is salty. It means the salt did not become one with the water. Salt changed the form, solid to liquid. But it didn’t become one with the water. Similarly, when this body dies, and if a human thinks that I will automatically become one with God or come to heaven, there is no more life. I doubt that. But salt in salt, sugar in sugar, water in water, quality unites. Therefore, the teaching of all great saints is saying, purify, purify, purify. As Gurujī said, enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice. Sacrifice, not only material things, but sacrifice something from inside. Those desires and longings that have to be sacrificed. Prayer. Yoga, therefore, means union, harmony, balancing.