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In one of his bhajans, Gurujī said: "Sādhuṁ bhāī, ye mana baḍā anāḍī." "O brothers, this mind is very uneducated." It is said to be unteachable. "Samjhāoṁ samjhā naī, aisā nīc lavāḍī." "I tried to explain to it many times, but it did not understand, and it always returns to its base nature." Yogīs and yatīs, through great and hard work, plant or prepare a beautiful garden of bhajan—meaning their sādhānā, their spiritual practice. They devote themselves to spiritual sādhanās. But this mind, this monkey mind, is so terrible that within a second it destroys the entire garden. "Yogī, yatī, koī mehnat karke bove bhajan kī bāṛī." Yatīs are like yogīs; the term does not refer to an animal. One might think of a yeti in the Himalayas that looks like an ice bear, somewhat resembling a polar bear. A yatī is one who performs yatna. Yatna means sādhānā, it means trying. For example, if your car is stuck, you and four or five others try to push it out. If it does not come out, you bring a tractor, hook your car to it, and pull it out. This effort is called yatna—trying to pull your car from the mud through different means. If a fruit hangs high on a tree branch, you jump to catch it but cannot. You throw a stone but still cannot get the fruit. Then you stand on someone's shoulders to climb higher, yet you remain twenty centimeters short. Finally, you fetch a ladder, climb, and retrieve the fruit. That persistent effort is yatna. Trying very hard in your shop so your business improves is yatna. Attempting to cure an illness through different medicines—Āyurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy, energy healing—is yatna. If you were not successful with many attempts, you performed many yatnas. The one who performs this yatna is called a yatī. These are spiritual yatnas, spiritual sādhanās, and from them come many siddhis, much control, and many abilities. A yatī does not live only in the Himalayas; you can be in the desert or anywhere. That is the definition of a yatī. Yogī and yatī are two terms. A yogī is one who removes the duality between the ātmā and paramātmā and realizes non-duality. This is achieved through a certain yatna, which is why a yogī is simultaneously a yatī. Yogīs and yatīs perform many years of sādhānā and bhajan. Bhajan means repeating the name of God, doing good things in life, and leading a spiritual life. This is called prabhu bhajan—dedicating your life to God, intending to do good for all. Bhajan is not necessarily only singing; all your spiritual sādhanās and trials are called bhajan. By leading this disciplined life for many years, you create a beautiful inner garden with beautiful flowers and fruit trees—your spiritual inner garden. Yogīs and yatīs, through hard work, plant this beautiful garden. "Yemān, bandar baḍā harāmī." This monkey mind is so cruel. "Pālme bāṛī bigāṛī." Within minutes, it destroys the whole garden. How does this monkey mind destroy your years of work in seconds? How can it happen that the mind, that monkey, in a moment destroys what you worked on for entire years? It happens through your emotional explosiveness. Because you are so emotional, your buddhi becomes completely darkened. Then you speak badly, write badly, think badly, and act badly, thereby destroying everything. Therefore, these hidden tendencies—what I call the hidden powers in humans—exist. There are good ones and there are bad ones. We can understand this through a saying, perhaps from Jesus or another, that when someone strikes you on your left cheek, you should gently offer the right cheek as well. What does this mean? It means not to explode. When you show the right cheek, the other person's emotion will calm down. Their intensity will drop from 120 to 60. In this way, you help him or her to calm down, and you do not destroy your inner work. But then there is something more: it is said we will forgive, but we will not forget. Human life is not so easy. --- Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar