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Hari Om! Welcome! This webcast is coming to you from the Vienna Ashram, from Gurujī's Ashram. Good morning and good evening, wherever you are. I am happy to be with you and happy that I have the opportunity to speak about what we have done a few minutes ago. We have finished our Kriya course, and our subject today is Kriya. What is Kriya? The word kriyā has two syllables. It has the syllable "kri" and the syllable "ya." "Kri" means action, and "ya" means ātmā, or the soul. So kriyā can be translated as the action of the soul. There is a sage, Patañjali, who was the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras. He has formulated one of the sentences. He says, "Tapas, svādhyāya, īśvara praṇidhānāni kriyā yogaḥ." This looks very scientific, and it is scientific because that means the clear yoga action, the yoga technique. On action, the clear has to pass three parts. One is the training of the senses, the training and the purification of the senses, the tapas. The second step is the svādhyāya, the self-studying. And the third part is Īśvara Praṇidhāna, devotion towards God. So we can see Kriya has many meanings and many possibilities. So what can we do from the side of yoga for the purification and strengthening of the senses? We have the six Haṭha Yoga Kriyas; we know them all because in the system of Yoga in Daily Life, we have very well-trained teachers who support us when we use the purification techniques of the Haṭha Yoga kriyās worldwide. These kriyās are Basti, Dhautī, Naulī, Trāṭak, Kapālabhāti, and also, of course, Śaṅkhaprakṣālana, and the first is Netī. So we have all six of them. We can describe them. What is, for instance, the Netī? The Netī is the clearing or the purification of the nose with the help of salted water. What is the Dhautī? The Dhautī is the purification of the gullet and the stomach. The Naulī is the movement of the intestine and also the abdominal muscles. Basti and Śaṅkhaprakṣālana is the complete purification or emptying of the feces and the purification of the whole digestive system from the mouth to the anus. For this technique, we use the Basti and the Śaṅkhaprakṣālana. Kapālabhāti is the purification of the sinuses. And Trāṭak is the concentration on the candle flame. We have already seen this in a lecture of Swāmījī, who has spoken about this a few days ago, and it's very fresh in our mind. It has many, many positive effects, and one of them is the strengthening of the eyesight. In the Vedas, there is a sister science of yoga. This sister science is Āyurveda. Āyurveda also has purification techniques and cleaning techniques. In Āyurveda, they are called pañcakarma. Pañca means five, and there are five types of cleaning techniques. These are Vamana, Virechana, Basti, Nasya, and Raktamokṣaṇa, bloodletting. So, the Vamana is vomiting; this is comparable to the Dhautī. Virechana is the intake of decoctions and purification of the intestines while drinking decoctions. The Nasya is the purification with the help of medicated drops. The Basti... no, what else? What did I say? No, the bloodletting, the Raktamokṣaṇa bloodletting, and one was missing, which one I will tell later. So there are five purification techniques which are similar to the techniques of yoga, and carrying them out carefully also helps to strengthen the senses and to clear the mind, to purify and strengthen also the tissues and the digestive power. So these parts from the yoga side and from the Āyurveda side are covering the first part of this sūtra from Patañjali, the strengthening and the clarifying of the senses. Secondly, we have the svādhyāya, higher. We know that all studying, self-studying, reading ancient texts, think about what we have read, how to implement it in our daily life. What did the sages want to tell us, and how can we, what can we learn from it, and how we can get along? And the third part is Īśvara Praṇidhāna, the dedication and the worshipping of God. And for that, there is an advanced yoga technique, and this yoga technique is called Kriyā Yoga. We are here sitting all in this hall, most of us are practicing Kriyā Yoga. So when I look around, I can see yoga practitioners whom I have known for a very, very long time, many, many years. What does that indicate? It indicates that it is a technique which cannot be given immediately after you have decided to start with yoga practice. First, you have to undergo your practice, do it carefully from the physical side, from the mental side, prāṇāyāma and all that, and observe your own development. And after you have reached the strong wish to develop also spiritually, then you can ask your master if he gives you initiation in Kriyā Yoga. There are not many, there is not much literature. It is something which happens between the disciple and the master. It is a very personal initiation, and the master only gives you the Kriyā initiation after having observed you for a while, a long time, and having tested you, if you are really capable to develop with the help of Kriyā. And for that, he gives you, of course, some possibilities where you can prove it. The first is the endurance and the daily practice and your discipline after you have received Kriyā initiation from that. From the moment you practice every day your kriyā, and I cannot promise, but I can only tell you from my own experience, from that moment when you have received your kriyā initiation, your whole phenomenon changes towards spirituality, towards purity, towards understanding, and your step towards your inner self, and uniting from your individual soul with the highest, whatever you understand from that. But on this way you are going, when you start with your Kriyā practice and your master guides you, helps you, and observes you. Many things are coming, many emotions are coming, but the development is tremendous. You understand, your heart opens, you see the whole world from a different angle. Of course, only when you practice and when you follow the discipline. Yes, this is all I can say from my own experience about Kriyā. When you get inspiration through these words, it would make us all happy, all of us who are sitting here and practice and have our development. If you really wish to develop in this way, go to your Master. We asked our Master, His Holiness Mahāmaṇḍaleśwar Paramān Swāmī Maheśvarānanda. We were allowed to speak to him and call him Swāmījī. He guides us, and he helps us in our development. Wish you all the best, and good morning or good evening. Hope to see you all soon. Hari Om. Thank you very much.