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Tree is life

Peace begins within the individual and extends outward to renew the world. Personal transformation through yoga creates better individuals, leading to a better society and world. A practical vow is to plant at least 108 trees annually, nurturing them like children to restore the planet's life. Human consciousness contains both destructive forces, like anger and greed, and divine forces, like love and humility. The human body is a priceless, unique possession. The greatest tragedy is to die without fulfilling the mission of self-realization and achieving unity with cosmic consciousness. Religion, in its true eternal sense, is about realizing one's relation to the cosmic Self, a connection often forgotten despite institutional practices. Yoga is the universal science of integrating body, mind, consciousness, and soul.

"Peace begins from our own heart, and charity begins from our own house; therefore, we shall do something."

"The human body is that diamond which you cannot buy anywhere."

Filming location: Adelaide, Australia

Yoga makes you a better man, a better person, and a better person will make a better society, and a better society will create a better world. So, peace begins from our own heart, and charity begins from our own house; therefore, we shall do something. The South Australian government had a very, very noble idea which they announced to the general public: people should grow some trees. They provide the seeds; your government provides the seed. In your home, in any cup, fill it with earth and put the seed in. When the tree is a few centimeters high, you hand it over to them, and they will plant it somewhere. That was a good idea. So, I would say that everyone should make today one saṅkalpa, a vow, that every year you will plant at least 108 trees. That is a good number, a holy number. Where you plant them does not matter; go for a walk and take your trees in your backpack instead of sandwiches. While walking in a forest, just dig a little hole and put the tree in. Out of 108 trees, at least 54 will develop, or 27 will develop. These trees will be like your own child. Go for a walk and look at your trees; that will be something beautiful. Do not only plant within the city; take a car and go somewhere far away. This way, we can again bring life to this planet. Trees are our life; no trees, no life anymore—finished. We cannot exist without them. This is consciousness in the human as a protector and not a destroyer. But we do have within us both forces: Āsurī Śakti and Devī Śakti. Āsura Śaktis are those emotional reactions which we cannot control: anger, hate, jealousy, complexes, greediness, revenge. These are the Āsura Śaktis, and they will destroy first you and then others. And the good forces within us are: humbleness, love, kindness, forgiveness, understanding, tolerance, respect, support, helpfulness. Oh, you have diamonds within you. You are the richest of the richest creatures on this planet. The human body is that diamond which you cannot buy anywhere. This body you cannot borrow from someone, and you cannot buy this body anywhere in the market. If it were possible to buy the body, then people would change very soon and take a new body. But that is not in our control; that is not in our power. Only destiny, only God can do that. We are not sure if we will get a new body again or not. Many things happen, good and bad, in our life, but the most terrible tragedy will happen if we die without fulfilling our mission. Which mission? Self-realization, God-realization, unity—the unity of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness. As we spoke yesterday about unconscious, subconscious, conscious, superconscious, and cosmic conscious. All is within us, and so yoga is not in that way what we call in the world philosophy or in religion. If we think of the word religion, what we call Sanātana Dharma: religion means relation; Sanātana means eternal, and dharma means duty. So, realize your relation; that becomes religion. Realize your relation with the cosmic Self. But, unfortunately, and it is really sad, that humans have forgotten this. Though there are hundreds of thousands of temples, churches, or mosques, and constantly there is talk about God, as soon as we walk out of the church, we forget everything. And finally, it is for no one but for yourself. We should do good at least to ourselves. So, yoga is a science of the body, mind, consciousness, and soul, because yoga is a universal principle. And it is as old as the universe and this consciousness.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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