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At present, there are three layers covering our intellect, or our consciousness. These three layers are known as mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa. Mala means impurity. Today's subject is to purify these impurities: impurity in thinking, impurity in behavior, impurity in your deeds, impurity in your nourishment. There are so many kinds of impurities which have covered our intellect completely, and we are always going in that direction, not toward the pure things. That is called mala. If you try to purify the mala, then you encounter the second layer. This second layer is called vikṣepa—worldly problems. It may be a political problem, an environmental problem, a social problem, an economical problem, a family problem, or a health problem. There are many, many things in the realm of personal and impersonal problems. Nowadays, for man, it is very difficult to exist and live in this world because there are so many problems. Every day, we receive much information through television, newspapers, and radios about what is happening in the world. Of course, we do care about our beautiful world. We care about what is happening now in the Middle East because they are also our brothers and sisters. We cared about what happened in ex-Yugoslavia because they are also our brothers and sisters. We care about what happens in Kashmir between Pakistan and India because they are our brothers and sisters. We cared about the earthquake. It is not that we say it does not matter for me; it does matter for us. In this world now, to live and exist for humans is very difficult. Therefore, meditation and mantra are the way to recover yourself again, to relax, and to again come to clarity. We do help, we do try our best as far as we can, according to our capacity and our power. So vikṣepa: suddenly your wife tells you, "My dear husband, I think we don't understand each other, and it is better for us to get divorced." Now this poor husband cannot sleep for days and days. Or a husband tells his wife, or the children go somewhere and do something, and the parents cannot sleep. These are many vikṣepas. Understand this example: there is a swimming pool and you lose your ring in it. There are many, many waves on the surface; you cannot see where your ring is lying. If the waves are very calm, then you can see, "Yes, there it is." Similarly, these are the vṛttis—thoughts. Patañjali said in Yoga: through the practice of yoga, you can control your vṛttis and you can have a peaceful and happy life. Therefore, meditation is very important. Now, many know how to meditate and many do not know how to meditate. If you ask me how to meditate and how I meditate, you will laugh. I am a master of meditation. I am teaching meditation. I taught thousands of millions of people meditation. But these are concentration techniques. The best meditation is: don't do anything. Close your eyes and relax. Finally, all these holy saints, all highly developed yogīs—ask them how they meditate. They say: just sit down, close your eyes and relax, and repeat your mantra. That is all. That is the best. Repeat your mantra. All other techniques—concentrate here, concentrate there, imagine the moon, imagine the sun, imagine a snow mountain, imagine the beach—these are just to direct your restless thoughts in one direction. Meditation without a mantra is a body without a soul. We will do meditation now after a few minutes, because I talked too much, and we will come to tomorrow also; we have the same subject. The third layer which is covering our Self is called āvaraṇa. Āvaraṇa means ignorance—a thick curtain we cannot see through. So this is a curtain of ignorance. Thus, we have impurity, restlessness, and ignorance. We are stuck in these three negative qualities. To purify these three, the first step is positive thinking. That is just one sentence, the key: positive thinking. Negative thinking means poisoning oneself, and positive thinking means enlightening oneself. Therefore, all negative actions and negative thinking—try to avoid them. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is not easy. Theory, tons of theory, is nothing compared with the practice, so practice every day. You can overcome restlessness, these vikṣepas, through meditation. To overcome ignorance, you have to read the holy scriptures, you have to go to the satsaṅgs where they speak about reality and the truth. --- Recording location: Australia, Sydney, Australian Tour