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Practise makes one perfect

The grammar of practice is harder than the theory. There are two kinds. The first is physical and meditative practice, which is easy. The second is working with your own mind and desires, which is very hard. The hardest thing is to say no to yourself. To control the senses is the first control. Without controlling anger, jealousy, and greed, your practice has no effect. If you do not control thoughts and senses, you have not progressed spiritually from birth. Yoga is mastering yourself. Do not look for mistakes in others; look for them in yourself. Remember many are better than you, and many are less happy. All true masters expect from you this same inner work, which is the real practice.

"God finds the mistakes in others; you find the mistakes in yourself."

"The hardest thing is to say no to oneself. And that is yoga. Master yourself."

Filming location: Zagreb, Croatia

Practice makes one perfect. Volumes of theory have been compared to the mere grammar of actual practice. There are two kinds of practices. The first is what you call āsanas, prāṇāyāmas, and meditation with mantras. This is very easy. The second is to work with oneself, to work with all vṛttis (mental modifications), to work with all desires. That is very hard. The hardest thing is to say no to oneself. To say no to others is easier. Therefore, what I must control are the indriyas, the senses. If you do not control the senses, your practice will have no effect. The first control is over this: anger, jealousy, hate, greediness, and so on. If you have not controlled this, you cannot proceed on the spiritual path. If you are not in control over your thoughts and over your senses, then, according to spirituality, you are in the same place as when you were born. So one day must come when you are able to say to yourself, "No." And that is yoga. Master yourself. God finds the mistakes in others; you find the mistakes in yourself. The mistakes which you see in others, a mother does not see in her child. Whatever a child is doing, a mother... Therefore, whatever others do, see in yourself. Be sure there are millions of people much, much better than you. And be sure there are many people who are not happier than you. Someone can judge the nature of the yogī. Kṛṣṇa said in the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā... We all—whether Jesus, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha, or whoever—expect from you what I tell you now. And that is the sādhanā.

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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