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If you awaken to the desire to know God, to attain God-realization, Self-realization, and spiritual development, then a one-hour yoga class is insufficient. It is negligible. The practice must encompass twenty-four hours. This is why it is called "yoga in daily life." It means being aware for twenty-four hours and leading your life according to yogic discipline. This does not mean sitting in meditation for twenty-four hours. Even in the ashram, we do not allow someone to only sit and meditate. After five hours of meditation, we will say, "Please, can you clean the room?" Your parents would not be happy if you were only meditating, nor would your wife. She would say, "Oh God, what kind of man did I get?" Therefore, work, practice, and lead life according to yogic principles. Be angry, but according to yogic principle. How is the anger of a yogī? The anger of a yogī is like beating water with a stick. Ādi Guru Śaṅkarācārya said the master should be strict and also have anger, but the master’s anger is like beating water with a stick. What does this mean? When the stick hits the water, the water separates, but within no time, it comes together again. You will see no scars. In contrast, the anger of an ordinary person is like a scratch on stone; it will not come together again. It remains forever. Therefore, be angry, but like a yogī. Be active, but like a yogī. On the surface of the ocean, there are big waves. But as soon as you dive deep, it is very calm and peaceful. If we go deeper still, you will see beautiful patterns on the sand. This pattern-reading is known as palmistry, or Samudra Śāstra. What is written in the patterns on your inner self? Dive within thyself, and you will see your destiny. What is your destiny? How is it moving? Therefore, lucky and awakened are those who utilize every moment, as Gandhijī utilized every second to write something, even while the train was rolling. So, if you are awakened and have decided upon your spiritual path, do not waste your time in games. Do not waste your time, and do not blame others. You may say, "I got a mantra from Swamijī, and I didn’t realize anything." Of course, you didn’t. Why? Because you didn’t practice. Now keep practicing 24 hours a day, aware of spirituality. Where am I going? What am I doing? Consider: Āhār (nourishment), Vihār (where to go and where not to go—go to satsaṅg, not to kuśaṅg), Ācār (behavior), and Vicār (positive thinking). Even if someone made a mistake, forgive and make it positive. He made a mistake. Why do you also make a mistake by thinking badly of him? He made a mistake, and you are the greatest one to help him and forgive. Then he will be happy again, and so will you. You are Rājā, Rājayog—the king, the king of the self. You are Antaryāmī, the inner God, the Self. Mana (mind) or indriya (senses) are your prajā, your people. You should not be their slave; they should be under your control. When the king loses control, the kingdom falls apart. Then we have to search for another king. And what happens to the king who fell? He must go for psychiatric treatment. The king is now in psychiatric treatment. What did he do? He didn’t follow the master’s words, so he is very nervous, very scared, fearful. The lion is afraid of the goats. When the goat comes, the lion runs away. Your senses are the goats, and you are the ātmā, the lion. When you are afraid of all this, how will you help others and achieve your goal? Therefore, Rāja Yoga, as outlined by Patañjali and other great saints, provides steps to reach the final destination. The final destination is ātmā-jñāna through samādhi. The first steps are Yama and Niyama. Then come Āsana and Prāṇāyāma. The fifth and sixth are Dhāraṇā and Dhyāna. The seventh and eighth are Dhyāna and Samādhi. Yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi—these are the eight levels you should achieve. Do not think you will practice Yama for one year, then Niyama the next, then Āsanas. No, you must practice all steps every day. Yama and Niyama are ethical and moral values, such as not lying, not stealing, purity—these are the ten commandments, akin to those in the New Testament, given by Maharṣi Patañjali. Āsana means physical exercises, but its definition is different. Āsana means where you can sit or sleep. Your chair or the ground is your āsana. It means your blanket or grass mat. Āsana means the way of sitting or the postures—a posture where you can sit long, peacefully, comfortably, and relaxed. That is your āsana. I have here a glass with water. The glass is steady, so the water is steady—no movement, no waves. If the glass is discomforted and wants to change posture, the liquid also moves. Similarly, each movement of your body causes thoughts in your brain. When thoughts come, you lose concentration, jumping from your main target to another point. Your instructor will say, "Relax and sit comfortably. Concentrate on your heart chakra." Yet, 90% of people are concentrating on their ankle joint. When he says, "Now we chant Aum three times," for many practitioners, chanting Aum is a great relief. Sometimes they tell me, "Swamijī, we don’t know what liberation looks like, but when you chant 'Aum' three times, it was the biggest liberation from the pain." This means you did not concentrate on your heart, your Ājñā Chakra, or on God. You were telling God, "Please finish meditation." Therefore, āsana means a steady posture—no movements, not even the small finger moves. Then observe your motionlessness. If you can observe your motionlessness, it is the most beautiful meditation. Only one motion remains, very fine: our breath rhythm and heartbeat. God gave us a system in the body that functions constantly, without which we cannot exist, and that function does not disturb us. God gave the heart, one of your best friends and servants. Your heart is never tired. You go on holiday, but your heart does not go for even one minute. On the day your heart says, "Can I relax a little?" you will call the ambulance. They will come and press the heart again—heart massage. Poor heart. Constantly, it beats for you. Constantly, it is so loyal. How loyal are you to your heart? Did you ever say, "Thank you, my heart. You are the source of my life"? You know what a heart attack means? Finished. Therefore, we must take care of the heart. Yogīs have done many things for the heart, as well as for the kidneys, liver, intestines, respiratory system, glands, brain, and nerve systems. My God, how many thousands or millions of functions occur in this body that we do not even know? When all are in perfect condition and balance, that is called health. The best meditation is if you can sit for 10 minutes, an hour, two hours, three hours—but without suffering. Remember, the posture will not give you liberation. Liberation comes through your knowledge and guru-kṛpā. Mokṣa-mūlaṁ guru-kṛpā. If you cannot sit in lotus for three hours, it does not matter. You will still get liberation. If liberation depended on postures, then people working in the circus, who can sit longer, would get liberation. But in a posture where you feel comfortable and relaxed, meditation comes. Meditation cannot be practiced; it comes from itself, like going to lie down to sleep. You need not do anything; sleep will come itself. If you try, "Now I will sleep immediately. Tomorrow I have to get up and go to the airport. I will sleep now," what happens? You turn to the left, then to the right. It itches here. A thought comes: "Did I put the alarm on?" You cannot sleep anymore. It is self. Therefore, what should you do? Nothing. Just lie down and take a deep breath. Oh, the alarm is ringing. Do you know the transmission from your conscious level to sleep? How do you go? Did you ever realize or follow how you go from conscious to sleep? The process takes seconds, but you are not aware. And how do you go from deep sleep into the dream? Do you know this process? How quickly do you come back and wake up? This transformation in consciousness that causes sleep, dream, and awake—these three states—if you have not mastered them, you cannot enter into samādhi or meditation. So, unconscious, subconscious, and conscious—first you must purify and know what is happening there, what is going on. Then you can proceed further. Thus, āsana means a comfortable posture, whether sitting or lying. But if you lie down, you should not sleep; you should meditate. When you lie down straight and say, "I will meditate. I inhale and repeat my mantra: Oṁ Śohaṁ Sarguṇa Brahma, Śrīdhi Paripūraṁ Nārāyaṇa Nāma. Inhale, Oṁ Śohaṁ. Exhale, Oṁ Prabhudīpa Nirañjana, Śabdaka Bhañjana." After five or ten breaths—oh God. That is why yogīs do not suggest meditating in a lying position. Sit straight. There are chakras in our spine, parallel to it, and these chakras need to be awakened. The spine should be straight for easier concentration and for the astral body to separate. The astral body mostly goes from the shoulder. If your astral body goes out and in easily, you have very strong shoulder muscles. If your astral body is stuck, you constantly have shoulder pain. So, those with shoulder and neck pain—it means your astral body is suffering. Either allow the astral body to go from here, or you open the door from the other side. When you open the door from that side, you are snoring. So, the astral body is disturbed anyhow. Dhyāna. So, āsana, prāṇāyāma—as I told you in the beginning: "I am the Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. I am Brahma, I am Ātmā, I am the Supreme." That is a jñāna yogī and a rāja yogī’s thought. It means it is I who exhale this whole creation. It is my exhalation that you will realize. You will realize that you are the middle point of the universe. You are the vibration of the universe. You are the beginning point. Only you will get this knowledge when you have ātmā jñāna; otherwise, forget it. I hold the breath outside—retain the breath outside—called bāhya kumbhaka. Everything is maintained through me, as Viṣṇu is the protector. Brahma created, exhaled, and Vishnu now holds all. Then comes the pralaya, mahāpralaya. I inhale again. Everything will be inhaled, and I hold the breath within me. That is called antara kumbhaka. For how many manvantaras the breath will be held by that Brahman, and everything exists in this formless state. Hatha yoga. Again, once in that endless universe, through that nāda, yoga—the sound, the resonance—it will again awake, and then again He will exhale, and everything manifested, multiplied, everything in His divinity. That consciousness, that awareness, that unity, that knowledge, that kriyā—that will happen to you when you come to samādhi, to the super-consciousness, higher consciousness. Savikalpa samādhi and nirvikalpa samādhi. Savikalpa samādhi means you are still aware of yourself. There is bīja samādhi, sabīja samādhi. Bīja means the seed. Still, there is self-awareness that "I am." As long as you say "I," you are separated from the oneness. But Nirvikalpa Samādhi or Nirbīja Samādhi is samādhi where there is no existence of individuality. "I am one without second," ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is the aim of Rāja Yoga. Prāṇāyāma, āsana, prāṇāyāma. Pratyāhāra means withdrawing your senses from external objects. A yogī should be such a person that at any time can become extrovert and at any time can again become introvert. As God Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, a yogī should be like a turtle. The turtle can bring out its limbs from its body at any time and can also withdraw its limbs at any time.