TV Channel

Our Yoga in Daily Life organization encompasses many parallel activities. This means we are not only teaching āsanas, prāṇāyāma, and relaxation, but we also have numerous side projects. If you recall, we first began constructing one of the most beautiful buildings, destined to be recorded as the seventh wonder of the world. That is our home building, which in German is called Einmalig—unique. Nothing like it existed before, and I do not believe anything like it will exist anywhere. Thus, we began this OM project, aimed at multicultural and elder education. Nowadays, it is not only children who need education; parents need it too. Modern parents often lack the wisdom to impart to their children. Children are pushed to a babysitter, then to nursery school, then to school, and then they struggle to get a job and are gone. Parents hardly have time for their children. Therefore, elder education is very important. In OM Āshram, we have chambers dedicated to the cultures of different countries—like a chamber of Croatian culture, a chamber of Slovakian culture, and a chamber of Australian Aboriginal culture. These chambers are already established. In this way, we unite the world into oneness. We also have a very successful project called Jñānaputra—a manasic (mental) child, a child of wisdom. Thanks to our Lakṣmaṇ Purī from Zagreb and his co-workers, as well as our Dīvālī from near Hamburg, from Kiel, and her friends, they have made this a successful project. Thank you to all of you who have supported this Jñānaputra. Every year, hundreds of children receive a scholarship from us—covering clothes, books, all materials, school fees, free transportation, and so on. Some of them are already in higher education. Besides Jñānaputra and our work for the school, we began with a primary school. We now have status and permission up to the 12th class. Last year, at the end of the school year, our Jadan school was declared one of the best schools in the Pali district, and the students received the best grades. You should be proud of this achievement; it was covered in the media. They wrote about the Jadan school, and now children are on a waiting list. We also have hostels where students stay. Some, of course, are not free—they have to pay—and some are Jñānaputras. They are given the best accommodation, training, sports, yoga, riding, swimming, and what not. They also receive Vedic culture and spiritual education, including chantings. Last year, we succeeded in building a beautiful school in the form of a triśūla. People from the Pali district and surrounding areas come to see how beautiful, nice, and architectural it is, with big, comfortable classrooms. It is truly something. Furthermore, our education system in Jadan has now received government permission to have a college, called Śrī Swāmī Mādhavānanda College. Courses began last year, especially in the science of yoga, Āyurveda, naturopathy, and many other subjects. An Indian donor has contributed funds, the plans are finished, and very soon a separate college building will be completed to facilitate higher education. The government of Rajasthan constantly asks me to open a university and is ready to grant permission. However, we currently need millions of dollars or euros to secure the license, as a fund must be deposited in a bank as security. We would also need to appoint certain professors, which would be very expensive. Therefore, I still refuse their constant requests to declare OM Āshram a university, asking them to wait. So, you see, the educational project is progressing very well. We have many international students, very dedicated students, and Indian professors—yoga teachers and professors—as required by law. This is very nice. Besides this, we have organized an animal refuge, an animal shelter. I have opened about six gauśālās, and we have more than 1,000 cows and other animals. Of these more than 1,000 cows, two gauśālās are near OM Āshram, one is near Khatu, two are near Jadan, and another is already on the way. Each gauśālā houses three to four hundred cows. They receive excellent care: proper feeders (no artificial feed), medical attention, and so on. We do not sell the calves they produce, as they would be taken for meat. Instead, they remain in our gauśālās, producing manure—a very expensive and excellent organic fertilizer for our fields. We take good care of them, and it is very nice. Well, besides this, we began another project for women's education and healthcare for children and mothers, which is also running successfully. Then there is medical care. Our Dr. Śānti and a team of many Austrians are working on this. You cannot imagine how beautiful a hospital in the form of a star for 111 beds will be, soon ready to function. What we now need are the beds, equipment, instruments, and supplies for medical care so we can employ doctors. It is a beautiful, very symbolic star. So we have a triśūla, a swastika, a star, and an Oṃ. The college will be shaped like a Yajña Śālā, a Yajña Kuṇḍ or Havan Kuṇḍ where you perform Yajñas. They are all ornamental. Our OM Āshram mountain is the first man-made mountain in history. Often, newspapers report that people are destroying the environment and mountains, but here Swāmījī is making mountains. So, either only God Brahmā can make mountains, or we all can make them together. The lake, the mountain—Jadan Āshram has become a part of history, a legend. It is beautiful. Besides this, we have Āyurveda. Āyurveda is one of the ancient, very old medical systems. The name is beautiful: Āyur means age or life, and Veda means knowledge. Āyurveda has existed since before the time of the Satya Yuga, from the churning of the ocean by the Devas and Asuras in their search for nectar. The fourteen ratnas emerged from that. What you call alcohol also came out, along with many other things. Finally, God Viṣṇu incarnated as Dhanvantari, holding an Amṛta Kalaśa. So Āyurveda is very old; you cannot say it is a thousand, five thousand, or ten thousand years old. It is millions of years old. Āyurveda and yoga are parallel. It is very successful, especially in this part of the world, in what we call the Ayurveda Academy of Yoga in Daily Life. Many of you know about it, many do not. Thanks to our dear Muktamani, who worked very hard to establish this academy. It is linked and affiliated with the Ayurveda University of Pune, a very good university with extensive research. We are very lucky that Professor Sadeshmuka comes and sends his team here to train. You know, Āyurveda has become a commercial venture for many people in the Western world. Anyone goes to India, buys cheaper Āyurvedic medicine, comes here, and sells it very expensively. For example, Hajmola tablets: you get about 100 or 200 pieces for 20 rupees. I met someone in Canada, in Ontario—a lady who was consulting in Āyurveda. She was selling one tablet for 15 dollars, divided into four parts. You see how it has become. Now, on every corner you find Āyurveda, and the people have no knowledge. No knowledge. They go to India for 10 days and return with a certificate as a Vaidya, an Āyurvedic consultant—similar to yoga. So, unfortunately, neither in India nor here are there concrete organizations that can ban all this and mandate serious study, like for doctors, after which one could practice as a doctor. If you work three months or 15 days in a medical shop and see a doctor give an injection twice, it does not make you a doctor. But this is how it happens. So many people get side effects; many get nothing. And you know, in Kali Yuga, money is God. For them, it doesn't matter what kind of reaction occurs. "I'll be the massage, I'll be the cooking, I'll be the looking, I'll be the cooking." I don't know how many cookings there are. They said, "Swāmījī, you know, I'll be the comb." I said, "What is 'I'll be the comb'?" I don't know. "I'll be the shirt, I'll be the shoes, I'll be the handbag, I'll be the soap." My God, anything—they just put Āyurveda on it. And now they have changed the name to "wellness." You know, now they have turned yoga into wellness. Āyurveda, they changed to wellness. My God, what is all this coming to? It's just a newborn name, not more than three or four years old. Nobody knew what "wellness" was. Now you go on holidays—wellness. You go to a hotel—wellness. You do exercises—wellness. You get a massage—wellness. So in Austria, there are many people doing wrong Āyurveda and massage at home—Āyurveda massage, Āyurveda oil, Āyurveda... I don't know what all; I don't want to tell you. It needs serious quality. Otherwise, very soon people will lose confidence in it. And again, you are the guilty one who is doing it. Therefore, our Āyurveda Academy is working very hard for the prevention and protection of Āyurveda, just as Yoga in Daily Life is working hard to protect yoga. You know, it takes two or three years to get a Yoga in Daily Life teacher certificate. And even then, you are not entitled to teach. You need further checking, practicing, and then another license. Yoga in Daily Life is the only system in the world that takes time to test students—their knowledge, abilities, teaching method, way of life, everything—and only then do we permit them to become a teacher and teach. It is not a commercial venture. It is something more. The time will come in the world when it will be chosen as the master system of yoga. For this, all yoga teachers have to work together. There are many, many yoga teachers who could not come to this weekend's or this week's seminar because they have yoga classes. There are so many classes that they can't come. You should know we have nearly 3,000 yoga teachers. And then, how many people are they teaching? This is a great success, achieved slowly and steadily. A long time ago, about 10 or 15 years back, when Czechoslovakia became an independent republic, someone told me, "Swāmījī, there are so many yogīs coming and so many yoga teachers; we should produce Yoga in Daily Life teachers very quickly, many, many." I said, "This is not spaghetti that we can turn and it comes out; we have to ensure quality." And so we have many faithful disciples—I can say we are proud of them—who maintain the quality and do not mix practices.