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Weekend seminar in Kranj, Slovenia (1/3)

Yoga is a profound science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul, developed through the ancient research of the ṛṣis. A yogī is one who has realized non-dualism, transcending the duality of this world to attain the highest regard. Modern trivializations, like short courses for certification, misunderstand yoga's true depth, which aims to transform a human into the divine across many lifetimes. Material life and unfaithfulness in relationships or to God are obstacles. Human speech is a divine gift; breaking one's word severs that connection. Daily life must be lived with awareness, asking if each action, thought, and word reflects human dignity. Spiritual progress requires repaying five fundamental debts through selfless attitude and service, not through material means.

"Yoga is that which makes a human into God."

"Every thought, every action, and every word should always be balanced with one thing: that I am a human."

Filming location: Kranj, Slovenia

Yoga in Daily Life is a system that is a science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul. Yoga is the blessing of the ṛṣis, the great saints of India. This is a very serious matter, and it is crucial to understand with what kind of thinking these great saints worked—not for a hundred or two hundred years, but for thousands of years. They undertook a research work to bring the science of yoga to humanity. It is important to believe how these ṛṣis, and with what quality of thought, worked for hundreds of thousands of years to bring the knowledge of yoga to earth. The word yogī means one who has become perfect in yoga. You know, Śiva is known as Yogendra. Śiva is known as a yogī, and He was the first one on this planet in the form of a human being. The entire creation comes out of that divine consciousness called Śiva. For ages past, the yogīs were meditating. They researched something which is good for humans, and that was yoga. You know, God Kṛṣṇa is also known as a yogī, as Yogendra, as Yogeshwar. A yogī is that one who removes the duality of dualism and realizes non-dualism. A yogī is that one who transcends the duality of dualism and realizes oneness. Therefore, the definition of a yogī is he who has realized non-dualism from this dualistic world. Consequently, yogīs have a very high regard in the entire universe. When a yogī appears, even God—Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Śiva—they stand up. That is the highest quality a human can develop. So, can we compare ourselves with them? No. We are full of ego, full of intrigues. "I want to do this; I will do it. I did it. I, I, I." Samo yās, yās, yās. So this I will be one day for by. In tāyās, bo nekega neme nivu. Now, if we see the present situation, what is happening? What are people playing with yoga? Pugeyme si trimutne situāciyo. Khai lūdhe igrāyo va yogī? People say, "Come for a seminar, a retreat, ten days of yoga practice, and then you come away with a yoga teacher certificate." What a pity! The blind lead the blind. For example, you go for ten days to some seminar for first aid, where they tell you a few words about medicine, and you come back with a diploma as a surgeon. Would you allow that surgeon to operate on you? Would your hospital authority allow them to even enter the operation theatre? No. Similarly, so-called middle-minded people play with yoga for commercial purposes, and they have no success—no success at all. I have children: 20 years, 18 years, 13 years. By nature, they are flexible. So if they can do some exercise, standing on their hands or on one leg or this and that, this is not yoga. There are eighteen kinds of yoga. Not only Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, Rāja Yoga, and Karma Yoga, but God Kṛṣṇa speaks of eighteen different kinds of yoga. On that subject, in very short, the entire Bhagavad Gītā is written in eighteen chapters. Every chapter begins with the name "Yoga" and ends with the name "Yoga." So, if you master these eighteen chapters, then you are allowed to say, "Now I am on the yoga path." Not perfect—oh, still, there is a far distance. Because yoga is that which makes Narase Nārāyaṇa. It makes a human into God. It makes Jīva into Śiva. This individual soul becomes Śiva. But, my dear, this requires many, many lives of strict discipline, faithfulness, and trust. One must be faithful in every expectation: in family life, to husband, wife, children, neighbors, and to oneself in practice. The saints used to say that all material life is an obstacle for humans to come to salvation. All that we create, these material things, all of this is a big obstacle for our spiritual development. And do we lead a natural life? Do we practice as the yogīs tell us? No. Many people come to such a yoga seminar searching for a partner, not for a long time—only until the next seminar. That is the biggest obstacle for our spiritual development and achievement. The mind is restless. The mind is very tricky; the mind creates and the mind receives temptations. So, not only are we in relationships and not faithful, but even sometimes we are not faithful to God. It is very interesting. We pray to God, we ask Him, "Lord, please help me to pass my examination. Please, Lord, help me, be with me." And then God is standing beside you, and your examination goes very well because God is beside you, and you get immediate results. Yes, you pass with the best marks. And what do you say? "Wow, I did it, I did it!" And you just leave the room. God is standing alone there, looking. You didn't say to God, "Thank you," and you didn't greet Him before going. God says, "Where are you going? I am here." You say, "Bye-bye. Next examination, I need you, God, only for the examination. Now you can go." This is only one example. For humans, a word is holy. When you say, "Yes, I will do," then yes, it is a yes; there is no no. All creatures that are known as mukprani have no language. They cannot speak; they have only certain sounds. But God gave humans vākā, words, language. And God said, "This is my word"—what we call Guru Vākya. "I give you these words, the talent of speaking. So, your words are my words," God says. Oh man, on the day when you will not keep your word, then my power, my energy, my blessing will separate from you. Then your words become only gushing up, only desires, only fighting, only blackmailing, only backbiting. And day by day you will sink deep, like a big ship in the ocean, slowly, slowly sinking. Therefore, it is said this is the ocean of māyā, the ocean of ignorance, which means the ocean of suffering. God took us out of that suffering and gave us a chance. But we didn't understand. We were blinded by temptation, and we are lost in this material world, in these technologies. We love to see one hour of internet, but we don't love to make half an hour of mālā. We love to talk on the mobile for half an hour, but we have not even two minutes' time to pray before eating. And when you make a prayer before eating in a restaurant, you think, "My God, what will people think?" Did you ever see, or how often do you see, people in a restaurant praying before eating? You go to some party, what you call high society, and they all begin to eat. Do they say a prayer? Your wife goes with you, and she tells her husband at the party, "I think we must pray here." And he says, "Psst, stupid one. This is a different society. They will think we are fanatics, or we are from some sect." You know how much fear you have of God and of prayers? And how can you expect that God will liberate you in that way? God gave us freedom. God gave us the chance, and we have this opportunity. Yes, believe what you believe. Whichever God you believe in, all is fine. Finally, it’s not what you believe, but it is that which you believe—that you follow the words of God. And God gave us His words in human language. Therefore, Kabīr Dāsī said in one of his bhajans—which bhajan from Kabīr Dāsī? I have forgotten—"Do not fall into attachment to the bhajan of the Lord." Therefore, do not fall into attachment. Haribhajan ko manre—believe in God, the name of God. Shvaram dia—the ears are given by God for listening to His name, the bhajan. God gave you this beautiful hand to give help, and so on. So, yoga is not only these physical exercises like aerobics, or what you call in one big... where the animals are... not zoo... a theater comes, you know—circus acrobatics. No. Therefore, you should be a yogī. And you can only be a yogī if you follow the disciplines. How often do you think that you will divorce and find another husband? How often do you say that you will get divorced and find another wife? Do you remember your words in front of the altar, in the church or the temple, when you said, "I give my word"? You remember Goran? Then why do you have conflict with your Reva? Never conflict. Because she is a great person; you are the lucky one that you have her. But don't make her angry. Therefore, human love, human life is something beautiful and divine, holy. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad Gītā to Arjuna, "If you can’t do other than practice yoga, through the yoga practice you will find your realization." Arjuna asks God, "What will happen if I practice my whole life? I will be practicing, but still I don’t reach my goal and I die. Then, what is the benefit of doing all this?" God Kṛṣṇa answers in the Bhagavad Gītā: "Arjuna, this your spiritual karma, the fruits of what you made through practicing yoga, it will be granted to you in the next life immediately. First, you will get very good spiritual parents. Second, from your childhood, from your young age, you will have a spiritual interest. Malo boš našel svojega učitelja—and soon you will find your master, and it will continue your yoga development further." The period between death and birth—it doesn’t get lost. So don’t think and don’t count how long you have already been practicing. Many people think, "I have been doing this for 20 years, but still I don’t feel spiritual development." What is 20 years? Nothing. Twenty years is one cumin seed in the mouth of a hungry elephant. Understand or not? A big elephant eats nearly 100 kilos, and he is very hungry, and you give only a small cumin seed and tell the elephant, "Do protect." He will look at you. Similarly, my dear, a few years of practice—ten, twenty, forty, fifty—what is that? It is many, many lives' work. But understand the words of God. And God gave you His words, His language. Therefore, sometimes there are some words that are strict. So it is said: normal, as you are doing. But in your actions, your thoughts, and your words, they should be balanced. If you have a family, live happily with the family. But know that this is not the only aim. Therefore, if you remember, two years ago I spoke in this hall about how to protect yourself from bad karmas, and the whole weekend I was talking on this subject. When you get up in the morning, think, "I am human." Remember? Who remembers this? Yes. And did you always do this? When you went out of the hall, everything went out of the brain. So again, I will repeat for many who don’t know. When you wake up, tell yourself or become aware that "I am human." And then, when you stand up from your bed, you ask, "What does it mean for me to be a human?" Then you eat something for breakfast. Ask yourself, "Is this human food? Is this pure, sattvic, good food? Am I eating for living, or living for eating?" Then you do something, and you work, and you go. There are certain circumstances in life, and we do things we don't know. Then ask yourself, "I am human. Is this attitude a human attitude or an animal attitude?" Every thought, every action, and every word should always be balanced with one thing: that I am a human. Can a human be cruel? No. Can a human have all these negative qualities? No. That will support and help to develop your spirituality more. So that’s why yoga and daily life are a way in which you should live—happily, 24 hours a day, living according to yoga. There are no restrictions. Enjoy, be happy. Some religions say there is no next life. What will happen with us? It’s boring. Boring. Sitting a whole life in one prison is not boring? And some religions say there is a next life. "Oh God, again a life?" But how and where? So, all depends now on us. We are on the border. Whatever we do is in our hands. And then, according to your deeds, the result will be given—going up or going down. If we are aware of human qualities and of being human, then we will cultivate good qualities, and from being human, we will become divine. And if we cultivate other qualities like animals, then we will go down towards animals. Therefore, the ṛṣis meditated for thousands of years; they made research work. There is one word called tapasyā, and tapasyā means research work. And they found this beautiful sign, the path for us, which is yoga. So, every human has five different kinds of reṇā. And reṇa means that you owe something; you have a credit to pay back. First, mātṛ ṛṇa towards mother and father. Pitṛ ṛṇa towards ancestors. Then, ācārya ṛṇa towards your teacher—school teachers and so on, all professors and all. Then, Dev Rīn towards the goddesses: water, fire, air, Mother Earth. And ṛṣi ṛṇa towards those great saints. Those great saints ṛṣi ṛṇa, you see, in your Guru. So how to pay them back? It means not money, not material, but your seva, your help, your attitude. That means that you can pay back. Your parents took care of you so much when you were a small baby, and now you have time to help them when they are very old. Your teacher gave you immense knowledge; you should be thankful for that. Likewise, if you don't become free from this reṇa, from this credit, then we cannot proceed spiritually. So it is beautiful to be a human, but it is not so easy to be a human in reality. So, to achieve our goals, the great saints did tapasyā and blessed us. Therefore, it is said, "I will be dying."

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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