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Yoga in daily life is the system that is a science of body, mind, consciousness, and the soul. Yoga is the blessing of the ṛṣis, the great saints of India. This is a very serious matter. The word yogī means one who has become perfect in yoga. Śiva is known as Yogendra; Śiva is known as a yogī. And Śiva was the first one on this planet as a human. The entire creation comes out of that divine consciousness called Śiva. In ages past, the yogīs meditated for ages. They researched something good for humans, and that was yoga. Lord Kṛṣṇa is also known as a yogī, Yogendra, Yogeshwar. So a yogī is one who removes the duality of dualism and realizes non-dualism. The definition of a yogī is one who has realized oneness in this world of duality. Therefore, yogīs have a very high regard in the entire universe. When a yogī appears in the universe, even God, Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Śiva, they stand up. That is the highest quality a human can develop. Can we compare ourselves with them? No. Full of ego, full of intrigues, “I want to do this, I will do it, I did it, I, I…” So this “I” will one day be for buy. Now, if we see the present situation, what is happening, what are people playing with yoga? People say, “Come for a summer retreat, ten days of yoga practice, and then you leave with a yoga teacher certificate.” What a pity! A blind man leads the blind. For example, you go for ten days to a seminar for first aid, where they tell you a few words about medicine, and you come with a diploma as a surgeon. Will you allow that surgeon to operate on you? Will your hospital, your authority, allow them to even enter the operation theatre? No. Similarly, so-called money-minded people play with yoga for commercial things, and they have no success—no success at all. Young children, twenty years, eighteen, thirty years, by nature they are flexible. So if they can do some exercise standing on the 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. God Kṛṣṇa speaks of eighteen different kinds of yoga, and on that subject, in very short, the whole 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, there is still a far distance. Because yoga is that which makes Nara into Nārāyaṇa. It makes a human into God. It makes Jīva into Śiva. This individual soul becomes Śiva. But my dear, it takes many, many lives, strict discipline and faithfulness, trust, being faithful in every expectation—family life, husband, wife, children, neighbors, to yourself, practicing. The saints used to say: all this 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 yogīs tell us? No. Many people are coming to such yoga seminars searching for a partner—not for a long time, until the next seminar. That is the biggest obstacle for your spiritual development and achievement. But the mind is restlessness; the mind is very tricky, and the mind creates and receives temptations. So, not only are we unfaithful in our relationships, but sometimes we are not even 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 all very well, because God is beside you. 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. And God is standing alone there and 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, till next examination. I need you, God, only for examination. Now you can go.” This is only one example. For humans, a word is holy. When you say, “Yes, I will do,” then it is a yes; there is no no. All creatures that are known as mukta-prāṇī, they have no language. They cannot speak; they have only certain sounds. But God gave humans vākā, the verbs, the language, the words. And God said, “This is my word,” what we call Guru Vākya. “I give you these words, the talents of speaking. So your words are my words,” God says. “O 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 great sea, slowly, slowly sinking.” Therefore it is said this is an ocean of māyā, an ocean of ignorance, and that 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 the temptations, and we are lost in this material world, in this technology. We love to see one hour of internet, but we don’t love to do a half-hour mālā. We love to talk on the mobile for half an hour, but we do not even have two minutes to pray before eating. And when you make a prayer before eating in the restaurant, you will say, “My God, what will people think?” How often do you see people in the restaurant praying before eating? You go to some party—what you call high society—and they are all beginning to eat. Do they say prayers? Your wife goes with you and tells her husband, “In the party, before eating, we must pray.” And he says, “Psst, stupid one. This is a different society. They will think we are fanatics or from some sect.” How much fear do 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—believe what you believe, which God you believe in, all is fine. Finally, it’s not what you believe, but it is that you follow the words of God. And God gave us His words in human language. Therefore Kabīr Dās has said in one of his bhajans: “Śumiran Karle, Nahi,” not “Śumiran Terī Bīṭī Umara,” which bhajan is from Kabīr Dāsī: “Mat Kar Mohata Hari Bhajan Ko Madhāre, Mat Kar Mohata Hari.” Bhajan ko mādhare, therefore don’t fail in attachment. Kabīr dāsī rekhā nipatī vā veśa nashta. Hari bhajan ko mādhare, believe in God, the name of God. Śravaṇa diyā—the ears God gave for listening to His name, the bhajan. Hāt diyā kar dāṅre—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 it—a big place where the animals are, a zoo? Not a zoo. Theater comes, you know? Circus. Acrobatic. 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—that you gave your word? Then why do you have conflict with your partner? Never conflict, because he or she is a great person. Yes, you are lucky that you have them, but don’t make them angry. Therefore, human love, human life is something beautiful and divine, holy. Therefore, God 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, but still I don’t reach my goal and I die? Then what is the benefit of doing all this?” Kṛṣṇa answers, “Arjuna, this your spiritual karma, your fruits from practicing yoga, 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, and soon you will find your master, and your yoga development will continue further.” So death, or the period between death and birth, is not lost. Don’t count how long you have already been practicing. Many people think, “I have been practicing for twenty years now, but still I don’t feel spiritual development.” What is twenty years? Nothing. Twenty years is like one cumin seed in the mouth of a hungry elephant. A big elephant, which eats nearly a hundred kilos, is very hungry, and you give only a small cumin seed and tell the elephant, “Dobrotek”—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. God gave you His words, His language. Therefore, sometimes there are some strict words. So, lead your life normally, as you are doing. But in your actions, thoughts, and words, they should be balanced. If you have a family, live happily with them, but know that this is not the only aim. Therefore, if you remember, two years ago I spoke in this hall about protecting yourself from bad karmas, and the whole weekend I was talking on this subject. When you get up in the morning, think, “I am a human.” Remember? Who remembers this? And did you do this always? When you went out of the hall, everything went out of your brain. So again, I will repeat for many who don’t know. When you wake up, tell yourself or become aware that you are human. And then you stand up from your bed, get out of your bed, and you say, “What does it mean for me to be human?” Then you eat something for breakfast. Ask yourself, “Is this human food? Is this pure, sāttvic, good food? Am I eating for living, or living for eating?” Then you do something, you work, and you go. There are certain circumstances in life, and we are doing things we don’t know. Then ask yourself, “I am human. Is this attitude a human attitude or an animal attitude?” So 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 humans have all these negative qualities? No. That will support, that will help to develop your spirituality more. So that’s why yoga in daily life is a way in which you should live happily. Living according to yoga for twenty-four hours in daily life has no restrictions. Enjoy, be happy. Some religions say there is no next life. What will happen with us? It will be boring. Is sitting in one prison your whole life not boring? 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, that 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 being human, then we will cultivate good qualities, and from being human, we will become divine, holy. And if we do other qualities, like animal, then we will go down towards animal. Therefore, the ṛṣis meditated for thousands of years. They made a research work. There is one word called tapasyā, and tapasyā means research work. They found this beautiful science, the path for us, which is yoga. So, every human has five different kinds of ṛṇa, and ṛṇa means that you owe something, you have a credit to pay back. First, mātṛ ṛṇa, towards mother. And father, Pitṛ Rīn, towards ancestors. Then Ācārya Rin, towards your teacher—school teachers, professors, all. Then Devpurījī, towards the goddess: water, fire, air, Mother Earth, and receive Him towards those great saints. You see those great saints in your Guru. So, how to pay them back? Not with money, not material. But your sevā, your help, your attitude—that is how 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 cannot become free from this ṛṇa, from this credit, we cannot proceed spiritually. So, it is beautiful to be a human, but it is not so easy to be human in reality. To achieve our goals, the great saints did tapasyā and blessed us. Therefore, it is said, “I will be Thine.”