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Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Good evening to all the practitioners of yoga and their lives, to all spiritual seekers here and in different parts of the world. Welcome to you. This blessing comes to you especially from the capital city of the Republic of Slovakia, Bratislava. Our subject is meditation practice and theory. Around the world, people are practicing more and more meditation in many countries. Big companies organize Yoga in Daily Life classes for their clients and employees during lunch breaks. Many insurance companies support their clients to practice yoga. They know that practicing one hour of yoga gives immense energy and better concentration. It is better to meditate for fifteen minutes than to have coffee and fast food. Yoga is designed for human well-being, to lead a harmonious and happy life in family and society; to understand, love, and protect all creatures; to understand this planet and protect the environment; to know what it means to be born as a human. What is the difference between humans and other animals? Eating, drinking, sleeping, and creating children—animals are also very active. If a human is doing only that much, then there is little difference between animals and humans. Humans have higher aims in their life. Every time you wake up, in the morning or at noontime, ask yourself some questions and become aware of them. First: I am a human. Only by thinking about this one point—'I am a human'—will protect you from many negative acts, negative karmas. But what a human should do, and what a human should not do. Second, what does it mean for me to be a human? Do you value your human life? Do you have motivation in your life? Do you lead a happy life, a healthy way of life? Are you a protector of other creatures? Are you a protector of the environment, of nature? How do you feel? What is your place on this planet? To be a... So, what does it mean for me to be a human? What does it mean for you to be a president of a country? What does it mean for you to be a minister? What does it mean for you to be a father of a family? And what does it mean for you to be a mother of the family? Do you value human life? Do you know the dignity of human life? So this is the second question: What does it mean for me to be human? Did you ever think about this: why did God give you human life? And do you value the time that you spend as a human? The third question: what makes me human? Not only this body, but the good qualities, positive qualities: being a protector, a kind person, a humble person; never being angry, never being jealous, never blaming others, and not killing others. Reduce these negative qualities, and accept positive qualities: love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, helpfulness, and so on. So, good qualities make a human. And these good qualities come from good society. If you spend time with alcoholics, you will also become an alcoholic. If you spend time with terrorists, they will make you a terrorist. If you spend time with drug abusers, you will also become addicted. If you spend time with sports people, they will make you a good sportsman. And if you spend time with yogīs, they will make you a yogī. So, the society where you mostly spend your time is important. And education should be full of ethics and morals. Unfortunately, this education is no longer in our modern education system. Ethics and morals are lost, or they have been put out of the education system. Now, in modern times, people are studying only for their stomach, meaning to earn money. Only one aim: it doesn't matter how or which profession. Because in people's subconscious is the fear of existence. And that fear is manipulated. In ancient times, there was education to become a real human, a divine person, a spiritual person, a person with good qualities and quality education. Your nation, your society, your friends, and your family members should be proud of you, that you are a person full of wisdom. So, what makes me human? The human qualities. Now, how to awaken those or how to gain those qualities? I have already answered: through good society and good companions. And finally, the question: what is my mission in this life? To be born, go to school for years, get married, have children, work, retire, end up in an old age home, and then the grave. That's not the aim of a human, that's not the mission of a human. The mission of human life is to achieve higher consciousness, God-realization, self-realization, and through wisdom and good qualities, serve and help the entire planet. But many don't know what their mission is, what the purpose of life is. Many, many people now have depressions. Many think, "Well, it's hopeless. I don't know what to do now. It is nonsense. I don't want to work. I don't want to live. Boring. Depression." This is the situation nowadays, and day by day people are getting individualistic, selfish, and lost. So meditation is the answer to thyself, to all thy questions. Meditation will give the answers. Meditation is a motivation to get new ideas, new energy, new intuitions. And meditation is a way to thyself, so that you realize thyself, you know who you are. You are not a normal worker, you are not an unhappy person, but you are a divine soul. So when we meditate, we get a deep relation to our self. And when you have a deep relation to thyself, you will see the whole world in your thoughts. And answers will come to you: "This is not important, this is not necessary, this is not in a hurry, that's a useless thought." Many things will automatically be dissolved from your mind. Suddenly you will feel that you have given up 200 kilos of weight from your head. Therefore, meditation is used as an anti-stress technique. Meditation is used to recharge the battery. Meditation is used to strengthen your nervous system and to understand your present life situation. So many people are meditating around the world. And many don't know how to meditate. Not everyone is born in India. And not everyone has a Swāmījī. And not everyone has come to a proper yoga teacher. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more commercial, and so the essence is lost, and people think, "I don't know why I am meditating." When you go to a doctor, you should know why you are going to a doctor. If you go to a doctor, and the doctor will say, "Yes, please, what problem do you have?" and you say, "I don't know. Why am I here?" The doctor will tell you, "Yes, I understand you. Relax." He will write you something. "Go to the psychiatrist." That's it. Yeah, when you have no problems and you go to the doctor and say, "I have no problems. Why am I here?" Then the doctor will say something: "The screws are loose." So when you sit down and close your eyes, and you don't know what to do, then time is lost, and you are more confused. So first, you should know why you would like to meditate, and what does it mean for you to meditate, and now how to do it. So it is like this: sometimes, and whenever you can, you should spend time with the master. I know that around the world, many, many millions of people practice Yoga in Daily Life, but lucky are those who can come to a seminar and feel the energy in nearness. So if you can, you should be attending the programs. The webcast is good, but still it's not the same. But I will try to guide you now, using techniques developed by holy saints, whom we call yogīs and spiritual saints. They were practicing to achieve higher consciousness and to find something that is good for the entire planet, including humans. When they understood that there is God, and that requires them to meditate, to love God, they became monks, like in monasteries. Even now they are in many, many monasteries. Many saints are sitting for several hours a day praying. You know, many of them live in such a condition that there is no heating, no proper eating, getting up early in the morning, washing themselves with cold water and standing on their knees in Christianity, praying. You know, those holy people, those saints, they pray for the well-being of all of us. They never pray for negative things. They don't say, "God, punish them," no. Their prayer is, "God, forgive everyone's sins." That is the heart of the saints, where anger never comes. In India, there are saints meditating for months and months, with just a little time to have a little something to eat and go to the bathroom. That's all. If you go to the high Himalayas, many yogīs are sitting in caves covered with snow, and through their willpower and yogic power, they create such an energy that they don't feel the cold and have very small nourishment. And then, when you go further to Tibet, where there are also many Buddhist saints praying and praying and meditating. This world is surviving due to the holy saints' presence still on this planet. Then people came to know, "Oh, meditation makes you relaxed. Meditation makes you happy. Meditation makes you healthy." They have no high blood pressure. They don't have diabetes. They don't have heart attacks. They don't have high cholesterol. They don't have cancer. They have no doctors to check, only one doctor: God. "Lord, thy will be done." That's it. "Oh God, your will. That is definite for me. You are my doctor." So meditation is a way to thyself, which means to God. It doesn't matter which God you believe in, which religion you believe in; there comes a border. All these dualities of different goddesses, different religions, different countries, different cultures, are finished. Only one thing remains: divine love. Where there is love, there is unity, and where there is hate, there are wars and quarrels. So meditation is something divine. Now we will meditate. The theory I will tell you tomorrow again at the same time. So now, what does meditation mean? How to meditate? I will lead you practically. So now, I will choose one model. So please, camera to this model. Okay, stand up. Thank you. You have to demonstrate. Now, there are a few postures which you should adopt for meditation. First, you can sit very comfortably. That's called Sukhāsana. If you cannot sit in this posture, then sit like I'm sitting on the sofa, also comfortable. So if you cannot sit in this posture, then sit on the chair or sofa, or sit like this. Prakash is sitting. The second posture is called Siddhāsana. So, Siddhāsana: Siddha means the perfect one. So the left heel touches your genital, and the right foot toes are pulled into the space between the calf and thigh. The left thigh and knees should touch the ground so that you can sit straight. This is called Siddhāsana. Toes in, between thighs and... That's it. And very good. The third is called Padmāsana, lotus sitting. Stretch your legs, please. And so, this is a lotus. This is a little more difficult. But after practice, you can sit in this after yoga and daily practice for two years, three years. This means your body is locked. So in deep meditation, there is no danger of falling down. You know, you can't fall down backwards; it's locked. Also, you can't fall forward, and not like this, and not like that. So the body is very nicely hooked in or locked. And that is the main purpose why you sit in lotus. And it's also called, and it looks like a lotus flower. These are the lotus petals, and the second petals. Thank you. And the fourth, stand up please. The fourth is called Vajrāsana. Sit down on your knees, yes. This is Vajrāsana. Now turn to the other side, thank you. Hands on the thighs. Now, Vajrāsana, you will see also in Islam when they are praying, they sit in this posture. This posture affects your nervous system very strongly. Vajranāḍī goes from the big toe and second toe, stretches your calf muscles, and your back remains straight, so automatically your shoulders are relaxed. When the shoulders are relaxed, then the intense stomach muscles are relaxed. And because your spine is straight, your entire diaphragm is relaxed, and you have more volume to inhale. The neck muscles are relaxed. Now, it develops better concentration. This posture is very, very good to calm down and develop concentration ability. Take any posture which you like. Another thing for meditation: you need a mantra, which you get from your master. And you have this mālā, which has 108 beads: 100 for counting numbers, 8 for the eight cakras, to influence and awaken the energy of the eight cakras. And it is also called aṣṭaprakṛti, the eight kinds of nature. Also, according to numerology, 108 becomes nine. Zero is not counted. So eight and one is nine. It becomes this Sumeru, the highest peak, the master seat. So our aim is to reach the highest level of consciousness. So you practice mantra, repeating your mantra, for example, Oṃ, and move one bead; Oṃ, move one bead; Oṃ, move one bead, like this. When you come to the end, then you turn from here and go back and begin to count. The other hand is in this mudrā. The thumb represents the highest consciousness, and the index finger represents the individual consciousness. To unite the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness. And these three fingers represent the three guṇas. These are sattva, rajas, and tamas. These are the three guṇas. Now meditate on these three guṇas, the aforementioned three guṇas. So this is the meditation mudrā. Keep your palms facing upwards. It means that cosmic energy flows in now. Elbows should not be like that, stretched. It creates tension. But like this, relaxed. Your spine is straight. Imagine a straight thread from the top of the head here to the bottom. This is the Sahasrāra cakra. So it goes straight from top to bottom. And breathe normally. During meditation, everyone should have a very nice cotton cloth. It's called a meditation shawl, and you cover your body like this. I am telling you, showing the techniques: what to do, how to do. And you cover your body like this. If it is very hot, then have a thin shawl. If it is cold, have a warm blanket. Now, what does this mean, and why? It means that your bioenergy, your positive energy, remains with you. And this shawl acts as isolation. If it's very hot, you will be a little bit perspiring, and you will have a nice, cool feeling when the air comes. If it's cool, you will feel warm. And you protect yourself from external pollution. You will feel that you are protected. You will suddenly feel divine protection. It's a beautiful feeling. And you will get more and more energy. So it is very important that when you meditate, you have this cloth. The color doesn't matter; choose whichever color you like. If you have an orange color, then this is a fire color that repels negative black magic; black energy and negative energy will not enter through this. So this is a fire, but of course, the color is as you like; that is an individual choice.