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A beautiful retreat about meditation, practice, and theory. Theory leads to practice. Theory is for inspiration, and practice is for experiences and perfection. Before we begin to meditate, we should know why we meditate. What are my feelings, or what brings me to meditation? Is meditation good for me or not? Yes, meditation is very good for everyone. But there are different kinds of meditation. Persons who have some mental difficulties or problems, suffering greatly from depression, or who have occasional symptoms of schizophrenia or hallucinations—such people should have a different meditation. That meditation is healthy for people who have mental problems, as well as for healthy people. And that meditation is known as active, creative meditation. When you work on something—let's say you would like to paint a beautiful picture, a portrait, a nature scene, or anything—at that time, your work, what you are painting, or making a sculpture, or doing some woodwork, making a window, a door, anything you make with your hands—if you work with concentration and interest, then that's called creative meditation. Such creative meditation is more powerful and useful than just sitting with closed eyes. Just sitting with closed eyes and having lots of thoughts and restlessness is not good meditation. My work is my worship. Now, unfortunately, most production is manufactured through machines, and humans have become slaves to the machines. That is also one of the reasons, one of the causes, why suddenly in the world this economic crisis began. The machine took the work of humans away. The owner of the machine, the owner of the factory, would like to manufacture more and more so that many consumers can access it. But the laborers are suffering. For example, in India, we have very nice rules from the Indian government. When the Indian government makes some projects for the well-being of the people or the labourers, they don't allow machines—for example, digging a dam, making the streets, and such things—because it is for the people so that everyone can get some work. The education system in the last five or six decades has changed. This education system made humans one-sided, and that is another problem why humans now have a fear of existence. When a dentist cannot work in the workshop of the blacksmith, that is because the dentist never saw the blacksmith's workshop. All the time, humans had the possibilities, facilities, and education to do many, many jobs. In your household, you were able to work on everything: fixing water pipes (what we call plumbing), building, woodwork, many, many things. And now, when your water pipe is broken, you call the fire brigade. That shows that we are one-sided only. So this modern education made humans dependent. And so, I have only this profession, and if in my profession there is no work for me, how will I survive? But those who have multiple talents say it doesn't matter; they will work on different things. Work is enough in the world, but workers are not there. And if workers are there, it's hopeless. They will destroy more than they repair. So in the past, people loved their jobs. They were creative, making things with their hands, and they were happy. Not that they got money, but they were happy that they could make a beautiful model or something. They were happy about their success. And that success was their creative meditation, active meditation. Meditation: those who have concentration problems should do creative meditation. Okay, your car driving is a very concentrated activity, and if you have even micro-sleep, it can make a very terrible accident. And so, the worker who is working should work with love and concentration. So, creative meditation makes humans multi-talented, capable, and healthy. Therefore, do not be ashamed to clean your street in front of your house, or clean your staircase, or do some work. It doesn't matter, male or female. But hard work was always for the male, and soft work was for the females. Though it is soft, simple work, that was harder than what the man is doing. The ladies had a competition: who will cook nicely, who can make a nice apple pie? We all like apple pie, but if you tell me how to make apple pie, then you will say, "Swamiji, it would have been better." What you call the dumpling, or who will make a very nice capātī; it looks nearly like a pāpadam. It's a competition. Who will make exactly 100 capātīs with the same measurement, like done now? You will say, like done with the machine. That is a talent. And nowadays, many women don't even know how to make the capātī dough. 90% of women don't know how to cook in the world. And if they cook, they look in the book. Cooking: fire on. Clean pot, okay. One and a half tablespoons of mustard oil. Little coriander, little jīrā—oh my god, veg jīrā—till the oil is burned, coriander is burned, and the whole house is full of smoke. Then, chop the onions and put them in. Now, garlic, veg garlic, okay, cucumber, the powder, haldī. In my kitchen, there is no haldī. Tell husband, "Go quickly, please, and bring haldī quickly." The poor man had to run. Can you imagine how cooking is done with the book? Because we had no interest, and we did not get training from our mothers. We were lazy. Now, children are only interested in seeing video games, televisions, and what you call the laptop, and also this, what they call the SMS, the game boys—and there is no game girls; only boys inside—and they don't know what father is doing or mother is doing, how to learn. So, the wisdom, the talent, is disappearing. Your grandmother was a very good cook, but that knowledge went away with her. She died, and that knowledge disappeared, like you had a memory and suddenly you forgot. It disappeared, and therefore human became more dependent, a slave of the machines. The problem is education. So, as being parents, your duty is to inspire your children how to cook, how to work, how to do things in a good manner. Children like it. You know, your small children, one year, two years old, three years, four years, they would like very much that parents play with them. But parents have no time. They go to the cinema, they go to the theatre, they go to the clubs, and they have a babysitter. And the babysitter plays a little and says, "Psht," and she lays down. You know how many children are afraid and have fear of the babysitters. Of course, many babysitters are very nice; they are much better than the mother, perhaps, but still, a babysitter is only a sitter, but the mother is a baby's mother. That's very important. So, creative meditation makes society beautiful. Creative meditation will make you happy. Creative meditation will make your flat such a beautiful looking. Otherwise, sometimes, you know, I saw a few times; I went suddenly to someone's. I said, "Oh God, you are here, Swamijī." One sock is lying there, the other sock is somewhere else, one pulley lying somewhere else, and the last five days' eating plates are dry with the spoon lying there. What are you doing? Quickly taking a dress, making lipstick, or a man making his tie and going out. But how does the flat look? How does your flat look, girls and boys? That is not your flat. That is your inner self. That's how you look inside. And to put things in order, two things: it doesn't take a long time. But in one week, if you every day throw two things, it becomes 16 things. And the 16 things, to make them in order, takes a long time. But who can teach you? Only your father or your mother. And so, creative meditation means you come home from your work and say, "Be happy," and nicely clean the flat, and nicely sit down, and cook nicely, and relax. Practice āsanas, prāṇāyāma, have morning breakfast. Don't throw your plate somewhere and run to work, no. Nicely clean everything and put it in order. Butter again in the fridge, bread in the bread case. Everything nice and clean. In case, if some thief comes in, he will find the clean things. Otherwise, the thief doesn't like to eat from your dirty plate. That's not good karma, that you leave the dirty things for the persons who will go into the flat. And if there is some good, clever thief, a normal thinker, he will say, "My God, this person is so nice. I don't want to take anything away. I go back." That's it. So, thief means your vṛttis, those vṛttis, your thoughts, and your anger, your disappointment, your disappointment, your anger, and your vṛttis. These are the thieves who will run away from you, and your inner beauty will be suffering. Creative meditation: help your parents, help your grandparents, help your partner, help your children, help your brothers and sisters, make a beautiful home, beautiful things at home. That is creative meditation. There are nice birds making a nest under the windows, under the ceiling. I was observing in Hungary from my window. Even the small babies who are inside, the birds teaching them to come out, they peep outside and then go back into the nest. That's it. Only the monkey doesn't do anything; the monkey sits in dirt, and that's all. So don't be the monkey, that monkey which is like that. Creative meditation. So go for a walk, observe nature, understand the beauty of nature, look at the water, understand the water creatures, how happy they are swimming. Everywhere you look in nature, there is harmony. If there is disharmony, it is only humans bringing disharmony. So creative meditation is the beauty of your house, love, harmony, and respect among your family members, respect, love, and harmony in society, and that means developing personality. You are developing inside positively. Those who cannot work, who cannot give a hand to others to work, that person is, sorry to say, like a dry plum. You know, blue sweat skin? Dry sweat skin. Because you can't open up, you cannot work. And you are a slave to only one profession, that's all. So meditation is inspiration and beauty for yourself and beauty for others. So people who have mental problems should not close their eyes and meditate because that will make them more introverted, more depressed, and they will experience more anxiety. Although such people have a tendency to close their eyes and do nothing, that is dangerous for them. Sometimes when there are psychic problems, there is something wrong with your nerves, then you feel some different energy in your body, and you think this is Kuṇḍalinī. That is not Kuṇḍalinī. When Kuṇḍalinī awakens, when beautiful energy awakens in your body, you will be the happiest person in the world, relaxed, healthy, happy, and very clear in your mind, kind. The concept of Kuṇḍalinī in the world is misunderstood, a lot, a lot misunderstood. It is not like that craziness. Kuṇḍalinī means the awakening of your inner beauty and your inner talents. It's like the sun coming out of darkness in the dark night. Like the sun coming out of the clouds. Like the sun coming out of the fog. And so it is when Kuṇḍalinī is awakening; you come to harmony and clarity. These few weekends we dedicated to meditation, creating theory and practice. Now, the next lectures will be in different parts of the world. Again, I will come to the cakras and kuṇḍalinīs, and I am very happy that all our dear brothers and sisters around the world, while sitting at a far distance, they can benefit and listen more about this. You should have the book Hidden Powers in Humans: Cakras and Kuṇḍalinī Yoga, which is available in about 10 different languages, and you can order it from your webcast. It will be easier for you to follow my lectures if you read that beautiful book. Also, about Guru Bhakti and what we talk about bhajans: why and when Gurudev sang such a bhajan. You said to order the Līlā Amṛt, which my Gurudev, my master, our Sādguru, holy Gurujī wrote a book called Līlā Amṛt about Mahāprabhujī's, Devpurījī's, Alagpurījī's, and so on. So, creative meditation is a beauty; it is a balance. And if creative meditation is done well with concentration, then what you are creating is harmonizing with nature. Your work should harmonize with nature, protect nature; otherwise, if there is no beauty of nature in it, then there is disharmony, and disharmony will create again anxiety, confusion, disappointment, complications, and it is useless. So, we should all begin to learn creative meditation. Sit near a lake, river, pond, or beach, and look at the water. You will get immense inspiration. You need not close your eyes; just sit, relax, and look at the water. Sit on the beach and see the ocean waves and the beauty of the ocean. The ocean is breathing. Each wave is as if the ocean is breathing, and you see the beautiful sunrise or sunset. It gives immense inspiration. Close your eyes and sit there? No, just see the beauty, because this is creative meditation. Of course, you can also sit with closed eyes and meditate, but we are talking now about creative meditation. Or take a pen and paper and write a beautiful poem, article, or book something. When you write, you put your inner beauty, your wisdom, your visions, your qualities in your writing. Your fingers are only moving according to that inspiration. It is inspiration, the wisdom that is moving your fingers, not that you are moving your fingers. It's not easy to write, though you have many years of school, university, and college, but to write a beautiful article, how many times how many pieces of paper you destroy. You write once, and then you write a second time, and then you write a third time, writing a nice article to put everything in short sentences. That is your creative meditation. You have to think over. You have to take time to write something. One philosopher received a letter from someone and asked a question. And the philosopher immediately, he wrote a letter back. A long, long letter. He wrote about eight pages, and at the end he wrote, 'I'm sorry to write a long letter because I didn't have time. I didn't have time.' This means I had no time to overthink and put my inner feelings into this, and therefore if you don't know exactly what you are writing, what kind of effect or influence will it have on others? Better not write. When you are angry with someone and someone is writing you a letter, don't answer immediately. And if you answer, then write a letter and put it in the drawer. After five days, take it out and read it. If you really would like to write this, you say, "No, I don't want to." You will throw it away because the high waves of emotion calm down. Argument always makes you stupid. Gyānī se gyānī mile kare gyānkī bāta. When the wise meet the wise, then they speak about wisdom. Gadhā se gadhā mile ke ghumāke lāta. If donkeys meet, they fight by kicking with their back legs. So immediately putting your opinion is most stupid if you are doing it out of emotion. But if out of clarity, certainty, and if you have forgiveness in your heart and understanding, then do it. You are the one who is suffering from your disappointment; you can't forget that's your problem. It is you. That's it. Nobody else. It is you. If someone gives you a slap on the cheek, you are guilty, not the other one. Why were you there? That's it. If you weren't there, there would be no slap on the cheek. So you are guilty, not the others. Because the other one said, "My habit is always to go like this." That's it; it is his habit. And your habit is to stand near; you got it. And that's why Jesus said, "Then sow the second seed also." Why? Because having one side blue is not good. You have both sides blue; nice cosmetics, at least. So learn to forgive and learn to forget. And you go and tell the person, "I'm sorry, excuse me." Don't expect it from others. That is our creative meditation, my dear: meditation in action, meditation in thoughts, and create beauty in this world, the beauty of your inner self. Otherwise, whatever you are writing, one sentence is beautiful, full of love and understanding, and the next sentence is full of complexity and such, it means you are a very poor person inside, torturing yourself. No one tells you to be sad and crying every day. So work is worship. Meditation is beautiful. Either you do it with closed eyes, or you help and work.