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Yoga is a very ancient practice. In Strelki, we will have a program where we will again explain a little about the different Yugas—how many millions of years they span. As I always explain, Yoga existed before creation began. The creation itself began with the Yoga Śakti. In Satyayuga, Yoga was already present. There were certain techniques. Of course, the first aim was to attain Self-realization, to become one with Brahman. Brahman means the God which has no name and no form. You may perceive it as the supreme, the cosmic principle, the ultimate truth. In Sanskrit, we call it Brahman, because the entire universe is known as Brahmāṇḍa. That energy, divinity, or God—whatever we call it—is Brahman. That is our origin. The second aim was the fight for life, the struggle to become immortal. Everyone who is born does not want to die, but death is inevitable. Sooner or later we have to die, only to be born again somewhere else. The world is beautiful, joyful, a very good place to live. Those born on this planet fall in love with it and do not want to leave. But it is not allowed. If one were to become immortal, then others would also want the same. This would be an injustice, and the cosmic protocol is that whoever is born must die—an easy death, a spontaneous death, or a death with suffering and pain. It depends on your deeds, your karmas. But one day you must give up this body. We are accommodated in this hotel, and you like it very much. You say, "Now I don't want to go out. I will stay here forever." Well, the hotel director will say, "Okay, you are welcome, just pay." Very nice, simple. But then our hotel becomes very old and falls apart. What will you do? You say, "I want to stay here." You cannot, for our body will fall apart one day. Yet, there was always a fight to live long, to live forever. The third aim was a fight for power. This is the nature of creatures: fighting for comfort forever and for power. Certain realizations were achieved through spiritual techniques, prayers, and tapasyā—hard practice to compel God to listen to you and come to you. Thus, techniques developed. The most powerful one was the name of God, calling upon God—whether he or she, the divine Śakti, the divine mother. That divine Śakti, also called Brahmāṇḍī Śakti, the cosmic energy, is very gracious and listens to us. And Brahman, God, is also very gracious. In this way, spirituality began to develop. To understand the different lives, one must know that two tendencies have always existed: the negative and the positive. The negative is called Āsurī Śakti, the devilish or satanic force. The positive is called Devī Śakti, the divine goddess. Both want power. When the divine Śakti increases, the Āsurī Śakti becomes angry. They fight, creating wars to win. When the Āsurī Śakti became dominant, then the Devas began to fight. The Devas, the goddesses, would run to God for help and to seek justice. The power of the goddess was spirituality; the power of the Asuras was fighting, killing, and so on. This has continued for many, many Yugas and continues now. Sometimes the negative power is higher, sometimes the positive. Both these forces exist in every creature. We humans can be very divine, very holy, very kind. Or we can be very cruel, very destructive. This is how it is in creation. But it is said: satyameva jayate—victory is there where truth is. Finally, truth will win. Victory is there where love is. If we come in touch with people who have negative energies, we receive negative vibrations and energy too. If we meet a spiritual, divine, positive person, we feel happy and comfortable, and that influences us positively. Lucky are those who can be close to good people. Unhappy are those who always fall into negative vibrations and negative society. Within us, both energies are active. Very easily, we become angry. Very easily, we are offended. If someone tells you one sentence which is not so good—suppose someone says, "You are stupid, always doing these stupid things"—then you lose control. Either you will fight back and tell ten times more negative words to that person, or you will withdraw, or you will cry and become depressed. This means the negative energy is still strong in us. If someone says, "You are stupid," say, "Thank you." Think that this person has nothing else inside. They only have what is called "stupid," so they can only give that to you through words. If your pocket contains chocolate, you give chocolates. If your pocket contains poison, you give poison. To feel offended is our weaker part, our sensitive part that we have not overcome, and that will create anger and hate. You may break your best friendship because your friend said, "You are stupid," and you are not able to digest it. You should be thankful to that friend that at least someone told you very clearly. Anger, jealousy, hate, revenge, sadness—this is what fills us. That is called poison. This pot full of poison is cooking, boiling, and sometimes explodes. At the same time, we have divine qualities: understanding. You should have the heart of a mother, the heart of a father. When a small child makes urine on your dress, you will not beat that child, nor will you say, "Stupid." You will understand, accept it, and not hate the child. You will love the child. If you have such a heart, then you will see all your friends as your small children whom you love, or as your mother and father. The measurement of whether I am spiritual or not is this: if someone tells me bad things, or takes something away, or does not behave properly, I will protect myself, but I will not seek revenge. Love, kindness, understanding, forgiveness—these are many spiritual, divine qualities. These are the jewels within us. A jewel means something precious, more valuable. It has its quality and its value. When you discover your inner jewels, the value of your life will increase. When you are always angry and jealous, it is like wearing socks that have not been cleaned for a month, always in your shoes. Then someone comes and practices yoga with you and lies near you with those socks on. Your yoga teacher tells you, "Please turn over onto your stomach. We will do Bhujaṅgāsana." Now the dirty socks are in front of you, and you do it. You know what it is. If we have these qualities—anger, hate, greed, jealousy, revenge, sadness—we are these dirty socks. It is high time to clean. Clean with the soap of Vairāgya (detachment), with the water of love, on the stone of knowledge, and with the process of God's name, the mantra. That will purify. Otherwise, it is said that you may try for many lives to wash your mind or your antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument), but it will not be clean. That fat, black, dark, stinky spot is very hard to remove. So we must use these materials: vairāgya (detachment), bhakti (devotion), and jñāna (wisdom, knowledge), and the mantra. The name of God will separate us from this dirt of the āsurī vṛttis, āsurī bhāvanā (demonic thoughts and feelings), and āsurī qualities. Then our life is successful. Otherwise, we are born like other creatures and will depart like them. Look within your heart. In your inner mirror, what do you see? You see the face of the person toward whom you are very jealous. You see the face of the person toward whom you are very angry, always. That face comes. There is a story about God Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was a very young boy, and he said to his father and mother, "I have to go to Mathurā." They said, "Don't go there. Why are you going? The devil Kaṁsa is there. He will kill you. He is only waiting to kill you, Kṛṣṇa." So Kṛṣṇa said, "That is why I am going. Because day and night he is thinking of me—how to catch me, how to kill me, where I am. He cannot sleep. Even in his dreams, he is dreaming of me. So much he is thinking of me, so I must go." Kṛṣṇa went to him, and, as you know from the further stories, Kṛṣṇa killed Kaṁsa because Kṛṣṇa was an incarnation, the supreme incarnation. Upon whom you constantly think, that will appear to you, and that quality will appear in you. Therefore, think about beautiful things. Think about forgiveness. Think that you are not here forever. Very soon, the things over which you have rights will be taken over by others. You have to surrender everything and go away. They will carry you to the graveyard, take all your rights, your money, house, all your belongings, and put you under the earth. They will be the first to put the soil on you so that you cannot get up again. Surrender. This temporary world is a dream. Suddenly, we will wake up in another dream, and then we will look down on the earth and say to ourselves, "How stupid I was to be jealous. That was nothing. How crazy I was to be nervous, to lose money. What is money? It is just dust." When we come to the astral world, all the meaning we attached to these things is gone. This is a temporary dream. It is like a bubble of soap in water. As soon as you touch it, it explodes. Children have these bubbles. You blow, and they look beautiful. We desire this beauty, we touch it, and it is gone. Do not run behind this. There is something beyond that beauty. Yoga is meant to attain that immortality—not in this physical world, but in the entire universe. The mantra, when we practice it, is like a torchlight to walk through dark tunnels. We have sprays to purify the air in bathrooms and toilets. When you repeat your mantra, your negative qualities are purified. In ancient times also, there was the name of God and prayers. On that principle, all spirituality and all religions developed. Every religion has a beautiful name of God and beautiful prayers. In reality, it is you who will manifest God. You have to realize God within yourself, but you must be worthy enough that He loves you. You must be so pure that He can come nearer. It is said: "Will thou come, oh my Lord? Will you come? Door of my heart, open wide. I keep for thee the door of my heart so wide, I open it, my Lord, anytime. I am only waiting. The door of my heart is open wide, I keep for thee, my Lord. Will thou come? Will thou come? Just for once, come to me. I know, Lord, how busy you are, but I know the same time that you have not forgotten me. My door will not close. It will be open for you." On Christmas Day, the 24th of December, which you celebrate, around six or seven in the evening, we decorate a beautiful Christmas tree. Small children have to go into another room so they do not disturb you while you work. You tell the children, "The bell will ring, and then you should come." You put the presents under the tree for the children, and then the children come and sit. "Oh, I got a present!" And you say, "Yes, the Christ child was here, the Jesus baby. Jesus was here and brought you a present." We believe as children believe. Now, can you imagine how busy Jesus must be on the 24th of December? How many houses and flats must he visit at the same time? Only God can do that, Jesus can do that. So he will come one day. "Oh, my dear, my Lord, day and night, day and night, I look for thee. Day and night, there is no second that goes without waiting for you." In that heart, God is dwelling. In that heart, the light of God appears. But if there is a negative quality, you wait for one day, one week, one month, one year, two years, and then say, "I don't want to see you anymore. Close the door." And God says, "I was waiting for this moment. I know that in you such energy still exists, that you cannot wait." Waiting for something is beautiful. Time—the most interesting, most intensive, most joyful time—sometimes penetrates through and through our nerves. It does not come, and you are waiting. The telephone—you check if it is functioning, you call again. The telephone rings, you look through the window, you look at your watch. How intensive is time! He who has love in the heart does not have a watch in the heart. There is no time, because love has no boundary, and where there is no boundary, there is no time. These times we count—we created time. We put seconds, minutes, hours. We count the day when the sun rises and sets. In reality, there is no counting. It is timeless, selfless—no ego, no jealousy, no greed, no anger. Be for all. Stay above time, stay above everything. Then it is said that God will not come to you, but you should know that God will make you God. You will become Him, that is it. You will become Him, and He will become you. God is ready to do this many times, many things. So practice your mantra, meditations, prayers. And exercise: look at which muscles are weak. When should we do Bhujaṅgāsana? When the cobra is peaceful, it rises up only like this. When the cobra is frightened, it rises with its hood expanded—that is called the King Cobra. So, when we experience pain, we are frightened. "Oh God, I am ill." The cobra rises up. Then we become healthy. Tell the cobra, "Ahoy, that's it." So practice, practice. But the main thing is: you should know for what we are born.