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Good evening to all friends, practitioners, seekers, and spiritual yoga practitioners around the world. This blessing comes from the Śrī Mahāprabhū Deep Satsaṅg Foundation in the beautiful country of the Czech Republic, from Střelka. If you have not seen Střelka or walked in this garden, I believe many things are missing from your life. It is an experience one should have. This evening, we speak about family. Most of you are sitting as family members—householders, mothers, fathers, children. Many of you are now parents. When we speak of Patañjali's discipline of citta-vṛtti-nirodha and the various difficulties in life, it is not about running away from family life. Those who try to run away often become stuck again, like a fly in honey. It is not easy, but for those who wish, it can become easy. Many of you, dear listeners around the world, are householders working in offices, engaged in different professions and teachings. How can you manage to follow Patañjali's instructions? Can we achieve what Patañjali says, or can we not? He speaks of dharma—principles and obligations. For the householder, their sādhana, their spiritual path, will be completed if they are able to educate their children. When you have a child and are unable to educate them, the picture is clear: you have failed on your spiritual path. This clear picture within you shows you are not able to achieve. If you were capable of mastering yourself, then automatically your children would understand and follow you. For a household, the first dharma, the first duty, is this. Dharma means duty, obligation, responsibility, principle, and it also means religion. Religion speaks of discipline, following ethical principles in life, and giving ethical education to children. In this modern civilization, man has become separated from man. Five members in a family are all separated. Everyone becomes individualistic. Everyone loses confidence in each other, especially in parents. How does it happen that your children lose confidence in you? This is your inner picture because you do not have confidence in yourself. You are not sure. If you were, automatically your fellow family members would follow in your footsteps. In our modern school education, unfortunately, ethical education is missing. Just a handful of people conduct research and write articles. We have education ministers in various countries who have no idea what education is. Ministers are chosen by the majority but are not selected by a minority of politicians themselves. A health minister may have no ideas about health. The health minister should be a professor, doctor, or surgeon with perfect knowledge of anatomy, medicine, psychology, and all other medicines, who can understand people and illnesses. Then you would be a successful health minister, and such a minister would implement in the country and schools what is good for children and people. There are ministers for nourishment and consumption who have no ideas about nourishment. Because someone wishes to sell meat or alcohol, it is implemented, and they receive money. They have no ideas about a vegetarian life, a healthy life, a healthy way of living. This is a problem. In ancient times, people were chosen who had perfect knowledge of their position and functions in the country. Now everything is about money, power, or some kind of protection. We are the victims. In many countries, parents cannot say anything to their children. If parents have nothing to say to children, then who will? These are the vikṣepas (disturbances), kleśas (afflictions), kliṣṭas (painful). Sometimes one sits and thinks, "My God, if I had known this before, I would not have had children." But this is also not a solution; humans would die out. Of course, not all will think like this, and we have enough people around the world. If in your country there are fewer humans, there are many countries that would like to come and help you. No problem. Why not? Both hands clean together. Therefore, the situation is this: we do not have support even from the government side. If they knew about the subject, they would support us. There are rare countries that care about the spiritual growth of their people. There are no parties that would support them with open thinking, free thinking, tolerance, and encouraging manana (contemplation) for the spiritual and ethical development of their countries. All countries are running behind money, constructions, and becoming a superpower one day. It does not matter how hard you work or what you have; you will never be a superpower. There is only one superpower: Almighty God. If you claim you are the superpower, this can be destroyed within no time. That supreme cosmic power brings an earthquake, and all your superpower collapses. Where are you? What do these people think? That which we call higher education, academic education, the world's culture and fine spiritualities, is destroyed by so-called higher-educated people. They became one-sided and lost reality. Therefore, yoga is something that brings humans back to their heart. And then, from the heart, it comes back to the brain. Our thoughts, what we are thinking, should be colored in our heart with the color of love, compassion, mercy, understanding, and with the color of that knowledge which will make everyone comfortable and happy, and spiritual development will be there. Thoughts that come from the brain and go out without touching the heart or without a deep, heartfelt color are like a plastic apple. Therefore, we have to come back to the heart to understand. So-called religious leaders around the world are also fighting, claiming my religion is the best. That is another war in the world: political war and religious war. Then there is a third war called a cultural war: my culture, their culture, my mentality. How do we imagine that? Being a householder in this troubled world, we cannot say this or that. We have to keep silent; otherwise, you are in trouble. Unfortunately, it is like this. So, how does Patañjali advise us on what we should do? It is said nothing is impossible. Begin with grassroots work. Have self-confidence. To keep your self-confidence and discipline, you have to face many obstacles. Yesterday and today we were walking; every day we are walking. We get up from our bed, we walk to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the toilet, and so on. Today on the walk, when hundreds of people, thousands of people—one thousand people—were walking, how many feet, legs do we have? Two thousand feet walking on that particular space on the ground. I saw there was a very gentle plant. Again, the ground stood up and was blossoming, a flower on it. I asked this small, gentle plant, "How many feet were on you?" Yes, twelve days. Every day, two thousand feet, or let's say a thousand, so twelve thousand times, how to say, crushed under your foot sole. But again, the inner strength, little drops of water came, and in the morning we went this time, and I saw how beautiful this is. The way all are walking there, that small, tiny plant gave me the vṛtti. Patañjali speaks about vṛtti, and the subject is about the vṛttis and abhyāsa. Strength, confidence in the willpower to achieve, to come there, is not easy. The peak of a mountain looks beautiful from a far distance, but to reach that, you have to walk. It is not easy. Very often, thoughts will come: "My God, what am I doing? Why am I climbing this mountain up? No, I go back." But when you are on the peak of the mountain, then you don't breathe. So, oh, beautiful, ah, what a wonderful view. That is achievement. But if you stop your project, stop your work, stop your sādhana, you will not come to that peak. So, for a household, the first thing—for everyone, all creatures, for the whole creation—is good health. The first happiness is a healthy body or health. That is why in the Vedas it is said: "Peace for all and good health. All should be happy." This kind of thought is given to us. So first is our health. Second is your inner confidence health. If you are not inwardly healthy, you will always change your opinion. You will change your path, change your mantras, change your masters, change wife or husband. Who is changing? I. Have you not experienced this? Does the husband change the wife, or the wife change the husband? Only you can answer. Always changing means inside you did not find what you were searching for. So also for householders, and for everyone, it is about finding inner contentment. Without inner contentment, you will not be happy and you will not be successful. Constantly changing is not advisable. Let's say you walk half an hour towards the peak of the mountain, then you change. Come again down 15 minutes, then you again make your mind to go up, and then again you come down, and then you go straight to the other side, and then you will never come back up. Another thing: husband and wife should make a saṅkalpa and prayer, purify the body, purify the thoughts, and wait for a beautiful constellation. You should consult with a good astrologer. There are many astrologers, but a good astrologer is needed. There is a certain constellation when husband and wife decide to have a child; then, on this constellation, I can tell you, you will have the child, that sparkling star of heaven. But now these children are born out of alcohol. The husband is drunken, the wife is scared and angry and quarreling, and that's it. First, purify the environment, purify the body, purify the thoughts, and pray according to that God which you believe in, or if you don't believe, according to some principles—pure energy. With this, the husband and wife must have a saṅkalpa: "Lord, my child—it doesn't matter, daughter or son—should be that child which will continue my work, my path, my spirituality, and my humanitarian, veterinarian, and environmental projects. That my child will continue; you are replacing yourself with your child." You give into the hands of your children the whole culture of your house, the tradition of your house, the relations of your house. Everything you give in children's hands with this kind of confidence that they will lead further, and so it is. Also, the master constantly prays for that disciple who will continue this paramparā, who will have this light, this strength. So in sannyāsa, in the yogic way, there is a spiritual lineage, paramparā. But in the family, there is also this paramparā, what we call the dynasty. Every family has a dynasty. Your child is born to replace you. When the child is born, you are happy. But you should know: now the Lord of the house is already here. Slowly, slowly. Now Patañjali said, "Make vairāgya. Hand over everything to your children, and you go for meditation." Retirement—this retirement system we have now is an ancient system. There are four pillars of life, the four quarters of life: childhood, the student (brahmacarya); family life (gṛhastha); preparation for retirement (vānaprastha); and retirement and detachment (sannyāsa). For a sannyāsī to go back home is a sin. You retired, you renounced; you cannot come back. For a sannyāsī, when he goes home, his bag is like you spit it, but you say, "No, no... I will lick it back." Can you lick back what you spit? Except chocolate. That's it. Similarly, for the householder, when you have children, then you prepare and you give it to them. Thanks to God, around the world, in this system of governments, you have a pension. You get your retirement pension, and you live from that. Good. Thanks to God, they give you a little pension. Why? Because if you get more pension, then you have tension. You are always planning: "Now I go on holidays there. Now I go on holidays there." Why? All days are holy days. Remain, meditate. You don't need to go anywhere. What you eat, very little, and that's why the pension is also very little. That's it. So I admire that a certain system of government is good: that you get less, you have no expenditure. All you have given to children—electricity, telephone—they should pay. You go and retire in a small hut in the forest. What do you need? A few potatoes and half a cup of milk. Don't eat more. Otherwise, you will die quickly. After 45 years, our eating should be reduced by 60%. Then we can have another 45 years. So we are not dying from not eating, but we are eating for dying. That's it. Do we live for eating, or eating for living? Of course, we live for eating, and that is the whole problem. We don't eat for living. It's very difficult to say no. Today, I got my dinner. Lunch salad good, came some vegetable, good chapati came. Okay, I ate one and a half chapati and vegetable. Soup came, which I didn't take. It was too sour, but anyhow. One and a half chapati, so much vegetable. I thought, "Now it's full." I gave back. Then came a bowl full of fruit salad with cream. And that is the problem of our health. Now it looks nice, sweet. Okay, I ate a little of this. And then came something more. This is this. Too much. So it is good that you are alone somewhere in retirement, or you and your wife don't have a lot of energy to prepare food, a little bit of eating and meditating. So, the first duty of the household is to educate children in a good way. Second, maintain peace, harmony, love, and understanding within the family. Once I was sitting in a car; one family took me. I was on the road, stopping somewhere in Europe a long time ago. It was raining, summer, and I had one suitcase. Some man stopped, and his wife said, "Okay, she will sit backside, he can sit in the front." And there was written, "I know you are a good driver." So I asked him, "What does it mean, you are right here? You are a good driver?" He said, "Mister, it's not for you." I said, "Thank you." There are so many co-drivers correcting the driver. "Take care, red light." Of course, he's driving with open eyes. Why do you think the red light? "Take care, somebody's taking over." Oh, God, someone is coming, friend, so a person doesn't mean a bad person. I would like to make sure that you know, but sometimes it goes to the nerves, and that person is called the nerve. So, cutting the nerves means that partner, he or she, at home has so many arguments, so the joy or happiness and harmony of a family life, for what you married, is lost. And many people have this problem, so quickly is lost. You can't imagine how it was when you got married, and you decided to marry, and you wrote wedding cards, and this and that, and how is now your feelings? Maybe you kept your wedding card at home. Can you read it again? So, second, that our families should have mutual understanding: husband and wife mutual understanding, children mutual understanding. Now, what do I mean to educate children? Educate yourself. You should behave, both husband and wife, in such a way that children automatically will learn how to live. You are an example for the children. You are that picture for them. But when you have no harmony and understanding, then children don't take it seriously. So, that you have good health, practice āsanas, prāṇāyāma, and prayer every day according to your beliefs. And love your children in such a way that they feel that, yes, really you love them. After two, three, or four years, they don't feel that you love them. And they all go to sit somewhere and look at the television and this and that. I was in Australia, and one family was there, and they had one son. The mother was cooking, and she said to her son, he was about five years old only, "You can see the children's films," and she put on the television. And he came to mother and said, "No, mother, I want to see how you are cooking. I want to be with you in the kitchen. I don't want to see the television." She said, "Of course you are welcome." She brought a chair. He sat on the chair because the working board is too high for this small child, and he was sitting there. She said, no knife, not, but you can give me one piece by one that I will cut the vegetable. So, okay, mother. That child—I am observing him the last 18 years—he became a very, very good person. Everyone admires him, and mother didn't say, "Don't look. Any vision, come and sit beside me." No, never. So, how you behave like that? Your children will behave, and lucky are they who have such children. There are some which are not like this, and then, then everyone is sleeping, and then you meditate, do your kriyā. So household used to say, "My Lord, merā jīvan terī pūjā." Lord, you gave me this life. Merā jīvan terī pūjā: my life is a ceremony to you. My life is worship for you. My entire being, whatever I do, is a mercy for you, my lord. Take care of me. So, as a householder, you must have many vṛttis. And definitely, we have good days, good news, bad days, bad news, health problems, school problems, job problems, many, many things, and we have to think. So that time, before 2500 years, Patañjali, when he was saying, there were not so many humans, and all were happy. They had one cow and milk, many fruits. Wherever you go in the forest, there were such big, nice fruits, so sweet and good. You eat two fruits, and okay, finished. You didn't need to eat anything. Now, when we walk through the forest, there are so few berries, and even these berries are poisonous. You can't eat. Thanks to God, they are only left for the birds. Nature disappeared, fruit trees disappeared. Look, a beautiful agriculture, and the thoughts of the farmers. Let's say it about the Czech Republic or Slovakia and other countries of Europe: at the end of their land, they always planted fruit trees: apples, pears, peaches, and so many fruit trees. And now, what are we doing? We said, "Oh, these old trees, they are ill," and we chip them off, and we put there some other kind of trees, not fruit trees. This is the thought: they were planting fruits for all who will walk, will have one piece of fruit. And now we said, "Oh, creating flies." We destroy the science. This was a science, a science for living. But now it's living without any sense. There's no science in it. So, as a householder, you keep in your heart your mantra. You keep in your heart the presence of God. You pray to God for your happy family: "Lord, that my family is healthy, happy, and harmonious, and I work to feed them and create a beautiful relation with the neighbors." That becomes a society and brings spiritual, positive thoughts. We shall try to give trust to humans that, as your neighbor, I'm not your enemy. I'm your friend. But how many people? We don't trust our neighbors. A neighbor doesn't trust us. This is a problem. So Patañjali is giving this instruction to those yogīs who had a nice wife. When the husband says, "I will meditate," she says, "Okay." And now, when the husband tells the wife, "I will meditate," she said, "No, go for shopping." But in Patañjali's time, there were no shops for shopping; everything was there. So we need the love and understanding. Then, when you meditate in the evening or morning and pray, your thoughts will calm down automatically. Many, many vṛttis will go down. "Merā jīvan terī pūjā"—my life is a worship to thee, oh my Lord. Rest of time, ab saup diyā is jīvan kā sab bhār tumhāre. My Lord, all the responsibility of my life I give in your hand. That was, and that is still. Not everywhere, but mostly in villages, remained high life and very high education. What do you call doctor, doctor... what, daughter, daughter... And the son also, I can't promise you from them. I speak about those beautiful, nice farmers and people. It was advised by ṛṣis, by great saints, cool gurus, the gurus of your dynasty, to have at home an altar. It doesn't matter which religion you believe in. In the home, in the corner, a nice place, you had an altar. While going out of the home, you greeted the altar to take care of your life, and while coming home, you greeted also. Before going to sleep, and as soon as the sunset was there, they put on the candle or oil lamp or the ghee lamp, and this agarbatī, or this, what you call, this kind of gum dhoop, so we used to have a dhoop. This is some tree gums, and this smells nice. Pūjā, this gar me hove terī āratī in that house. In Guru Pūrṇimā and Guru Gītā, said, "O Lord, where āratī to you, ceremony to you?" So, what happens in your house when you come? A person comes back, and instead of agarbatti, it's a cigar. And instead of the holy water, there is vodka or cognac. What will God do there? There will come these asuras. You experience the asuras in the heaven took over. Asurīśakti is the most powerful one, and now also too. So, in culture, this tradition throughout the whole world, the humans had in their house, their patrons of their house, an altar. When they travel, they took with them. It's not only blind belief; it is true. You are protected by some higher consciousness. And God is there with you in such a belief. And that bhakta said, "Now I give all my responsibilities, the sorrows of my life, into your hands. I don't care if now I will be successful or I will not be successful. Because it is in your hands. Dīn bandhu dīna nāth merī dorī tere hāth. O Lord of the meek ones, the rope or the string of my life is in your hands. Please, sometime, move the string towards you, that I may come closer." We are like the puppets in the hands of the Lord's divine will. In this way, the householder leads Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, and Rāja Yoga, all four different kinds of yoga at the same time, and the householder is doing one of the biggest, greatest works for God: that they continue His creation. You are getting children. You are helping God. Yes, God is more happy with you, because if all become sannyāsīs, then God will say, "Now where are my children? Nobody has got there." This whole world will be dried out. So don't be unhappy that you married. What will you see? Will you have now God realization or not? No, no, no. God doesn't care if you are married or not. God doesn't care. He cares only how pure your heart and your thoughts are. And how you are content, Lord. Wherever I am, I am happy. In which condition and in which situations you are, remember God. And so through this we will fulfill the vākyas of the Ṛṣi Patañjali. So for a householder, vairāgya means to give up that anger, give up that greed, and give up those conflicts and egos toward others. That is your Vairāgya, simple but with higher thinking. God forgive them. God be with us. Lord protect us. All of us, not only we. In some countries they say, "God bless this country." We said, "No, God bless the entire world." All countries are God's country. And so these were the instructions on how to lead a spiritual life as a householder. And the prime duty is that your children have that feeling and love, and as spiritual followers, they will complete your spiritual life. They are your successors. Their complete success will be your success, and their children's success will be theirs. This one-after-other chain is a uniting chain work. If your children are not following you, then it means you didn't try enough to develop yourself spiritually, and you have no confidence, you have no certainty, and you have the fear, and that's why you couldn't do it, you failed. And when you fail, who has failed? Go again to this creation, 8.5 million creature cycle; you are again in that line. So beautiful. Don't think, "What will I do?" You will do a lot of work. Begin with the grass roots, step by step. It can happen that in your family, no one respects you, that you are spiritual. Don't worry. You work step by step, continuously, step by step, by step. One day they will be proud of you, one day they will be proud of you, that's it. There's one story which I will not tell about one girl, a young lady and her husband, and she's a very strict vegetarian and he's not, and at home he doesn't eat meat. And so, she thinks he eats meat when he's on holidays or somewhere. And once he was somewhere, and they served him also meat, and he said, "Sorry, I love my wife, and if my wife comes to know that I ate meat, I think she will be very unhappy, so... Sorry, friends, I will not eat meat at home." He was angry. "You are vegetarian, and so?" But inside, he supported her. When she came to know through his friends, she was in tears and said to her husband, "I didn't think that you really love me. You mean, and you care? My spiritual..." He said, "I do, because I benefit. I feel your spiritual light." I'm telling you because I want to know how strong you are. There are some times in the holidays you may say, "Okay, eat the fish." He said, "No, no... no. That's it." So don't think that your partner, your wife or your husband, is so against you. They are against because you behave like a fanatic. Like not. There was one man who would like to come and see me very much. But his wife was dominating. She said, "No, as long as you eat meat, you can't see Swāmījī." So he came with a car, he drove her in front of the ashram and went home. And one day, I said, "I want to see her husband." He went away with the car. I said, "Why didn't he come in?" Because I told you, only people can come to Swāmījī who are not eating meat. I said, "Well, when you came to me, did you eat meat at that time?" I said, "Yes." Then I said, "Why not him? He should come." Even if he eats meat or does not eat, they are all welcome to me. The decision will be his afterwards, and this is forcing him to become vegetarian, and that's not good. When you force someone, that's also a hiṁsā. It's not a hiṁsā. Love comes from itself. Renunciation comes from itself. So take care of your household, family, and please look after our children here. I'm very proud of you. They are so small, sitting and listening to me, and they are playing. Unfortunately, there are some other countries. We are in other countries also. We... Are you surprised what the children are doing? They don't listen to parents. There's not a mistake of the children; it is the parents, and parents should take care of that. They should know. So today is that. All wish you all the best. Tomorrow, definitely we will speak. The best vṛtti is that. The best vairāgya is when your vṛtti is controlled. So you can control your vṛtti as a householder, or you can control your vṛtti as a yogī or sannyāsī. Vāśīkaraṇa means control. Tulsīdāsjī said, "If you would like to have all as your friends, then give up the harsh words. Speak with the heart, sweet, understanding, love, accept." When somebody said, "That was not right," you said, "What do you mean? It's my thing, not yours." Yesterday, I saw people were coming from Anuṣṭhāna Kriyā from that Saṅgam Hall. I was standing like this, and someone came out of the hall, and another one said, "Don't put your shoes always on the way," and she said, "That's not your problem." I was standing there and wondering, "What Chakra? Śodhanam did she do? All aggression came out?" If this is the thought after meditation, then don't do it. Go and work in the vegetable garden. Our carrots need to be given water, you know. That's it. So, think about what you are talking, thinking, and how you are behaving with people differently. That's your ID card, how you are. Tomorrow, we will continue. I wish you a very good appetite. Evening satsaṅg will begin again at 7:30. Please keep Maumau na, walk, take your food, sit in the beautiful garden. Today the sun is shining, and I have some duties. Where I finish this, if there is still time, I will join you, okay? And please take care of your children, and your children should sit beside you all the time. In satsaṅg and when you are in the programs, take care that, no matter how old your child is, they must be with the group and not running alone here and there. Thank you. Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ, Sarve Santu Nirāmayāḥ, Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu. Makāchya Dukha Bhagavate Om Śānti Śānti... Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān.