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Good evening to everybody, dear bhaktas, practitioners, spiritual seekers, brothers and sisters, here and around the world. This blessing comes to you from the beautiful country of the Czech Republic, from Ashram Śrī Mahāprabhū Dīp, Satsaṅg Foundation. We organize beautiful seminars and retreats every year on different subjects, including yoga in daily life. Throughout the year, various courses run: Haṭha Yoga kriyās—netī, dhautī, bastī, naulī, tratāk, kapālabhātī—all these kriyās of Haṭha Yoga. Patañjali will come very soon to the topics of āsana and prāṇāyāma, but we are not there yet. We are currently at chitta-vṛtti nirodha: how to calm our restless thoughts and control our indriyas, the senses—the five jñāna-indriyas and five karma-indriyas. Some scholars in some books also call the mind an indriya. According to them, there are eleven indriyas, so the eleventh one is the mind. In yoga, the mind is the governing force in our bodily system, controlling the senses. If the senses are restless, the mind has to do more work and becomes restless itself. The great saint Kabīr Dās said in his beautiful poem: Man marā na mamatā marī. Your mind is not controlled. The word "marā" has many meanings, but here it means to kill the mind—to stop it, to control it. So the best translation could be "control the mind." Man marā, na mamatā marī. Your mind is not under control because of your mamatā. Mamatā means attachment. Mamatā vahī bandhan kā kāraṇ hai: attachment is the cause of all these bonds, of the karmas. Rāga and dveṣa are the two forces born out of the attachment of mamatā. "This is my apple"—mamatva, "my." When someone tries to take it away, I will have rāga (attraction/desire) or something against it—anger or dveṣa (aversion), duality. So rāga or dveṣa are both very disturbing factors on the path of yoga. There is a limitation, of course. Yours is yours; it is your left eye and your right eye, so your eyes cannot be my eyes. But it has a limitation. So mamatva is the cause of bondage. Many times this body has died; you were born again, you died, you were born. But we are surrounded by all these forces. There is one deer and so many hunters—like in England, I think they have a game which is not good for the environment, friends. And protectors of animals are against wildlife friends. One fox, and how many horses are running behind to hunt him? You see one fox, this poor, innocent animal. What has he done against them? And what do they have? The joy of finding and hunting, and horses, dogs, people, and what not? More weapons, arms, guns. Can you imagine that you are one running through the forest, and many, many armies are running behind you? What is your condition? Can you imagine? No ahiṃsā. Ahiṃsā paramodharma: the highest principle, the highest religion, the highest spirituality, the highest thought is ahiṃsā, non-violence. Physical ahiṃsā, mental ahiṃsā, social ahiṃsā, political ahiṃsā—there are many, many forms. The word ahiṃsā was first spoken by Bhīṣma after the battlefield of the Mahābhārata, when Bhīṣma was lying on the bed of arrows which had gone through and through his body. After winning, the Pāṇḍavas came to Bhīṣma and asked, "Grandfather, if you have any instructions for us?" At that time, Bhīṣma attained that realization and said, "Yudhiṣṭhira, Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, O king of Dharma, ahiṃsā paramodharma. Follow ahiṃsā. What I did till today was not right." That word, Ahiṃsā, has been followed by many saints. Also in India, we have a spiritual movement called Jainas. And the word Ahiṃsā was made known to the whole world by Mahātmā Gandhījī. He followed the path of Ahiṃsā. How do you feel? What do you think? That poor creature running here and there, trying to escape, struggling for its life. Similarly, we all have the same situation. All these are the hunters, and we try to escape our life, to come out of them to salvation or liberation. Man marā na mamatā marī, mar mar gayā śarīr. How many times has this body died? You were born again with this hope to get Self-realization, to get Brahmagyāna, to get out of this cycle of birth and death. But again, we become the victims of these hunters and we can't succeed. Why did your mamatā not die, or why couldn't you purify the mamatā or get rid of the mamatā? Āśā means expectation, hope. And that hope is a walking stick from cradle to grave. "I will get, I will get, I will achieve, I will realize"—from the cradle, from the mother's lap, a cradle, till the grave. Asatṛṣṇā. Tṛṣṇā is a burning desire. You saw yesterday in the Mahāśivapurāṇa, where one Rākṣasa was doing tapasyā. And tapa means fire. So his tapasya was so strong, it was going like flames, fire flames, until Brahmā came. "What's happening? Who is that?" This is a burning desire in us: āśā and tṛṣṇā. Man marā na mamatā marī, mar marā gayā śarīr. Asa Trishna na mari, because you couldn't get rid of your Āśā and Tṛṣṇā. Kah gaye dās Kabīr: Kabīr Dās has said this. Therefore, these vṛttis we have to approach very systematically. We have to develop vairāgya. And vairāgya here does not mean that you give up and run away. Who runs away? A coward. A hero will never run away. So someone thinks, "Okay, my wife is not good to me, or my husband is not good to me, or my neighbor is this, and I don't find a job, and this. I think I will go to Swāmījī and ask, 'Can I become a sannyāsī?'" Yes, welcome. Most welcome. But in one week you will know, "Better I stay with my family." Swamiji has so much work for you. You think that you will go and sit, and everybody will come and serve you food and this and that. Forget it. Deye bina devu nahi, deva janam janam karu seva: Without giving, I will not receive God's aid. Many, many lives you have to do karma yoga, service, seva. Who expects the seva will not get it; who expects the siddhi will not get it. And if he or she gets the siddhi because of expectation, he or she will use the siddhi for wrong things, and that siddhi will be his or her destruction—which we see every evening in our beautiful Mahāśivapurāṇas and in other videos. Therefore, where will you run away? In the entire universe, there is no corner where you can hide yourself. To give up this body does not mean that you run away. You are still existing. Your memory, your thoughts, your psychic feelings, pain, pleasure, love, unhappiness—everything is with you. Then after death, you will say, "Oh, I made a mistake. I committed suicide." Many people think, "I will commit suicide and finish the problem." No. Those who commit suicide have to suffer for long, long times in the astral world. There is no bail from the Supreme Court, the Cosmic Court, to hear and then send further to another form of life. Never make the mistake of thinking that you want to die. Who thinks that? Who is ill or a coward? Therefore, running from problems is not a solution. A problem is the best school in life. And those who have no problems have a boring life; they are searching for troubles. So it is very rare that we don't have a problem. This is already in our destiny, called the three tapas: ādhibhautik, ādhidaivik, and ādhyātmik. These three tapas—tapa means fire—this individual soul is constantly going through these three different kinds of fires. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said in this mantra... Therefore, Patañjali said that we are still on Vairāgya, because when Vairāgya becomes pure, then we come to the fourth level of consciousness: unconscious, subconscious, conscious, and superconscious, where we speak about samādhi. Samādhi: Nirvikalpa, Savikalpa, Nirvija, Sabīja, and so on. The different names are called Samādhi, and Kevalya or Turīya. Turiya Atīta. So let's see what Patañjali will say. I should not tell you everything in one sentence; you have to wait a whole month with me here. So when the draṣṭā—draṣṭānuśravika, viṣaya-vitṛṣṇasya-vāśīkāra-saṅjñā-vairāgyam—draṣṭā, we are the draṣṭā; dṛśya and darśana. So draṣṭā, dṛśya, darśana. We who look, we would like to see. So when the draṣṭā, oneself, yourself, sees all these vṛttis, you control and become introvert. Now, there are two kinds of introverted persons. One is sitting whole day like this. Mother said, "Did you eat?" Father comes and says, "How are you? Do you want to go to work?" An introverted person. A yogī is not like that. A yogī should be like this animal, what we call the turtle. Anytime he can expand his limbs, and anytime he can withdraw back. Similarly, at any minute, anytime, a yogī can withdraw himself or herself. Indriya nigraha: constantly, your senses, your feelings, your thoughts are in your draṣṭi. Draṣṭā, draṣṭī, dṛśya. So now, dṛśya is your vṛttis. Dṛśya is your indriyas. Dṛśya is your feeling, and dṛśya is that which links between yourself and the subject. Your dṛśya is like that. You observe no senses run out of control. Like a driver driving a car, looking left, right, everything, talking with friends or co-drivers, listening to radio news, but at the same time is aware of what's happening behind, what's happening on the left side, what's happening on the right side, what's happening in the front, and where are my wheels? The four wheels of my car, though they are below the car, he can't see them. But everything is under his control, under his feeling, under his awareness, his alertness. Similarly, when this draṣṭā withdraws and goes to meditation, then the senses withdraw. Automatically, the citta-vṛtti becomes calm. It's not easy that you will try now and sit and think, "Oh God, tomorrow I have to go." You don't know what will happen in one second, and you are talking about tomorrow. Who will go and who will remain? Don't worry. Be aware of this time, the present time. Bhūta, vartamāna, and bhaviṣya. Bhūta kāla, the past time. The past is past. You can't reach it in any way. You can fly with a rocket; the past you can't catch anymore. And the future is the future. You can't reach it immediately; wait for that. So, try to learn in the present time and try to control yourself. In India, on every corner of the street, every stone on the road, every rock of the mountains and the hills, and on every truck and bus and in many cars, there is always written some good sentence, so it's not boring when you are stuck in traffic; you read what is written behind this truck, you know? Holy gurus also wrote on his car behind. Finally, we have to go. Then I was in London near the Marble Arch and wanted to find a way, and there was some Indian driving a car. It was a small car, this mini car from England, and behind it was written, "Don't follow me, I'm also lost," you see. So these are beautiful sentences, full of knowledge. That's it. Learning, you can learn many things. Now, sometimes it's called dharma-saṅkaṭ. Dharma-saṅkaṭ means there are certain situations which are difficult to maintain or master or keep. Naturally, where you live in a small village, all are your friends. Naturally, where you live on one street of the city, your neighbors, they are all friends. When you are a shopkeeper, you have a food shop, and every day your clients or customers come, you know everyone. They all come and say, "Good morning, how are you, everything?" So I think in India, it's a little deeper relation than just good morning; there are more connections. So sometimes, people come and say, "Can I have one kilo of chili powder? I will pay you tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, okay?" So he said, "Okay, you can have." Now, tomorrow never came. Next time again, he's in very great need, and he said, "Can you give me this, please? Day after tomorrow, I will get my salary, and I will pay you." Now, Dharam Sankat means he's my best friend and I am also his best friend. Now he is coming to my shop to buy something, and he just doesn't have money with him. Sometimes he said, "Oh God, someone cut my pocket." No money. What will you say to this person? So on the shop, on the counter, they are writing: "Today, pay in cash; tomorrow, you can take a loan." Now, tomorrow never comes. When you go tomorrow, can you give me now? He said, "Read first." So tomorrow remains tomorrow. You don't know what will happen in seconds, and you are talking about tomorrow. Therefore, oh my dear, whatever you want to do, do it now. What you have to do tomorrow, do it today. And what you have to do today, just do it just now. Who knows? The next second you will die. Everything will remain like this. Therefore, nigraha, everything should be in your alertness. Now, Patañjali tells, "chitta vṛtti nirodha." Stop all vṛttis, control all vṛttis, nirodha. But in the beginning, you cannot. You have to deal very friendly, very gently with your feelings, with your thoughts. And we are not Patañjali; we are only the aspirants of Patañjali. So Patañjali, maybe he was above everything, but we are still not. We are sitting very happy, all of you are very happy, and suddenly you get news that your dear grandmother died. Suddenly you have unhappiness. We have attachment, we have mamatva, and now the entire citta-vṛtti is full of sadness. And when there is sadness, your progress is not there. Therefore, the draṣṭā should, with viveka, with the buddhi, think of every subject, viṣaya, tṛṣṇā. So I spoke about tṛṣṇā. What is the tṛṣṇā? And control, observe your tṛṣṇā. Then you can proceed. Then your vairāgya is vaśīkāra. Saṁyam, vairāgyam, vaśīkāra. The word vaśīkāra means to control; also, you can say manipulate, but this is a little negative. You have one horse, and you love your horse so much, and now the horse is your best friend. You have a dog, a big dog or a small dog, a trained dog, but this dog is your best friend. Who dares to come near to you or to the dog, a Doberman or any? So vāśikāra. So all those thoughts and instructions of the saints through the scriptures and the prakṛti, the natures, the quality of the natures in your body—this you have to vaśīkār, means to control. When you will control this, then saṁyam, vairāgyam. That time your vairāgya becomes pure. Now you see, now you put the lemon in the milk, and you see the water and the rest of the other part of the milk is separating. Very soon, you will have what? Paneer or cheese. When you make photos, what do you call? What do you say? "Cheese." But we don't say "cheese," we say "peace," okay? What will you say? "Peace." So then we have the peace when we are divided, otherwise not. So we are stuck in this. So meditation: sit down. Kāyā is sthirum; you cannot meditate until your body is not comfortable. Patañjali doesn't advise that you meditate while lying in a lying posture, because he says, definitely you will sleep. In a deep meditation, you will sleep in, and sleep is also a vṛtti. Before, we spoke before three days, according to Patañjali. He said sleep, nindrā avasthā, is also a vṛtti. He tells, when you sleep deep and wake up, and you tell, "Oh, I slept so good, even I didn't dream," how do you know? And when you know this, that during deep sleep you were thinking that you are not dreaming and you are sleeping, this vṛtti is already there. Today, something happened to me in a dream, your excellency. I had my lunch a little earlier because I was expecting you would come, and in the afternoon, I made my yoga nidrā. It's a good excuse. When you want to sleep, you say, "I'll make a yoga nidrā." Okay? Truth is the truth. Lunchtime, we have a rest of about one hour, 40 minutes. And now I was dreaming. This is a few hours ago. I was dreaming and walking near a lake. And Mahāprabhujī was with me. Then there was one disciple with me, Dr. Roman from Slovakia. I told Roman, "There is one big rock. Take Mahāprabhujī there and make his āsana so that he can sit there, and I will come to greet Mahāprabhujī and take Mahāprabhujī with me." Now, me and Pārvatī went to Mahāprabhujī, and I wanted to go, but there was deep water between Mahāprabhujī and me, and there were algae or some lotus flowers. So I stepped in. Now I can't help Mahāprabhujī to come to me. He was sitting, he said, "Okay, lift me." And there is no solid ground, and Pārvatī disappeared, and I was calling, "Pārvatī, Pārvatī, do you hear me? Is anybody there who hears me?" So I—I hope nobody was there near my windows; I don't know how loud I was calling in the dream. And then I said, "Mahāprabhujī, I don't like..." Please, and I woke up, and that's all. So there are thoughts, there are dreams, and a dream is your reality. You will dream of those persons or those things that you have in your subconscious, or what you were thinking about whom or what. I had my cup of tea, and when the telephone came and emails and this, I was analyzing my dream. The best thing is to immediately give the answer why I had this dream like this, and this was that many bhaktas around the world, and especially Yoga in Daily Life practitioners, they would like to become swāmīs, and they would like to have sanyās dīkṣā, sanyās initiation. Yes, I think the decision is good, but the path is not so comfortable. It is thorny, stony, hilly, hot, cold, slippery. And the path is the most beautiful. Nothing can be more comfortable and beautiful than this. This depends on how you think, what is your ambition to become a sannyāsī. Why do you want to become a sanyāsī? In the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa has given a complete chapter about sannyāsī yoga. But still, you would like to become a sanyāsī, and you can ask me also why I became a sanyāsī. What were my feelings, thoughts, ambitions? This you can read in my biography. So this morning I called Parvati, and Parvati said, "Swamiji, what is now my duty? You gave the duty to the other to take care of this ashram." I want to give her the duty of cooking, so that she cooks for me. But I know that she can't cook, and I will be angry every day. And that they have such a tension, you know. So I told Pavati that she should start the three-year sannyāsa course here. Your Excellency, good idea. Three years give them such a hard time, so they will say, "Better they find a girl or a boy and go somewhere." Three years inform them about rules, regulations, and all about sannyāsa. Of course, here it will be free of charge: staying, eating. And don't think that now every day we'll meditate. There will be only two hours of lectures, and the rest of the time will be spent working in the garden. All the time, the ṛṣis had their brahmachārīs, disciples. They were taking care of the cows, milking the cows, cleaning the cows, bringing the wood from the forest, going with the cows, and taking the cows to the field for grazing, and so on. So this is a good idea. Those who would like to become sannyāsīs, they should write immediately through the webcast, or those who are in this hall, get in touch with Pārvatī, and then I will decide. And then you will get a long, long letter to read carefully, and that letter, read to your parents if you are married. Then I wouldn't suggest that you divorce and get sannyās. I would not marry, that's it. But if you have one of the partners died, and you have nobody, and you want to become a sannyāsī, then it is five years training, not only three years, because that gold has to be heated more to make it more pure. Therefore, these vṛttis, when you meditate, kāya-sthairyam: first try to find a sitting posture where you can sit straight and close your eyes for a while. Second, you should be able to collect your thoughts, take a deep inhale, and say... For a while, I will concentrate or meditate only, but still the mind is running. Therefore, there's a mantra. "Mantra" means to satisfy your mind, then content, satisfied. A child is crying, and you give a small toy, and I said, "Oh." So as soon as you sit and all vrittis come, you take your mantra toy, and your vrittis will be calm. But it is not a toy; it's a divine energy. I read in one book, one yogī was saying, "If you don't like mantra, you can repeat some letters: A, B, C, D, A, B, C, D, B, A, B, C, D, B, A, B, C, D, B, A, B, C, D. Or 1, 2, 5, 8, 6, 9, 1, 2, 5, 8, 6, 9, 1, 2, 5, 8." This is not a lottery number, okay? Many people think that Swamiji said the number, and that must be the lottery. They sent me the email: "Swamiji, you were saying numbers, and we thought this is the best number, and I wrote, and my lottery was not correct." These are only examples. So when you repeat the letters: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 1, 2, inhale, 3, 5, 8, exhale, 1, 2. But best would be... this will lead you only to a certain level where your thoughts become calm. But a mantra has a divine energy which will lead you further into spirituality. Therefore, Patañjali's today, this vairāgya, pavitra vairāgya, tīvra vairāgya, good vairāgya, pure vairāgya towards the outer world. Eko brahma dvitīyo nāsti: Only one supreme reality is Brahman, and all other is unreality. What is changeable is non-reality, and that which never changes, which is everlasting, is reality. That's called Gagana Darśana, like the space or the sky.