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Yoga is education

A public address celebrating 20 years of "Yoga in Daily Life" in Slovenia.

"Be the change you want to see. This slogan became a mantra for me."

"Yoga is that principle which unites space and consciousness... This is the simple, safe, straight, and sure path called Yoga."

Swami Maheshwaran (Swāmījī) delivers a speech of gratitude and teaching in Ljubljana. He recounts the history and challenges of spreading yoga in Eastern Europe, emphasizes the holistic health and spiritual unity at its core, and advocates for vegetarianism, environmental care, and strong families. He announces a blood donation drive as a commemorative gift to Slovenia.

Filming locations: Ljubljana, Slovenia.

DVD 423

Sarve tu sukhinaḥ, sarve santu nirāmayāḥ, sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu, mā kaścid duḥkha bhāgbhavet. Oṃ Tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam, urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya mā'mṛtāt. Oṃ śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. Salutation to the Cosmic Light, Lord of our hearts, Omniscient and Omnipresent. In His Divine Presence. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. I thank His Excellency, the Ambassador of India, for his wise words. We are also happy to welcome His Excellency, the Ambassador of Nepal, Madan Kumar, and his dear wife. Welcome. I thank you from my heart for your kind words and for welcoming us to this beautiful city, Ljubljana. I also thank the mayor, Mr. Zoran. Humans gain more human qualities to understand themselves and others through education. It is education which brings humans to clear consciousness. So I thank our dear sister and director of the University in Ljubljana, Andrea Cosensis, and our artist Polona for the beautiful performances. My dear brother, Priyadarśī Ṭhākur, a philosopher and writer of many poems—though we have known each other physically for only one and a half years, it seems like many lives. I thank all the personalities here, excellencies, doctors, directors, and government members. I thank God and my dear Master, Mahāprabhujī, for divine protection, inspiration, and guidance, enabling me to serve this country with my limited knowledge. Swami Chidānand dedicated everything to bring the light of yoga to Yugoslavia. We also thank our dear brother, Josef Gahl, for his hard work, which was not easy, especially with medical doctors. He spoke of uniting two streams: yoga and karate. I must say, all students who came from karate are well-disciplined and very good practitioners. Yoga in Daily Life is closely connected with karate; we have centers where they first practice karate, then yoga. We purified yoga in karate, meaning we kept both knowledges as original as they are. Twenty years, as Vlado said, seems like yesterday, yet it is a long time. My master used to say a tree doesn't grow in one night. The seed must die to grow into a tree, and the sprout takes time to become large. It is long work. When a beautiful big tree stands on a hill, we admire it, but ask the tree through how many situations it went—dryness, rain, snow, cold, storms. That it survived is something. So it is said, satyameva jayate—truth alone triumphs. Finally, positive energy will be the winner, but we must make many experiences. I have one particular experience in this country, though that part is now in Croatia, formerly Yugoslavia. Chidānand sold his flat, his car, and everything to print my book Hidden Powers in Humans. Thousands of books sold within a month; he could buy back his flat and car, and everyone got the books. What dedication. I told him "Yugoslavia" translates as "to unite," and yuga also means a time period—Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpar Yuga, Kali Yuga. I said it would also be "Yoga-slavia." Throughout Yugoslavia, the message and practice of yoga spread, and all gained benefit. Now they are in different countries. Since 1973, I have actively taught yoga in Eastern Europe, under the Soviet Union. So many people came; halls booked out in a day. People were sometimes afraid to invite someone. They would stand for hours on the road just to see me, Swāmījī, pass by. I did not know they were waiting, or I would have stopped. They were happy just to see someone in orange cloth moving. My heart was full of love and emotion for the love people had for spirituality, for yoga. After continuous visits, I was a state guest, but still not all could come. So they organized seminars on the Adriatic coast, with guides for groups. They paid for my hotel so I could stay near the group. You see how much they struggled for wisdom. One day, I was deep in thought during a seminar on the coast with Czechoslovakians, Hungarians, Poles, and people from Yugoslavia. Not everyone accepts what you say, and it is not easy to give understanding. Everyone has their thoughts, feelings, and philosophy. One philosopher said, "A is not F, but F is also not A." It was August 15th, my birthday. Chidānand and his family, and the hotel owners, made a nice cake. I asked if there were eggs inside; I would not eat it. They said yes. I said I accept it with greeting but will not eat eggs, as I am vegetarian. They said, "Egg is vegetarian." I said, "I am already so old, I don't know on which tree eggs grow." The hotel owner came with a newspaper. There are always people against what you do. As the Rector said, we come from two cultures. Can we talk together, or are we from different religions? There are differences between European and Indian cultures and religions—a conflict that should be purified from human consciousness. In the newspaper was an article against the yoga seminar, against this young Indian boy, asking what he was doing here. The headline read, "Vegetarians can't get children," written by a doctor. Chidānand brought it to me. I said, "I respect the doctor. I am not a doctor; I wish I had studied medicine. We should send him a message." I dictated a telegram: "Dear Dr. So-and-so, I read your beautiful article and understood. That is why Indians have overpopulation. Yours, Swāmī Maheśvaraṁ." So we get such experiences. This beautiful country, Slovenia, with its landscape, countryside, vegetation, good soil, water, and beautiful people, always tried to make my visits comfortable and safe. My main aim was and is to plant a seed. As the dear rector said, there are many leaves but only one trunk. Many branches grow from one aim: health. Yoga in Daily Life was designed for physical, mental, social, and spiritual health, which leads to spirituality, or God, self-religion. The aim was to give good health and spread the message of non-violence, as His Excellency the Ambassador of India spoke on vegetarian life. The committee on environmental research that received last year's Nobel Prize included a leading force from India who said this global problem can be solved only if all become vegetarian. Vegetarian life is a solution for global warming. I read from Mahātma Gāndhījī: "Be the change you want to see." This slogan became a mantra for me. This year, we had a successful World Peace Conference in New Zealand. Members of the Nobel Prize committee and many scientific experts were there, focusing on New Zealand's environment and the ozone problem—greenhouse gases. Mr. Algar said "greenhouse gases," and I corrected him to "glasshouses," so people would not think of trees. They spoke about the problem of sheep and cattle in New Zealand: a few million people, over 60 million sheep, and over 50 million cattle. The gas from animals is more harmful. They asked what to do. I asked, "Do you use so much wool or consume so much milk?" No, it is for meat. So I said, "Now we have a solution. Your expertise, authority, and power: be the change you want to see. Let's become vegetarian. Are you ready?" They said, "Mr. Swamiji, we didn't ask you to talk directly like this." Therefore, it is said, "Kathani or Karani may farak nahi hona chahiye." Kathani means speaking, Karani means doing. There should be no difference between speech and deeds. That government or system will survive which has this balance. In science, in quality, there is no compromise. We all know our problems and why we can't be healthy. If we change, 80% of our health will be good. Some scientists say health is not all, but everything is nothing without health. Yoga is a unique system of psychosomatic movements. It balances our body systems: organs, digestion, circulation, nerves, glands, muscles, ligaments. The best is to do exercises slowly—three exercises done relaxed and slowly, rather than ten. This yoga calms and tranquilizes the mind, helping us relax and not be victims of stress. Many are workaholics with much stress, but breath exercise (prāṇāyāma) and meditation free you from stress. Like when snow melts under warm sun, yoga purifies your consciousness. What is dormant in our conscious, subconscious, and unconscious awakens peace, harmony, and contentment in our heart. The happiness we search for is within. We need that kind of education to understand—not education that says vegetarians can't get children. There are two kinds of education: parāvidyā and aparāvidyā. Aparāvidyā is what we learn for our profession, to earn our bread and butter. Parāvidyā is supreme, spiritual knowledge. Humans differ from other creatures in having an intellect that can be educated limitlessly. But humans can become one-sided, which is dangerous—what we call fanaticism, now called criminality or terrorism. Why are there terrorists? Because they have such an education, such instructions. We need the education of "Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ"—all should be happy. Everyone should have the freedom to choose positively. One of the biggest world problems is conflict between religions and cultures. "He belongs to this religion, he to that; we don't accept." God didn't create any religion; God created only one creation. Among 8.5 million creatures, one is the human. So there is only one religion for us: humanity. We should not be against each other. The practice of yoga purifies negative thoughts and energy, leading us to our Self. Ādi Guru Śaṅkarācārya said the first step of Self-realization, or God-realization, is to see yourself in every creature: "Viśvaprāṇī merī ātmā hai." All entities in this world are myself. "Ātmā soi paramātmā"—this ātmā is the supreme. If you want to see God, see Him in His creation. There is Nirguṇa and Saguṇa God. Nirguṇa God is like space, without form, pure consciousness. Saguṇa God is in form, in different creatures. That is why my Holy Gurujī said: one in all. That one God, universal God, is in everyone, unique and all in one. So why make differences? In Hinduism, in Sanātana Dharma, there is only one God, Parameśvara. In Christianity, you call Him the Holy Father. There are many individual incarnations you may call God because they have God-consciousness. We cannot imagine the entire universe in one person, but we can imagine this person in the universe. So there is only one God. "Eko brahma dvitīyo nasti"—only one Brahma, one God. Duality is nasti; there is only one truth, one God. There is only one Ātmā; souls are many and individual, but Ātmā is universal. Our aim is for individual consciousness to merge into Cosmic Consciousness. This is the simple, safe, straight, and sure path called Yoga. Yoga is that principle which unites space and consciousness, balances and harmonizes them. When this principle becomes active, creation begins: "Ahaṁ bahu syām"—"I am one, and now I will multiply." This is called the resonance, the sound OM. With that resonance, billions of stars, suns, and moons are created in the universe, and one day they will dissolve again. How to imagine? For you on the coast, it may be easier. When a storm comes from the ocean, how many waves are there? When the storm is gone, the waves subside into the ocean. The entire creation is nothing but waves on the ocean. When you meditate, imagine you are waves on the ocean. God is in me, and I am in God—waves in the ocean and ocean in the waves. It is oneness; we are all one. This is what yoga can give. Besides this, we have many activities: world peace, humanitarian, educational, and medical projects, and helping in disasters. Dear brothers and sisters, it was my good luck and privilege that God gave me blessings and chose me as His instrument to bring this glimpse of yoga and serve you all. For the 20-year occasion, we thought: what can we do for Slovenia more? We wanted to donate money, but Slovenia is rich, and a few thousand euros doesn't count. When the mayor of Novoměst spoke of millions from the European Union, my eyes went down. What can we donate? I was on a plane from Australia to New Zealand, looking at beautiful clouds. A Slovenian man with a laptop came and said, "Swāmijī, I've been with you 15 days and haven't found time to talk. What can we donate to Slovenia?" He asked several times, but I didn't answer. At 33,000 feet, from that height, I could see Slovenia. He asked again, and I said, "We will donate." He said, "Thank you for the blood." I said, "Yes, we will donate blood to the Red Cross of Slovenia." That liquid is one of the most precious. So, for the 20 years, we announced to all our Yoga in Daily Life practitioners, their families, friends, and colleagues, that they can donate blood to the blood bank of the Red Cross. Of course, not everyone can give; doctors decide if blood is accepted. Personally, I request you to donate blood to save lives in this country and others. Yoga in Daily Life is appreciated and practiced in many places in Slovenia. I congratulate you and ask you to practice and inspire others to practice for a healthy, happy, long life. I wish this from my heart. Spiritual knowledge and energy will come automatically. I am also a practitioner and disciple, like you. I try to practice, but my service is also my practice. Mahāprabhujī guides me. I looked out the aeroplane window, and Mahāprabhujī gave me the picture: donate blood. I have had many visions in Slovenia; next time we will speak. Please help others. Helping hands have more value than folded hands. Love and protect other creatures. Protect the environment—that is our life. Remove doubts and conflicts between religions. We were born human and will die human. Therefore, we are human; please create a happy family. Now, is there a question if any family exists? Unfortunately, modern education and media freedom have brought humans to destroy their families. People above 45 here understand; people under 20 may think it nonsense. It is not nonsense. We should have healthy, happy families. Don't marry. And if you marry, don't get divorced. That's all. If you are capable, do it. And if you still divorce, please don't have children. The divorce rate in Slovenia is increasing, meaning many children are unhappy, growing with half-parents. This has destroyed humans. Therefore, make a saṅkalpa to create healthy, happy, joint families. That is also Yoga in Daily Life—not only physical exercises and breath, but rebuilding a healthy globe. I need your help, not that you need mine. I need your help, and I pray God gives you strength, good health, and long life. Thank you. God bless you. Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Lord, lead us from unreality to reality, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality. Peace, peace, peace.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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