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Salutations to the Cosmic Light, the Lord of our hearts, who is Omniscient and Omnipresent. In His holy presence, a very good evening to you, dear brothers and sisters. It is a beautiful day and a beautiful evening, and some divine power has brought us together here. The given subject is yoga and meditation, so I shall keep to it. I am sure many of you here are practitioners of yoga. Many of you are meditating. For some, it may be the first time. So, let us have a good evening together. The word yoga means balancing. We know the endless universe means empty space. Where is the beginning and where is the end? We do not know. Perhaps you know; I do not know. How should I know that you do not know? But as far as I can understand, see, and hear, it is an endless universe. That is like the body of a mother. Within this universe is what we call universal consciousness. One may call it the golden embryo, hiraṇyagarbha. Now, between these two—the space and the consciousness—there is another power or energy or principle which is balancing both together in a perfect way, and that is yoga. Where there is balance, there is harmony, and therefore yoga means harmony. And where there is harmony, there is unity; therefore, literally, yoga means union. Here, for us, the union means individual consciousness uniting with that cosmic consciousness. Everything is a play of consciousness. Our consciousness is also cosmic consciousness, but there are some dualities or different qualities at present. In this world, we are traveling or oscillating here and there through the three levels of consciousness: unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. The unconscious is compared with deep sleep, the subconscious with the dream state, and the conscious is now, when we are awake. Through meditation, we purify and cross these three borders. That means we come to the higher consciousness. Of course, it is not so easy. It requires many, many years of work and practice. For some, it is quicker. For some, many years. And for some, many lives. It is individual. The consciousness is universal, but the soul is individual. That individual means every individual, human as well as other creatures, has a different destiny. Destiny is the product of actions, which we call in the Sanskrit language karma. There are good karma and bad karma. Bad karmas, you call here in this part of the world, sin. Good karma is called puṇya. Good, that is it. Now we, as individuals, are involved in this destiny. Meditation is that work on oneself to purify or neutralize the bad karma or bad energy. There is one example. There is a glass of water missing today. Very soon it is coming. Thank you very much. It is not only that I want to drink, but I would like to give some example. Thank you. She brought me nice, pure, good, clean water. We all humans are very worried how long we will have such nice, clean, good water like Holland has. We have polluted our planet. All this pollution is created out of one pollution, and that is called the pollution of the human mind. Mahātmā Gāndhī said, "Mother Earth has enough for our need, but not for our greed." Now, about these problems, you know much better than I do, so I leave it to you. But the person who brought me this water is very pure, very clean, crystal clear. In the other room, when she filled the water in this glass, she put in ten grams of this salt. The salt is dissolved in this glass. See, the salt and water became one, because I also do not see it, and she also does not see it. But now I drink water, salty. Very clear water and salt did not unite. They did not become one. The salt gave up its solid form, but not its quality. If she were to give me only the salt, I would say it is salt. Similarly, each individual has their own quality or destiny, which does not belong only to this body. We have different bodies, and these qualities are influencing all the five different bodies. Therefore, when we give up this physical body and go with the astral body—where we do not know the address till today, perhaps you have booked your bungalow somewhere—this quality, the karma, will go with us, and it will lead us in that direction. Which direction? Like destinies. In modern technology, there is one beautiful system we call a navigator. We put in the address, and it guides us. But we do not know which address we want, so it is a work of many months, days, months, or years, or lives. It is individual. So, the super high, the higher consciousness or super consciousness, is difficult to achieve, but it is not impossible. In this life, during the period of this life, we can achieve the higher consciousness, or what we call the superconscious. Some divide these two: higher consciousness and the superconscious, supreme. After this body, when we will go out of this body, then, maybe our consciousness will merge into the cosmic consciousness. Why? It still depends on how much work we have to do. So, quality unites: salt in salt, gold in gold, iron in iron, sugar in sugar, water in water. The creator, which has created the entire universe, it is said in the śāstra, sūryas, Ananta Brahman, endless universe, and thousands of the sun systems, with our said, and all is the creation of one. That is called the cosmic one, eko'ham bahusyāmi: "I am one, and I will multiply myself." So that one is constantly multiplying, and that means it began with sound. That sound is known as nāda in Sanskrit. We say oṁ, which I was chanting in the beginning. It is that resonance which is spread throughout the entire universe, and that resonance is in each and every atom. It is that sound which brings us together. It is that resonance which brings us into this body, and it is that principle, the yoga, which unites us with the mother body, a harmonizing, balancing. That we are here now as humans, or other creatures, are. Within this sun system, our planet for us is the most beautiful one. We love this. It is called Mṛtyuloka, the mortal world. Birth and death are connected here: coming and going. On this planet, 8.4 million different creatures are created by one creator. They are divided into three categories: jalacara, sthalacara, and nabhaścara—the creatures in the water, on the earth, and in the air. There are 8.4 million different creatures, and one is the human. Humans have such abilities, the most powerful tool, and that is called intellect. The intellect needs education, and that education makes the human more wise. There are different kinds of education, which we know. What we call nowadays the terrorists, they also have their own system to educate them, or a doctor, a professor, an electrician—many, many. But the best education that we can have is from our parents: the education which has in it what we call ethic and moral principles. It is we humans who understand this, and through this, we are able to think, decide, and act, whether it is positive or negative. The Creator has given in this body, or in this individual phenomenon, many, many tendencies or functions: memory, intellect, mind, emotion, many things. We have to master that, and it is not always easy to master this. We have got ten different senses. We call, in poetic language, these ten horses which are pulling this coach of the body: ten senses of knowledge and ten senses of action. The eyes to see color and objects, the ears to hear sound, the nose to smell, the tongue to taste, and the skin to feel touch. These are the five senses through which, from birth till now, whatever we have learned, we have learned only through these five senses. What we learn in the future will also only be through these five senses. Some years ago, or a hundred years ago, if I would touch this piece of iron and tell you, "I can make magic," I will touch here, and in the whole room there will be some sound. Or you put one loudspeaker somewhere, and no one sees it, and you say, "Hello, my God, there's a ghost." But now we know it is a loudspeaker, microphones. If I would ask you from a hundred years ago, "What is this?" do you know? You would say, "I do not know." But now this is very good. Put in our memory, we know it is a microphone. Similarly, we remember only that which we experienced or received from the outer world through the five senses. These five senses, which give the information to receive, are the work of our conscious. That means awake, that we are alert, because this awake stage is more connected with intellect. But whatever you receive, you received it and it is gone. Where? The other level of consciousness, that is called the subconscious. So the subconscious is like a storeroom. All different impressions, after some time, these impressions come out as desire, wish, longing. Now, how does it come out? How does it go in? Now you show me, "I am already in your subconscious. You like me or not, and my voice." Next time, if you will hear anywhere a cassette, you will say, "Oh, that Swami, I heard him once in the lecture." So you cannot get rid of me now. If you will see a newspaper, you will say, "Yes, I heard him yesterday." That is memory. And if you would never have seen me ever, and you see the picture, you say, "I do not know this voice. I do not know," because it is not in your subconscious, not registered in your memory. You are hearing me, you see me now. This, from the first touch—which you, my voice to your ears, and my body, and my color, and this nice beard—is touching your eyes. Now the intellect receives, gives up, then comes the second level, that is called mind. That mind takes this information to the subconscious, and it is the mind which brings again up the wishes to the conscious. So, mind is that function between conscious and subconscious. Therefore, your mind is not guilty. Our mind is really not guilty. Mind is very correct. If then guilt is in our senses. Now I have a nice example for you. There was one couple who went for a walk through the city. Hot day, and there was a very nice ice cream shop. So the husband asked his wife, "Let's go and have ice cream." Well, you know, the ladies are a great protection for the men. Often men do not see this. When she said yes or no, man is angry after he realizes, but men also do not forget. He is a great protector. She said, "No, we will not eat ice cream." A good husband will overthink and follow, and will put a question, "Why not?" if it is not clear. She said, "Yes, you remember three days ago we were at the doctor? You have some problem with your throat, so he told that you should not drink anything cold and do not eat something cold, ice cream or like this, for some days. So, still your throat is not good, and we will not eat ice cream, okay?" They went home. But this desire: "Nice ice cream, want to eat in the night." He was sleeping very deep, and now he is dreaming. The doctor said, "You can eat ice cream." And without asking, his wife said, "Let's go and have ice cream." Wife is sometimes like a mother. So they went to eat ice cream, dreaming. They bought a good ice cream in the bowl, colorful. And he took the spoon of ice cream, coming near the lips. And the alarm was ringing. Oh, God. He wakes up, no ice cream, no spoon. Now, this desire which you could not fulfill even in the dream, what will happen with that desire? It will go back to your subconscious, and it will repeat again sometime. If you were not able to fulfill it, after some time the desire will lose its form, and it will become a matter between you and your wife. They call it conflict, and then someone will say, "Well, you need some psychologist. Go to the psychologist to analyze what is the problem." You come to the psychologist, and he asks you many questions. Well, how should he know what problem you have? He may gaze and ask the question, and question, and question. And he asked, "When do you have mostly conflict between both of you? Which time?" So, I will not tell a long story, but we go to market and we see some shopping or this and then. Suddenly, we begin to quarrel. Then he puts the questions: apples and strawberries and grapes, or mangoes and bananas, or something eating, or pizza or spaghetti or something like this, many things, or ice cream. And his eyes went down psychologically. I think both of you should go and enjoy ice cream, and next time we will speak, and the problem was solved. So those desires are those things which you could not fulfill or realize. After some time, it becomes a problem which has no form. And this is how you can analyze through meditation. Now you know what is the problem, but how to solve that problem, that is another thing. And there you have to use two powers or two techniques. One is called mantra. A mantra is some powerful word or sentence. It has a positive also and negative also: black magic, white magic, no magic. There are so many magics. One sentence can create love, or one sentence can create the enemy. That is called the power of the words, or the power of the mantra. For example, there is very important work depending on some government officers or the employee. And it has to be done today. And you go to a certain office, it is already six o'clock in the evening, and they are closing the office nearly. But you run and you say, "Dear sir, please. It is very important. Only today is the last date. We need only your signature. Please, sir." These are kind words, no? Though he is very busy, he will say, "Okay, I will do it." Because you came with such positive sentences: "Dear sir, please, can you do this?" Or you say different: "Hey, bloody one, stupid guy, do it." You know what will happen? I did not explain. You will have to search for a dentist the next day. So one sentence which is spoken through your mouth and tongue can create the law of harmony, or one sentence which is also spoken with the same mouth can create the enemy. Therefore, the mantras which create within us a harmonious energy in this water are called so first, which you have. During meditation, you should use the mantra. Meditation without mantra is a body without soul. It is only a photo, but we need real practice. Suppose there is a very beautiful picture of a horse on the wall. I ask you, "What is this?" and you say, "It is my horse." Then we go cycling to your farm, and there is a horse. I said, "Oh, what is that?" "Is my horse, same horse which you saw the picture, very good, on the wall the picture hanging is." A horse in the field grazing is also a horse. Now we need, we would like to go for riding. Which horse will you take, this picture horse or the real horse? Therefore, tons of theory is nothing compared with a gram of practice. Therefore, if you would like to be successful in your meditation, you need to have a good mantra. Then, second, that is called disciplined everyday practice. Five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour, it depends on your time. That will help you to purify your subconscious. If you are not able to purify the subconscious in this life, then this will go with you as a vāsanā, a desire, in the form of destiny. And that will come in the next life and follow you still. Some people think, "Oh, I will die, it is all problems. When I die, problems are gone." That is not correct. Do not run away from the problems. Face the problems. Solve the problems. That is why God gave us many, many different principles, so that karmas or vāsanās, the desires, the impressions, whatever we call them now. In the next life, it is stored in our unconscious level. And some problems which we have now may be the cause or fruits of our past life's actions. Now, if we believe or we do not believe. Belief cannot change reality. I do not believe in God; it does not mean that there is no God. I believe in God; it is good, but it does not mean there is a God. I do not believe tomorrow the sun will rise. You say, "No, no..." Tomorrow, the sun will rise. I believe it will not rise, and in the morning you will come to me and say, "Look, Mr. Swami, what is that? The sun rose." So, if I believe in rebirth or not, that does not change it. It will be, that is all. And it is called reincarnation. Modern technology has taken one word from reincarnation; they call it recycling. Do you believe in recycling or not? Then there is a problem to believe reincarnation. Some years ago, there were no words, recycling, that is it. But now slowly we realize what problem is there about pollution. So this is the matter of the consciousness, and it is in the chakras. It is not that I make an advertising, but what I am telling you, you should read. In this chakra book, Hidden Powers in Humans are very simply written in it, very clear. Everyone can understand the hidden powers in humans. If you do not like it after reading, you can give it back to me, no problem. But what I am calling this is the touch of the consciousness and our life, and many different qualities in our body, are connected with the energy centers. Energy centers are connected with our past karmas and present karmas, the energy centers. So, this is a little glimpse of yoga. Now I will cut off this subject. The question came: how to realize the super consciousness through this life? But this life is not long. How to do meditation, mantra, prayers? We do believe in God. It does not matter which kind of form you believe. We believe there is only one God. In Hindus, there is only one, and that is called Brahman. Only that one God, one in all and all in one. In my glass, I see the moon's reflection. In his cup, he is drinking also, has the same moon reflection. In your glasses also, have the same moon reflection. But in the sky, there are not so many moons, at least in our solar system. But it is in every glass, so the one in all. All in one, and therefore there is only one God. But time to time, some cosmic energy power incarnates, that we also call God. Different parts of the world, different incarnations of God, different belief. So it is said, live long. And that means healthy life. Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health, some philosopher said. And in yoga and Āyurveda, it is said the first happiness is a healthy body. The second happiness is that you have material things, what you need in your house. The third happiness is your partner is obedient, with mutual understanding. Otherwise, life is like a horror. Many of you know. It is behind you, perhaps. The fourth happiness is good, obedient children. Nowadays, how children are educated, which direction our world is going, it is very difficult. We love our children very much, we give them what they want, but how they are developing nowadays is not so good. Next, happiness is a good neighbor. It is very important. So these are the happinesses of life: good health through good nourishment and movement. That is why in yoga there is one small part that is called exercises, they call them āsanas, and it is taken from nature. Therefore, there are some postures called tiger, cat, cobra, crocodile, the birds, and so on, because we see that nature knows how to regulate their health and how to remain healthy. Therefore, yoga exercises are also very important. So yoga postures, yoga exercises now, and as psychosomatic movements, there is no competition and no challenges. If someone comes to make a competition with you, then a yogī will say, "You are the winner, okay? We do not need many more competitions." Competition is there where the ego challenges are there, where there is an ego greediness. So we have to go out of this. So exercises, physical exercises coordinated with the breath. When we were born, what did we do first? We inhaled. And what will we do last in this life? Exhale and will not be able to inhale anymore. So long is our breath, from one soul to other soul, from birth till death. Between is only waves. So to regulate our breath, that is very important in yoga. It is said for everyone, the breaths are given. How many times one will breathe in and out, and then be finished. So prāṇāyāma can prolong our breaths, which means to prolong our life. After that comes the beautiful part, relaxation or meditation. This will make our life comfortable and happy. And all this can only be if you practice. You can ride only a real horse, not the picture. So what I told you, it was all information. Now you are not a yogī. If you think, "I heard the lecture, and now I am the yogī." Well, something you got, it is no problem. But if you wish, then you have to practice. So this is a little information.