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Asato mā Sadgamaya, lead us from unreality to reality. Tamaso mā Jyotirgamaya, lead us from darkness to light. Lead us from mortality to immortality. Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Peace, peace, peace. Salutation to the Cosmic Light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In the divine presence of the Supreme One. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to all of you. The subject given to me today is "Spiritual Awakening for World Peace." This is a subject I have taken up for 2008. All my programs around the world are dedicated to spiritual development and world peace. Of course, according to Yoga, and Yoga in Daily Life especially—you all know about Yoga in Daily Life—this is central. It is not the first time I am in Jilin. I have visited Jilin from time to time since 1974. Some of you were not born then, so you can imagine how many times I have been in this beautiful city. Yoga and the I-life have been in this country since 1973. Here in this city, I have many, many good friends and disciples. They live their lives very positively, very simply, with higher thinking and with thoughts of non-violence. Let our thoughts fly around the world now, and let's go to the past. How many wars took place on this planet? How many wars took place on this continent, Europe? How many young men died in the wars? How many children lost their father? How many young women lost their husbands? Let's come to the First World War, the Second World War, the communist era in your country, and the continuing wars in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, ex-Yugoslavia, and many, many wars. What happened to Afghanistan? Is this the aim of human life? Why? What is important for our life? What is something so special that, for the sake of our own happiness, we kill others? Is this the aim of human life? Is this what it means to be human? How much discrimination? Many, many things. Will this continue, and will humanity suffer forever, or is there an answer? Yes, there is. If we follow, if we accept and we work for that—don't think that you can't do it, no. Think like this: you are something in this world. Your voice will be heard. The United Nations declares in human rights that every voice will be heard. And Mahātmā Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see. Change yourself." Then you can change others. Don't expect that others will change. No, that's not it. What is the future of our children? What is the future of our country, and what is the future of this planet? In whose hands does this future lie? In humans. It is not that animals have created such a situation, but it is humans who create it: greed. The greed of the human is the most dangerous thing. Greed for money, greed for position, greed for power—this greed is killing all. Again, Gandhījī said, "Mother Earth has enough for our need, but not for our greed." So we are not only fighting and killing humans, but we are destroying our environment, this beautiful planet. This is now a burning question and one of the topics for the United Nations: how to find peace and tolerance? Peace can only come through tolerance, respect, and understanding. Tolerance towards all religions, respect for every culture, and understanding the situation of every nation and every person, every individual. If you are in trouble, I should not be happy. If I am in trouble, you should not be happy. That's it. Last month, there was a conference in Slovenia, in the capital city of Ljubljana. The invitation was given by the mayor of Ljubljana, and all the mayors of the capital cities of the European Union in Europe were invited. I was also invited as an honorable guest. There was a talk about peace and the situation in the world. One person spoke there. She said a few words: "I am coming from another country, will you speak with me? I have another religion, will you speak with me? I have another skin color, will you speak with me? And I have another language. Will you speak with me, yes or no?" That was the answer to world peace. This is the problem. So, dear brothers and sisters, peace begins from your own heart, and charity begins from your own home. We have to respect what we call the previous Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic now and Slovak Republic. Your country has a very good relation with the whole world and other countries. Czechoslovakia became an example which was not seen for many centuries, and this has been spoken of in many, many international conferences and in United Nations conferences. You should be proud of that. I was the first who was proud because you did not know—and that was the Czech and Slovak, both countries separated with such peace and harmony. No bloodshed was there, and that became a great example. So I congratulate you, and your country has very good respect, a good name, and good relations internationally. Now, in order to awaken the spirituality within us—we would like to awaken spirituality. What is spirituality? That is a very interesting subject. Is spirituality that I go to the church and meditate there? Or is it that I go to a Hindu temple and meditate there? Or in a mosque? Or somewhere else? That is a spiritual path, a religious path. Is a non-believer who doesn't believe in any religion or God—is he or she unable to be spiritual? Oh yes, they can. Spirituality means purity: pure thoughts, pure language, pure love, full of tolerance, respect, and understanding. So spirituality means purity, transparent, crystal clear. Then you can understand: love your neighbor. Otherwise, you cannot understand. Neighbor means all creatures, all next to you. How much love do you have for all? If we have love for all, we will not make war, because we understand. There are some people who are very greedy and very noisy; they will get their karma back. But due to one or two, we should not take the gun. That's it. So we have to go deep within ourselves and understand that person and support that person. Speak with that person. We will get more out through negotiation, but we will not get more out through creating war. Renounce and enjoy. Renunciation is very important. God has given to you what you need. My master used to say, even if you are a billionaire, you will eat only two pieces of bread. The millionaire doesn't eat tons every day. And it's not like the poor one will eat only two or three pieces of bread. If the subject of eating comes, the poor enjoy eating and the rich do not. The rich became the slave of property and wealth, and the poor remained healthy. So one saint, a very great yogī, said, "When you will die, not even half a crown, check crown, helā—even one helā will not go with you. Everything will remain here." Your country, your house, your money, your jewelry, your beautiful dress, your beautiful hair. Even this body will not go with you. What did you bring with you when you were born? And what will you take with you? Nothing. You came through your destiny, and you will go with the destiny. And the destiny is created through the individual. You are responsible for your destiny, good or bad. Every action has a reaction, and every reaction will have an action. And that's why the wars are there. In the blood of the human, the human blood is boiling in the fire of revenge. It's very hard to calm down, very hard to cool down. There is only one way. If I am hungry, I should know others are also hungry. And when my stomach is full, it does not mean that everyone's stomach is full. So, the practice of yoga and your Yoga in Daily Life will create pure thoughts and pure actions in your life. It will give you good health. In Āyurveda, one of the first and oldest medical systems in this world, that's it. First, happiness is a healthy body. Some European scientists said, "Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health." Therefore, Yoga in Daily Life has this system: physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. Yoga... It is not that kind of sport where there's competition. Yoga is not that kind of system where there are challenges. There's no challenge and no competition. To master thyself, to lead a peaceful life, and to understand that others also would like to be peaceful. All this depends on our body's function. All this depends on our hormones, and these all reflect on our mind. The mind is the messenger of your ten senses—ten senses of knowledge and ten senses of action. These senses are responsible for the thoughts, and thoughts are different: healthy thought, healthy life, healthy world; and ill thoughts, unhealthy life, and unhealthy world. So it is in your hands. I would like to have some demonstration here, and you can see these postures at home. You can do it; it's very simple. So any yoga teacher, if you would like to come? Please come. Umma Puri, come. Yes, yes, thank you. We welcome you. They are yoga teachers of Yoga in Daily Life, so they are tired. Please lie down on your back, head in the middle. Tuck, breathe. Anyone would like to come and join? Well, if you are tired, you are welcome. What is good about Yoga in Daily Life is it is very comfortable, very pleasant, and beautiful, and even more. Now, this posture, its name is called Ānanda Āsana. Ānanda means bliss. This posture is so beautiful, so good. Every one of us likes this. It doesn't matter if you are old or young, healthy or ill; finally you say, "Thanks to God." Why do you do this? Your body now is recharging the energy, life force, vitality, the prāṇa, cosmic energy. As soon as you give rest to your organs, muscles, nerves, and joints, then the cosmic energy begins to flow. And as a result, it pushes all the tiredness and negative energy out. And finally, we have to adopt this posture at the end of our life. If you don't do it, they will put you in this position, what we call eternal peace. But I personally pray and wish you a happy, healthy, harmonious, peaceful, long, long life. So when you come home from work, instead of drinking some coffee or something like this, you relax now. You can also lean on your chair like this and place your hands as you like. If you like to close your eyes, you do. If you don't like, don't do it. But there's nothing new will come, so better to close eyes and mentally follow my instruction. Three times deep inhale and exhale slowly. Inhale, exhale. Now relax the breath and withdraw yourself from the external world. Feel your whole body from the toes to the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. No tensions at all. Relax your legs, arms, relax your hands and fingers, your neck, and shoulders and your stomach muscles. Relax your face muscles, your lips, your eyeballs, your eyelids, and your eyebrow centers. No tensions at all, either physically or mentally. Say to thyself, "Just relax." Let me be one with myself. Relax during the time of the inhalation. Your body is recharging the cosmic energy, life force, life energy. As you inhale, energy enters your body. The body is slightly expanding, especially the trunk of the body. And when you exhale, all kinds of toxins are exhaled from the body. Tiredness is recovered. Be aware of your being here. Feel your body. Feel your breath. Come to your thoughts. Ask your heart. Do you wish all the creatures and the humans on this globe a happy life, like you are now happy and relaxed? I wish everyone good health, freedom, and happiness. Relax. You know that you are inhaling. You know that you are exhaling. You are the center of the universe. Let your radiance, your energy, your light shine for the sake of the whole world. I am free. I am relaxed. I am not scared. Thanks to God. It's a happy and beautiful life, and I wish this to all. Whole body relaxed. Feel your body. Feel each and every limb. Feel your breath. Now, slowly begin to breathe deep in and out. During the inhalation, feel the expansion of the body, and at the time of the exhalation, the contraction of the body. Become extrovert once again. Deep inhale and exhale, and move your fingers. Close the fist and open the palm. Close the fist and rotate your wrists. Stretch your hands. Stretch your shoulders up and down. Bring your palms together and rub your palms. Place the palms on the face. Under the palms, open your eyes. In your hands, and move your hands. This kind of relaxation will give you immense energy, will calm down your emotions, negative emotion, aggressivity, anger, hate—the whole day what you collect. It will help you, just a few minutes. Then you sit in one posture called Vajrāsana. Now, hands on the knees, your big toes are touching, your heels are flat, and you are sitting between the heels. Close your eyes. Keep your elbows relaxed, and keep your neck relaxed. This posture has so many good things. First of all, it will remove the tiredness of the body. It will help the energy to flow through the body. It will help to develop your digestion. It will help to remove the pain from your shoulders. It will help to remove the tension from the neck. It will help you to overcome asthma attacks; your lungs expanding, taking in immense oxygen freely. And this is the posture, especially when the woman has a cramp during menstruation; this will release the cramps. Within a few minutes, you will be free from this. Of course, there's another exercise especially for that, that we call Marjari. So, inhale and stand on the knees. You are not on the... Two, look to your stomach. Now, this posture itself expresses how the entire back muscles are stretching. And you will feel the stretching through your buttocks, even till your anus and the genital organs. So on the other side, now your abdominal muscles are contracted. So expansion and contraction. And now, contrary, inhale, look up, and let your belly hang, let your stomach hang. You will feel this pulling, stretching from the nostrils. If you have a problem with breathing, then after this, both nostrils will be free and you can breathe freely. At the same time, stretching the throat muscles, chest muscles, and the stomach muscles. It helps our digestion, the alimentary channel, and intense time for digestion is going deeper—the expansion, stretching, and not only the trunk of the body but also your toes, foot soles. This is something beautiful and very easy. Exhale. Now the posture itself gives you information. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Nine, inhale, exhale. And by the third round, no more cramps. Happy girls, close your eyes, hands on the thighs. Now you will feel that your concentration is different. Your way of thinking is different. Why? Because you became one with thyself, that's it. You were not aggressive, you were not violent, you were not sad, and you feel so beautiful. Of course, you can't do it on the chair now; otherwise I wish everyone would do it. But your yoga teacher will do this with you. So this is the basic position, the Vajrāsana. And many in Islam, when they pray, they sit in this posture because it develops the concentration of the being and opens your heart chakra. You will better understand yourself, and you will understand better your friends, colleagues, and family. And another one, which is stronger than this, has a very quick or immediate effect. Also, for the male, it is very good for the prostate. And it is very good for all of us, this lower part of the body, for circulation. Also, for the chest, chest muscles. Never do in a hurry. Even do only one or two postures, but peacefully, nicely. They can show you in half a minute, but that will not affect you. Next one is a big brother. You know about big brother is watching. So the big brother of the cat is a tiger. That effects immediately. One, left knee touching the forehead, three, four, five. Six, seven, eight, and nine come up, and ten. One, when the tiger is angry, then the hands go more high, otherwise it's like this to the right knee. Go ahead. And this posture is very, very good for our intense times: stomach muscles, thigh muscles, spinal column. It tranquilizes our thoughts. Pomaḷī, it is. You have to become one with the body and body movement and with the breath, nine or ten. Now, when the tiger is not anymore aggressive, and relaxed, and peaceful, and satisfied, then he relaxes. Now, our tigers will relax. Prāṇaśānti relaxation has equal effect for our health. The movements and relaxation should be balanced and coordinated with the breath and self-awareness. Immediately, peace will begin in your heart. So you see, there was no prayer, there was no religion, and there were also no non-believers. It is a pure physical, mental, social, and spiritual science for your happy life, for your healthy life, and for your family and society to be happy, relaxed, practice non-violence, and practice forgiveness. So, in this way, yoga can help the world. It is a challenge, this climate change, the global warming, these climate disasters. It is a challenge for the people. Two things can help: turn your life to vegetarianism and practice yoga. It will be what we call heaven on Earth. Otherwise we haven't... When the tiger is relaxed, everything is in order. Then they slowly get up and they move to their place. Thank you very much. So that relaxation you can take as a meditation. If you do longer, you can do it in sitting. Now remain with the breath, and I will give you some technique. You all can do it if you want. If you don't want, just look, but then don't complain, "Why does he have such good benefits and not me?" By looking, your stomach will not be full. You have to eat. So sit straight. Breath has three levels. The chest breathes like a rabbit or a dog. Then, here, the breast breath—that's also not good. Those who breathe from here quickly have a short life. Those who breathe from here, it's medium. But the third one is from the abdomen. When I put water in this glass, the level of the water ascends. When I suck the water out of this glass, the level of the water goes down. This is the same system for our breath. So inhaling from the abdomen first, the stomach should expand, then in the chest, and then exhale first from the chest and then from the stomach. I always had a problem showing people, so someone advised me, "Let your stomach become bigger." So, for the sake of demonstration for you, I have a little bigger stomach, okay? That's it. I have to think of everyone, not of me. So look to me, I will inhale, and now I will exhale. At home, you should practice this. Then, just a few minutes after the bathroom and cleaning your mouth and nose, you do one exercise called Kapālbhāti, and then feel how you feel. Now we will do it, and you will tell me how you feel. In Kapālabhāti, inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose, but a little stronger, like a blacksmith. I will demonstrate. Inhale through the mouth, exhale through the nose. If you do like this, you will have a problem. You know my guarantee. Therefore, sit straight, or don't do it. So, straight and relaxed. Exhale like this. Inhale through the mouth, otherwise you will have a problem. It's a learning process, okay? Now, listen to me. Like a locomotive starts. No? The steamboat. It goes like that, okay? So, when the locomotive enters into the tunnel, then it goes like this. It comes out, so it is. Thank you. So, you heard today about the world situation. You heard today about different wars. You heard about the principles of Gandhījī: "Be the change you want to see." And you heard about yoga, how yoga influences our life in a positive way for world peace. What is spirituality? Spirituality is free from religion, or without religion, and how yoga can help you to come to yourself, and how to help thyself for certain problems which are within the trunk of the body, and how to help our lungs and the rest next time. God bless you. Are you? Thank you. Thank you.