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Life is a problem yoga is solution

A discourse on integrating yoga into daily life to overcome personal and existential problems.

"When we practice yoga, first of all, we practice the physical postures... yoga exercise is done slowly, gradually, with concentration."

"It is you who is the cause of all problems... So, create a loving relation to thyself."

A spiritual teacher addresses a gathering, presenting yoga as a holistic solution to life's inherent struggles. He outlines a practical path starting with physical āsanas and prāṇāyāma, leading to concentration and meditation, emphasizing self-responsibility, the cultivation of positive memory, and the management of fear. The talk concludes with blessings for health and self-realization.

Filming locations: Om Vishvadip Gurukul Ashram, Jardhan, Pali, Rajasthan, India.

DVD 473

In human life, each person faces a different situation. Everyone has different psychic problems, social problems, family problems, political problems, and intellectual problems. When one looks within, one finds restlessness and distress; there is no contentment in life. Can we do something? Yes, the answer is the practice of yoga in daily life. There are two fundamental aspects to our life. The first is this world. Since this world exists, and especially since the human race has developed on this planet, different situations arise because humans try to create another world. Humans always think this will be better or that will be better. Of course, humans try their best to make a comfortable life for themselves and for other creatures. But still, the man-made world is not perfect, while the God-made world is perfect. The second aspect is oneself. When we see ourselves in the external world, we are not content. This can be due to relations—with family, a partner, business partners, friends, neighbors—and different circumstances: health problems, financial problems, social problems. We try very hard to settle the situations in our life. But if humans accept the world as it is and go deeper within, then you will see that you are not a part of those problems. You are the Ātmā, the eternal one, and that is untouchable by all these problems. It is completely detached from all of this, and that is why life is changing. After some time, you will say goodbye to this life and go to different parts of the universe, to different lokas. Who knows? Maybe you will come back, or you will not come back at all. It is not certain you will return to this planet, but we are attached to it in the present time. We would like to come back, but on the other hand, when you go far away from this planet, you will be ejected immediately. You will have no attachment, no wish to come back, and you will find new relations in space. There is life there, too. Every planet has life, and every empty space has life. You will adjust yourself to that life, which is your new beginning. You will like it; you will be happy. According to the system of that planet, you will manage your life. But still, there will be problems too—a different kind of problem, but that is also a problem. You may call it Pitraloka, you may call it Svargaloka, you may call it Vaikuṇṭha, you may call it Heaven, and so on. Therefore, after long practice, long meditation, and research work, great ṛṣis found a solution. They found a way, and that way revealed that we have lost the path. We are going round and round in this universe, but our inner search is to come to that origin point where we will no longer exist as an individual. It is very simple. It is just like waves on water. Waves will be waves as long as there is motion, but one day those waves will merge into the ocean. Similarly, this individual, when they practice in this world—our world, though it is a mṛtyu-loka, the mortal world—there is still a system through which we can come to self-realization or to oneness. For our information, this world is created to become one with the universal One. This is the door to the universal One. This is the door to self-realization, and here we come to yoga. When we practice yoga, first of all, we practice the physical postures, what we call in yoga, āsanas. Each āsana you practice is different from other sports. The difference between yoga postures or yoga exercises and sport is this: yoga exercise is done slowly, gradually, with concentration, and by remaining for a while in a particular posture. Yoga exercises, or āsanas, influence our body first of all. Though the body is mortal, still, this body is the temple of our ātmā. This body is our own home. The real home where we have been living from birth until today is this home. Therefore, this home should be kept clean and well-maintained, meaning healthy. Health cannot be given to you; health you have to gain. So every yoga posture is very scientific, designed carefully to understand the body, mind, and spirit of that person. It influences our muscles, our gland systems, the ligaments, the organs, the circulation, and so on. Therefore, first, the yoga postures, the yoga exercises, which are done slowly, are very healthy and very good. Secondly, the breath. Breath is life. Life is breath. When we were born, what we did was inhale. And what we will do last is exhale and cannot inhale anymore. The breath exercise supplies more oxygen to our body, and that means more purification for our body and the regeneration of the systems in the body to become healthier. This spot where we are sitting, in this ashram, Om Viśvadīp Gurukul Ashram, Jardhan, Rajasthan, Pali, is a pollution-free spot. We have tried very hard for the last 18 years, especially our Swami Yogesh Purī, who takes great care of our environment here, and also our Ashok Kanand, Swami Jasrāj Purījī, Premānandjī, and other Karmayogīs living here, like Maṅgalmaṇī. They always ensure that no artificial chemicals or pesticides are utilized here. Everything is organic, and so the quality of life here is different from anywhere else. Of course, many parts of the world, even in India, in the Himalayas, in the forest, also have beauty. But unfortunately, people are utilizing too much pesticide and too much smoke from different vehicles and machines. Here is a wonderful place. So early in the morning, best would be at 5:30 or 5:00, you come to this park and practice your prāṇāyāma here. It is unbelievable how good the prāṇa is in this part of the land, in the ashram area. That will help you very much for many things. Therefore, do your prāṇāyāmas. When the body and mind, through prāṇāyāma, are healthy and balanced, automatically you will feel that you are free from stress. Immediately, all systems in the body will relax, and especially your thoughts will become calm. That means now you will manage or create a new relation to your own self. What does that mean? It means your intellect will turn back to your real self, to your ātmā, and you will begin to think, "Yes, what I worry about is really not necessary. What I try to do so hard is not as hard as I think." Yes, it is only that you are physically sometimes tired, and that is good that you are tired. Because if you are not tired, you will work and work and work. You will have no time to meditate, no time to practice your yoga, and you will have no time for sleeping because you want to work. So this is good; what Mother Nature or God has given is such a system that after a certain time you feel tired. That is a signal that you should relax. Relax also means sleep. Sleep is very important for our body. When you are sleeping, it means now your motor has gone for service in the mechanical garage. It went for service the whole night. You are sleeping; you think you are sleeping, but all the systems in the body are repaired again, properly checked, and more oxygen is coming. Therefore, before going to sleep, you should take care that you have good air in your room. After that comes concentration. Nothing can be realized without concentration, except by accident, and that we do not need or want. So, concentration. Concentration means observe your thoughts, observe your mental activities, observe your emotional waves, and observe your physical movements. Utilizing your observation and your intellect, ensure that what you are doing is not harming someone, not destroying something, but that you are supporting something, taking care of it. When concentration is there, your memory will improve. Therefore, yoga, āsanas, and prāṇāyāmas are a great help to develop memory. We are very thankful to God, and I congratulate you all that you are healthy and have good memory. Can you imagine suddenly forgetting what your name is? Can you imagine suddenly forgetting which country you are from? While driving, can you imagine not knowing where you are going, why you are going, and from where you came? It is horrible. If memory is lost, everything is lost. How is memory recorded in our brain? In which part? How is it recorded and how does it regenerate? How quickly can you find again what is what? Everything is preserved in our brain centers, and that is very close to our emotion, our intellect, and our feelings, so that we can utilize it. Therefore, another point in yoga is to develop memory. Memory about good things, and when something happens, bad things, memory will also present you again with the origin. The evidence will never die. The evidence is recorded in your mind. But with a positive way of thinking, a positive way of living, you will overcome that suffering and give a positive answer to those problems you are facing. That, yes, it is like that. It can happen. It happened. But only, I pray to God now, it should not happen anymore. And definitely it will not happen, because whatever happened from your side, it was your ignorance, your weakness; you did not know, or it happened through someone. Still, you are happy because the others did not know what they were doing. Therefore, do not see the mistake in them, but understand that they were doing or are doing it because they still do not know what they are doing. As it is said in the Testament, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Similarly, if we have such compassion in our heart for others, many problems will be solved. So concentration. Concentration means to see things in a different way. See things as they are, exactly how they are. Do not manipulate them in the way you would like to see. No, try to see as it is, and that will help you very much to develop your memory and overcome your fear. Now, anxiety is the biggest problem in the world. Not only humans are scared, but other creatures also have fear. Why the fear? Mostly the fear is of death, the fear that something will happen, that it will be painful, and that I will be suffering. This kind of fear, in one way, is healthy. If you have no fear, then you will not take your life seriously. An accident will happen. Many things will happen, and that is not good. When fear appears, then you are alert, you are aware, and you try to protect yourself. So God made a self-protecting system, and that self-protecting system is also a kind of fear. Therefore, if you have some fear, do not worry. Do not think that this is unhealthy; it is healthy, but only when things are still okay. Everything is okay, and still you are afraid—that is not healthy. That means you still did not understand what is the cause of your fear. So, the inner anxiety we can overcome and realize through the practice of our mantra. And creating understanding, or what we call ahiṃsā, creating tolerance, creating understanding and forgiveness, that will help us very much to overcome the fear sometimes in our inner being. Now, in modern language, they speak of the nervous system. They say, "My nerves are very weak. I have depression. I have anxiety in me. I am very nervous." Well, it is not the nerves. Your nerves are very good. Your nerves have good function. Your nerves are not weak. It is the feelings there. That feeling is there which should be removed. For example, you go for an operation, and the doctor gives you a local anesthesia injection, and a particular part of the body becomes senseless. You cannot feel anything, but it does not mean that part of the body is not functioning anymore or that this nerve is not functioning anymore. No, it is not like that. It is something there which influences the nervous system so that you do not feel. Therefore, one should never say, "My nerves are very weak. I lost my nerves." No, you did not lose your nerves; your nerves are not weak, but the particular situation reminds you of something, that is all. Therefore, memory can also be very terrible, because memory brings the truth, and the truth is very hard to digest. But if you can understand the truth, and you understand both sides—why it happened—it is not that it happened because of someone, but also it happened because of your side. Suppose in this garden you are sitting here alone, and a tiger comes and attacks you. Now you say the tiger is very bad and so on, but it is not a mistake of the tiger only. Why are you sitting here? If you are not here, the tiger will not attack you. So the problem is on both sides. You are there. You are the cause of that problem, not that someone did something to you, but you are the cause because you are there. And so, you are there means you are the father or mother, you are there as a husband or wife, you are there as the children, or you are there as a business partner. Anything that happens in our life happens because we are there. Therefore, in yoga, it is said very clearly that a yogī should take care of four things: āhāra, the diet; vihāra, where to go and where not to go, with whom you should speak, with whom you should not speak, where you should sit, where you should not sit; ācāra, behavior. It is you who attract someone through your behavior. If you do bad things, you force others to be angry with you. Anything happening, it happens to you, not to someone else. Therefore, behavior and vichāra, thinking. Think positively to protect yourself with self-protection. So, āhāra, vihāra, ācāra, and vicāra—these are four principles. Āhāra means the diet. Vihāra: where to go, where to sit, with whom, how to speak, and so on. Ācāra: our behavior. Vicāra: our thoughts. These four principles can protect you very much, help you, or you can damage your health, your psychic state, and everything, and you cannot come out of the problem. So, try to learn to come out of the situation consciously. When you see something, there are two kinds of fruits. One fruit is very good, tasty, and healthy. But there are some fruits which are poisonous to the human body. So you should know this fruit is poisonous for me; I should not eat it. Or, let us say mushrooms. In the forest, different kinds of mushrooms are growing. Do not eat all kinds of mushrooms that you do not know. Only take that mushroom which you know is healthy and edible. That is why it is said, āhāra, vihāra, ācāra, and vicāra—this is very important to protect ourselves, self-protection in this way, which comes through meditation. Now, after concentration, you come to meditation. Why are you meditating? What does it mean to meditate? What is that? Actually, meditation is a room, a space, a state of being. That state of being where you are in a particular loka, everything is perfect, harmonious. And when you are in that stage of your mind or your consciousness, then many negative things are filtered out from yourself. After meditation, you come out very happy, relaxed, with divine feelings. And if in meditation you utilize your own mantra, then your life becomes divine. It is that mantra which is a supportive energy in your body, in your mind, and in your consciousness. It is a steering power which will lead you towards your divine self. Therefore, yoga in daily life, practicing what you practice—all of that is why you are so healthy and so happy, and that is why you are not angry anymore. And after this lecture, I will see if you are still angry or not. Now, there is another beautiful system. Many times you cannot manage not to be angry, not to be nervous, not to be depressed, and so on. Then there is a very good technique, very effective, perfect. Do Karma Yoga, Seva. When you do Seva, Karma Yoga, then a lot of your energy is put into those positive things. Or, there is another way also. Go for swimming if there is water and if you can swim. Take care there are no crocodiles inside. Otherwise, you will swim twice, the first time and the last time. Also, it is very good if you can run, go jogging, or sometimes people like to go riding. Do not ride only for your joy, but ride also with the feeling that this horse or camel, which you are riding, also has good feelings and walks and exercises through your being there. Therefore, it is said that riding is also very healthy, and the animal, the horse, has such a feeling towards you, a trust. Suddenly you have a relation to this horse, like your best friend, like your best companion with whom you can speak, to whom you can give your confidence. You know, when you stand near your horse and you give love to your horse, meaning you feed it, give it something to eat, and take care of it, it loves you more than you will love your horse. So these are ways for those people who cannot meditate, who cannot release those restless energies from themselves, and who are still in stress and feel lonely. Then they should do karma yoga or do some physical movements to create more positive energy in their body. People who escape from karma yoga mean they are still blocked. They have blockage inside. They cannot open. They cannot do something. And that is not a healthy way of life. So never hesitate to do anything good. Work is not bad. Bad is the feeling through which you are doing it. What kind of opinions do you have for that? So life has two parts: the external life and the inner life, and you have to work for both. You have to work for the external world as well as for your inner world. And do not blame anyone. It is you who are the cause of the problems. I am sitting here under this tree, and now birds are making something on my head. I should not be angry at this bird, not blame this bird. But I should blame myself that I should not sit under this tree because birds will make something. She should do something somewhere, no? Maybe the best toilet of the bird is that nice, clean branch. Therefore, if you would not be there, you will not be angry at the bird. So it is you who is the cause of all problems. Now it means that you should not be angry with yourself. It means you should not try to run away from yourself, no, again. This, and call the time and space the situation we have to deal with in our life. So yoga is not only making postures and sitting with closed eyes and meditating, but creatively observing the world and observing yourself. That will help you a lot to become relaxed, become healthy, and become master of thyself. And then you can give to others also, more. So think clear, be clear, and be aware that you are. It is you who have created this world for you, and when you are gone, this world is gone for you. So it is you who will do good things in this world, and the world will look completely different then, completely different. You change your way of thinking. Suddenly, everything is so beautiful and so nice. And you say, "Wow, I am so happy to be here. Thank you, God, you gave me this life. Ah, and how many friends do I have? My God, thank you, God. And especially, many are angry with me. Oh, God, that makes me so happy. Because people, when they are angry with me, they make me aware. That I have something to work on myself, to correct myself, some mistakes." Therefore, it is always you, no one else. Even if you did something to someone, it is you who did it. So do not blame the second, always thyself. Therefore, peace begins from your own heart, and health begins from your own efforts, and realization will begin also with your own practice, and mokṣa, liberation, will come also through your own work. It means understand Guru Vākya, then do the Guru Seva, and then you will get the Guru Kṛpā. Mokṣa mūlaṁ Guru Kṛpā. So I wish you all the best, and I pray to Mahāprabhujī for your good health and happy life. So think over what I told you. It is you who is the problem, who is the point of the problem, and only you who can understand and solve it. It is you who can forgive everyone, and on the day when you forgive that one, you will be the happiest person. And if you will not forgive, then you will be the most unhappy person, because all the time you will be angry or scared about that. So, create a loving relation to thyself. Create a clear relation to thyself. And always be ready, that sooner or later we will go away from this planet, and be ready to create a new life somewhere else. So all the best. God bless you. Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Thank you.

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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