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Dear brothers and sisters, practitioners of yoga and of life, welcome to all of you on any spiritual path. A warm welcome from the beautiful country of Slovenia, from its largest city, Kranj. This blessing comes to you from Kranj, Slovenia. Welcome, everyone, to our weekend program. Many have come from different countries, and I welcome you also on behalf of our Slovenian yoga brothers and sisters. The organizers have worked very hard and perfectly designed the program. This weekend is dedicated to meditation, titled "Discover the Hidden Powers Within Thyself"—to know the powers and talents within yourself. We have had several meditations, and this evening we continue with the same subject. Meditation is something from which a human can benefit greatly. It creates inner strength and helps improve the immunity in our body. There are three key aspects to meditation. It begins with concentration. According to Patañjali, the sequence is Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, and Dhyāna. Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, and Dhyāna are very important. Pratyāhāra means to withdraw thyself from external objects—to withdraw your senses, the jñānendriyas and karmendriyas, from the external world. This is not easy. If you cannot withdraw your senses, it means you are a victim of stress. The system of Yoga in Daily Life includes a program and meditation called Self-Inquiry Meditation. It helps you withdraw from the external world and become the master of your senses, like a driver in control of a car. The driver can speed up, slow down, or stop. Similarly, you should be capable of controlling your senses. Every sense is very helpful; otherwise, nature would not have given them to us. But you must know when and how to use them. You are the driver, and you can control your activities. Next comes concentration, dhāraṇā. Though the car is in your hands as a driver, and you have a strong motor and a good road, you must still follow the traffic rules. Without discipline, you will not be successful, and it can lead to complications with your health. Therefore, Patañjali said, "Atha yoga anuśāsanam"—yoga begins, and yoga needs discipline. Dhāraṇā is concentration, and then comes dhyāna, meditation. Self-Inquiry Meditation has been researched on all levels of consciousness and the functions of body, mind, and intellect. Those who practice it are successful. Those who cannot follow the principles and practice only from time to time remain with the same anger, jealousy, and hate as others. Consider sugar. How does it taste? Sweet. Now, how does chili taste? Hot. You bite it and say, "Boda, Boda, Boda!" Approaching boda—that's the chili. Chili makes you silly if you can't control it. And sugar... may I have a little more? So, daily practitioners, the yogī is like the sugar. The body and senses always ask for it. And one who does not follow discipline, who does not practice, is symbolically like the chili. Even if chili is mixed into sugar or ice cream, the chili retains its own nature. Similarly, if you are angry or jealous, thinking, "This person is wrong, that is not right; I say it is right," neither he is right nor are you. Only God is right. If you think someone is wrong, how beautiful—thank that person. That person gives you a beautiful job: to be relaxed and correct them with love. So when someone is angry and criticizing, you should be thankful. Jesus said, "If someone gives a slap on the left cheek, then, gently smiling, show the second cheek." When you smile and gently show the second cheek, that person will not slap the right cheek. They will give you a kiss, a nice kiss, and say sorry. That is a very subtle but powerful weapon to defeat the enemy. They may not realize it, but it doesn't matter. We need peace. Yoga in Daily Life is analyzed physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually, and it helps you to develop. So, what we call pratyāhāra (withdrawing) and dhāraṇā (concentrating on what we like) will merge into dhyāna, into meditation. When I eat ice cream, only I know the taste. It might be chili ice cream, or salty ice cream—why not? Or very sour. You will only see, "Oh, Swāmījī is eating ice cream." You see that I am eating, but you cannot feel the taste I feel. Therefore, speaking a lot and trying to show someone as guilty or find mistakes in them is very bad. We do not know others' tastes. Meditation is the way to the Self. But if we have negative thoughts or qualities, we create one barrier after another. We must remove these negative qualities. Meditation was designed for the individual self. It needs the strength to endure comfort and discomfort. This morning we had a nice meditation. I am sitting a little higher than you—not because I am Swāmījī, but so the last person can see me. If I sit lower, you cannot see. You want to see the speaker. If someone in front of you is constantly moving, and you are looking like this, it is a horror. I see who is doing it even now. Before you move, you should know you are disturbing the view of the person behind you. And the other one cannot see the next one. So-called good yoga teachers here were meditating today and changing their body postures every minute or half-minute. They were not yoga teachers. Meditation means motionless. Remain as you are. It needs training and instruction. In some countries, in front of the president's office, a military guard stands straight and motionless. Tourists come and take photos. For him, you do not exist. Only if you take a gun do you exist; the gun exists. So for a meditator, when he or she performs pratyāhāra (withdrawal), there are no movements. Endure the pain and pleasure, and awaken the inner strength. Send energy to remove pain from a particular part of the body. Like a doctor gives an injection of anesthesia and there is no more pain, you should give a mental injection: "I am not this body. Finished. I am not a knee; I am not a hip joint." Are you a hip joint? No. You are Ātmā. But you have no experience of the Ātmā because you do not practice. If they put me in front of the president's house like that, after half an hour I would send an SMS: "Please change me." That's it. Training and practice make perfect. Tons of theory are nothing without practice. A gram of practice is much better than a ton of theories. The aim of meditation is to realize God, and that needs love. When love is there, you do not feel pain. When love is there, you do not look at the watch. When love is there, you have no other interest. It is peaceful, happy, and joyful. You endure all troubles. Only those who have love know this. Worldly love is not real love; it will disappear. When it appears, it makes us happy, but when it disappears, it makes us unhappy. Not only does the love disappear, but it takes something away from us, like pulling a carrot from the earth—the carrot comes out and takes some earth with it, leaving an empty space. To feel that empty space is not easy. The joy of the joy you would like to enjoy is little compared to the pain of that joy. After this comes the technique called Vairāgya—detachment, self-control. It does not mean you deny or are against things, but that you have the strength to be above them, like a lotus flower above the water. The final love is love for God. For that love, you also have to offer many things: to offer all comforts, to endure all pains, and to accept all conditions of weather and seasons, with the faith that only my beloved God will take care of me. What can happen? The maximum is that this body will die, that's all. But I will always be with the Divine. I dedicate and surrender myself entirely. So, to not be aware of the temptations of the world, sit in meditation and create a barrier between worldly disturbances and yourself, so no temptation can enter through the walls of the castle in which you are sitting. Meditation is like bulletproof glass. No negative energy can come in. You are constantly protected and guarded by your Guru Mantra. To that person, no magic can have influence. No negative energy can attack you. You are secure from all negative energies and thoughts. When you meditate, even wild animals have fear of you and will move away, because God takes care of you. God guards you. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said, "Mādhavānanda ke ānanda, bhayabhārī ke ānanda"—at the happy heart, the highest ānanda, blissfulness. And in one bhajan he said, "Pal-pal leṭh sambhal, Mahāprabhujī is every second looking after me." Araja, suno, Śrī Dīp Dayāl. So meditation is a protection to become one with the cosmic Self. It creates happiness, security, relaxation, and gives you divine energy and divine consciousness. People begin to think, "Why is the yogī always meditating?" Research has been done on their energy, body, organs, and heart compared to others. Even in this troublesome world, only the yogī who practices real yoga in daily life has perfect health. "Yoga in Daily Life" means practicing yoga every day. That is it. It does not matter from which book or which master you are practicing, but you must do it every day. From time to time, I meet such people, and it is a big inspiration. How are they so healthy? You should introduce this to your insurance companies—for Yoga in Daily Life practitioners, to charge a lower premium fee. They will see that in one year, this person will not require any medicine. Do you want medication or meditation? Both have side effects. Medication has negative side effects, and meditation has divine side effects. That's it. So when you meditate, do not care about what is happening with your life and body. The joy we would like to enjoy is greater than worldly joy. That joy is the everlasting joy of yourself. God is Ānanda, supreme bliss. God is happiness, love, harmony, kindness, mercy, understanding, and forgiveness. That is thy Ātmā, and that is yourself. Therefore, after all these theories and practices, all the research done by great saints millions of years ago from the Satya Yuga, they said finally: know thyself. Self-realization is the answer to all your questions, the solution to all your problems, and the remedy for all your sufferings. So when you sing, "I am bliss. Bliss I am," try to feel that. If you cannot feel it, it means your Antaḥkaraṇa is not pure. Manas, Buddhi, Citta, and Ahaṅkāra are the four Antaḥkaraṇa. They are polluted; that is called Mal (impurity), Vikṣepa (disturbances), and Āvaraṇa (a thick curtain of ignorance). You cannot feel, and when you cannot feel this, you do not know if my ice cream has inside chili, salt, or sugar. If you could feel it, you would know my taste. So, forget your body for the time being. Keep it under control. Do not move like this. Ānandoham. There are people sitting beside you; you might hit someone. You are not the body. Do not feel pain. You should know that a person is not far more developed than you; therefore, you will feel his or her pain. So let us have a feeling of joy. Sit straight. Breathe deep in and out, and sing a nice melody—not just one kind of melody. Opera has other rāgas; satsaṅg has other rāgas. Rāga means attachment and desires, and we have vairāgya, detachment. Think of your ātmā. I am not the body, not this blood, not these organs, not this emotion. I am not this intellect, nor am I the mind. I am not ego, jealousy, kāma, krodha. I am not. I am Chidānanda Rūpa, Śivoham, Śivoham. I am Cidānanda Śavarūpa, Sat Cit Ānanda. Śiva means the universe, liberation, pure consciousness, beauty, and truth. Satyam Śivam Sundaram. I am that one. So I am not even the soul. I am not born, and I will not die. The body is born and will die. The soul is traveling. I am unmovable, everlasting, eternal, immortal, unmovable. Then why is your body moving? If you are unmovable, then make everything frozen through your inner strength. Discover the talent you have within thyself through meditation. Many people have realized that meditation can give you calmness, peace, relaxation. It is anti-stress and makes you happy. Then they also begin to meditate. So, Ānandoham, Andambram, like a wave. "I am bliss, I am bliss, bliss I am, Brahmānanda," the highest, supreme bliss. Let the waves go towards the supreme. You may close your eyes or keep them open. Feel the waves through the body. Feel that each and every chakra is purified and consciousness is passing through the chakras—your heart, liver, kidneys. All organs are filled with beautiful energy. Each and every blood cell recharges with this cosmic bliss and improves your immunity, granting you a long, healthy life—eternal, undestroyable, unchangeable, everlasting, immortal. If this consciousness awakens within you, you will never be angry, never sad, and never offended. If someone tells you that you are stupid, it makes no difference, because you are Ānanda Śavarūpa, the form of bliss. When the sun shines, all darkness is transformed into light. That is the meditation that will lead you. So, meditate every day. Sometimes do it slowly, like Oṃ chanting: Ānanda, let's awaken. Do not go into a trance. Do not become expressive. This will harmonize the body system. All your blood pressure and other problems will settle down. Nāda Rūpa Parabrahma—the sound is the supreme Self. Sing a little loud so we can all hear the resonance of the divine bliss. You had your dinner? Then where do you have energy?