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Asato mā sadgamaya. Tamaso mā jyotirgamaya. Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya. Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. Salutations to the Cosmic Light, the Lord of our Hearts, Omniscient and Omnipresent. In His Divine Presence, a very good evening, dear brothers and sisters. To the respected Mayor of the city, Mr. Kostinic, and his colleagues, to the dear organizers and media: this is my third visit to this beautiful city. Today I had the opportunity to meet your respected Mayor, who gave me wonderful information about this place. It is a uniting place where many nations and cultures come together. Where there is a human, there is a culture, and where there is a culture, there is a human. Culture travels with humans. Wherever Slovaks go, they bring Slovak culture. Wherever Ukrainian people go, they bring Ukrainian culture. And wherever Indians go, they bring Indian culture too. Many of you know India. Have you been? If not, you are welcome. India is known as a cradle of cultures; every culture and religious belief in the world flourishes there. It has a very ancient culture. I am happy to be in this multicultural city, and I thank you for coming. This evening’s subject is “Harmony for Body, Mind, and Soul,” of course through yoga in daily life. Yoga is yoga. Different teachers, with their different experiences, have assembled different techniques and given them particular names. Similarly, I try to draw from authentic ancient literature—ancient wisdom for modern times—which I call Yoga in Daily Life. But yoga is yoga, so we talk about yoga. Wherever in the world you find humans, you will find yoga. It has become international; every fourth person practices some kind of yoga. First, I would like to explain what yoga actually is and how old it is. I will go far beyond our memories, to the most ancient written scriptures in human existence: the Vedas. Veda means knowledge—knowledge about the entire universe: each planet, thousands of solar systems, our beautiful planet, creatures, humans, the body, the mind, the soul, consciousness, and the Self. It is said: Ananta Brahmāṇḍa, the endless universe. The sky—we do not know where it begins or ends—the space is known as the body of a mother. This universe is known as the cosmic mother. Now, within that space is consciousness, known as Hiraṇya Garbha, the golden egg. In Christianity, there is a festival called Easter where the egg holds a great symbol. Exactly—it is that which the Vedas described: Hiraṇya Garbha, the golden embryo, consciousness. Space and consciousness. In this hall also, there is a third principle: that which unites, balances, and harmonizes space and consciousness, the cosmos and cosmic consciousness. That principle is known as yoga. The fourth principle is energy, which from time to time is moving. It is said that in the cosmic consciousness—you may call it the cosmic Self—one wish, one desire arose, what we call divine will: Ekohaṃ Bahuśyāmī: “I am one, and now I will multiply.” That multiplying began with resonance, with sound. First, in the endless, awoke the sound, the resonance: Upaparabrahma. So the form of the supreme, what we call God or the Divine, is resonance. Then it said: Ananta Brahmāṇḍa, Śāstra Sūryas—endless universe and thousands of solar systems. Millions of planets and stars were created by that one resonance awakening in the universe. From that, our planet also manifested. Again, the same principle created the fire element, the air, the water, and the earth. The space was and is. These five elements were brought together, harmonized, balanced, united, and so creation began. On this planet, creatures are divided into three categories: Jalchar (creatures in the water), Thalchar (on the earth), and Nabchar (in the space). All these different kinds of creatures are declared to be 8.4 million. Out of these 8.4 million, one is the human. We know how many billions of humans exist. How many other creatures are there? Each entity represents one soul, and each soul is that resonance which comes from the very beginning. That resonance is still there now. Nothing exists where there is no resonance—it doesn’t matter if it is metal, sand, stones, or empty space. Through meditation, if you go far into the universe, you will hear a beautiful resonance which we cannot hear here in this civilized world. This information was collected and experienced by the so-called ancient sages or yogīs. All these different souls on the planet as life, or in the astral world as astral beings, or at different levels of the universe—they all originated from One. One in all, and all in one. Any kind of liquid here on this planet originates from one ocean. This individual soul, fluttering on the waves of time through the endless universe, experiences happiness, unhappiness, pain, pleasure, darkness, and light. Do you know your past? No. Thanks to God. If we knew how we were suffering in our last life, we would be even sadder. Each entity, each soul, represents that cosmic light. The aim of all this is to come back to the origin. Every creature, day and night, is active to be happy. But real happiness is there, and that is called the Self or ātmā. The individual soul—you, me, and others—we are individual, and we have our destiny. Destiny is a production of our deeds. Whatever we do—even breathing in and out, eating, digesting, walking, talking—that is what we call in Sanskrit karma, and you call deeds. Good actions will have good results, and bad actions will have bad results. So now we are the victims of our destiny. Action is in your hands, but the result of your action is not in your hands. Suppose I have a stone in my hand. I can keep it, or I can throw it. The decision is mine. But as soon as I throw the stone, it is gone out of my hands; it is not under my control anymore. It will hit that point, whether it is a human, an animal, a stone, a tree, or anything. So anything you do, you have the freedom to do, but you should know what fruits it will bear. Destiny is not only influencing us in this world; it is the waves, the wind of destiny, that will lead us to different lives. As individuals, we have our decisions, our deeds, and our destiny. Every action will have a reaction, and every reaction will have an action again. So we do not know if we are in this life as a reaction or an action. Therefore, the soul is not in harmony. Ask yourself: are you happy? Temporarily, yes. We try day and night to become happy, but sometimes that happiness becomes the biggest unhappiness. The joy of that joy which you would like to enjoy—there is less joy than the sorrow of that joy. The harmony of the soul appears when our world, our environment, our surroundings are balanced and happy, and finally, with God. Whether you believe or do not believe, it does not change reality. Australians say now is night, and when you meet them, they say, “Good morning.” But we say, “Stupid, it’s evening.” Belief does not change. If the blind believe there is no sun, it does not mean there is no sun. Politics, philosophy, and all these beliefs cannot change reality. Reality is there; there is a higher consciousness, and that higher consciousness is our origin. That is called cosmic consciousness. Out of 8.4 million different creatures, humans have a very powerful tool called intellect. You can decide, you can act, you can think. Due to this, we have immense hidden powers within ourselves. Of the thousands of talents we have, perhaps one percent are awakened. But through our intellect, actions, and discipline, we can awaken the dormant talents in our body—maybe concentration, maybe some skill. Learning awakens talent within us. Suppose you cannot drive a car; you have no experience, you never drove. Now you practice for a few weeks, and you can try. That means a dormant talent has awakened in you. So, one after another, layers open through our intellect. The cosmic consciousness is then called higher consciousness, then consciousness, then subconsciousness, and unconsciousness. Our soul experiences all levels of consciousness, but at present we are stuck in three: unconscious, subconscious, and conscious—awake, sleep, and dream. The unconscious level of every individual is that storeroom where past lives and all karmas lie dormant. As long as we do not purify that storeroom of unconsciousness, we cannot proceed further. The subconscious level—from the beginning of our life in our mother’s body until now—all good or bad experiences in this life are recorded or stored there. The conscious is where we are now, awake. Now we come to the mind. I know you know what a mind is, but in yoga there is a very concrete explanation. I will explain this in a little detail. We come to our body. Our body is made of five elements, but within it are the soul, the Self, consciousness, memory, thoughts, the mind, emotion, and what not—happiness, love, joy, anger, hate, jealousy, greed. Yes, we have them. In this small body, you know, it can explode like an atom bomb. Thanks to God, they are all dormant. Jealousy is very bad. Anyhow, we have five senses of knowledge and five senses of action. Whatever we learn from childhood until now—in school, college, university, with friends, with parents—is only through the five senses. Thanks to God that all our five senses are healthy. First, vision: color and objects. You see me today; any time in the future you see my picture somewhere, you will say, “Oh yes, I know that Indian.” Forever, my picture is recorded in your consciousness. First sense. Second, sound. Everything we learn through sound, even now. Third, smell. We can identify what kind of smell it is. Fourth, taste. Fifth, touch, the skin. These are the five senses. Now, whatever we experience through one or all five senses is immediately recorded in our intellect. The intellect is ever free, empty, ready to get new messages. It is like a camera film; what we experienced is rolled back. Where did it go? The subconscious. So the mind is that principle which takes the information and brings it to the subconscious. When someone is talking to you—your wife is talking to you, but you are thinking something else—your mind is not there. Your wife says, “Do you understand what I said?” “Oh no, can you explain once more?” Because your mind was not there, it could not take the things inside. Whatever you experienced went to the subconscious through the mind. Every experience or impression, when transferred to the subconscious level, works there and becomes a desire, and comes out again like smoke from fire. Now it has no form. From the subconscious, the desire is brought up by the mind. The mind does not know what it is. The mayor of the city gives you a closed envelope to pass to someone. You should not open it, and you do not know what is inside. Similarly, the mind is a messenger, bringing the message from here to there. The principle of the mind is the moon, and the principle of the moon is changing. Moon means emotion. Emotion means you are in motion. Sometimes emotion is so strong you cannot master it. Emotion has many forms: anger, hate, jealousy, happiness. Many of these are emotions. So our mind is never equal. We say, “I change my mind.” So the mind is not responsible. Do not trust your mind, but analyze your mind. The mind is very correct. Now it brought the hidden desires from the subconscious to the conscious level, and the conscious is connected with the intellect. The principle of intellect is to give judgment: what is what? Then automatically, that desire is transferred to that organ or sense of the body. Suppose you are walking with your friend, wife, or husband through a beautiful pedestrian street in Humenné, and you see a beautiful ice cream shop. Who does not want to eat ice cream? The husband tells his wife, “Let’s go and eat ice cream.” Good husband? No, my dear. A good husband will never ask why. If he asked why, she would have an answer. So the husband knows why his wife does not want to. That is called mutual understanding. So the husband is silent. The wife feels pity and feels to give him an explanation why not. She says, “Remember, the doctor told you, ‘Do not eat ice cream for ten days,’ because you have a problem with the vocal cords.” You say, “Yes, I know. Let’s go home.” After three days, you dream. Look, the desire which you could not fulfill is now being brought into the dream level. You dream your wife is inviting you for ice cream. She says, “Now twenty days have gone. Let’s go enjoy and have ice cream.” You are so happy, and she orders two bowls. You take a spoon, the ice cream comes near your lips—still four centimeters away—and the alarm rings. No ice cream; it was a dream. Now what will happen to this desire? It will go again to the subconscious. It will repeat a few times, then turn into disappointment. It goes to the subconscious and loses form, and that will create a conflict between you and your wife. You do not know why, and she does not know why. Then you go to a psychiatrist or psychologist. A good psychologist will say it is psychic. When we do not know what it is, we say it is psychic. You go home, and your wife says, “How are you?” “Tak, tak, so-so. What happened?” “The doctor said I am psychic.” “And what more?” “Come again.” You go to the mirror and look: “I am psychic.” So these are unsolved problems in our subconscious. Meditation, prayers, and mantras—mantras can clear up our levels of consciousness. The mind is not guilty; guilty are our senses. We would like to see, to hear, to taste, to touch, and so on. So limit your needs, and your mind will be in harmony and balance with you. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Renounce and enjoy.” If you would like to enjoy your life, then renounce things and be satisfied with what you are. Then you will see your mind is in harmony. Now the soul is happy, in harmony. The mind is in harmony. Now the body. The principle of the body is to be born, to grow, and to die. It is the bitter truth, the law of nature. Who is born one day has to die. What is created one day has to be destroyed. Who came one day has to go. Those are the changes in the universe. But for us, everything now is our body. Whatever exists in this world exists for us as long as our body is here. But the body is not in harmony. Many diseases, pain, or one is not happy. Some people would like to lose kilos but cannot, though they do not eat very much. Some are only looking at food. Some are happy with their hair; some color it, some cut it, some keep it long, some make it like this, some tighten it here. Here is disharmony; we are not content. But we need health. One scientist said, “Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health.” There are thousands of ways to be healthy. Our health depends on two things: nourishment and movement. Good nourishment: organic, fresh, balanced. A yogī always says: vegetarian nourishment and good, balanced movement. Walking is very good, cycling is good, swimming is good—many are good. But yoga is something which harmonizes all three at once. That is called psychosomatic movements. Balanced, and you do not need anything. You need not go anywhere—just in your sleeping room, living room, or garden. Anywhere you can practice. Practice makes a master. I tell you, many times we yoga teachers say, “Practice half an hour, twenty minutes.” That is only chocolate. If you would like to be really healthy and achieve something, then one and a half to two and a half hours of practice daily, minimum. Get up at 4:30 in the morning and until 6:30 do your yoga. In one year, you will be surprised. Your body will be very light, very healthy. You will feel you are getting young; the growth of old age is blocked. Now we are going at 200 km speed. When you practice yoga every day, you will be only one little zero less. How much is that from 200? 20. So slow. When you drive a car at 200 kilometers per hour and then have to come to a stop, it feels like you are standing neatly. So, yoga tells us to be kind to all and help all. Helping hands have more value than folded hands. Love God’s creation. Love and live in harmony with your surroundings, your family, and good neighbors. Believe there is God. When you pray, you have a consultation directly with God. When you practice mantra and meditation, you are sitting on the lap of God, like the lap of a mother. You become one with it. Human life is very beautiful, and what is a mystery is very difficult to understand. Time will wait for no one. Today is gone, meaning we became one day older already. Tomorrow, one day also will be little. Karma will not leave anyone free, and time will wait for no one. Harmony of body, mind, and soul comes through the practice of yoga and the dissolution of delusion. Now we come to the practical session. I think you have listened too much, so I will give you now the mental tonic—not vodka, but a spiritual tonic. I invite some demonstrators. Please. The practical part is coming; you will do it with us. You may call this relaxation, meditation, or an anti-stress technique. If possible, take off your shoes so you feel more energy on your foot soles. Do not miss it; tomorrow if you come here, I will not be here. Please lie down. The demonstrators will lie down. While sitting, you will do it mentally. Make yourself very comfortable. You may lean on your chair and move your toes a little. Do you know how many hours your toes were in the shoes? Vyete, ako dlho boli vaše nohy v topánkach, tak ich trochu natiahnite. Now relax them. Hands on the thighs, palms open. Index finger and thumb together. This functions to overcome stress. Palms either facing upward or down on your thigh. Whatever you want to see in this hall, do it. Then we will close our eyes. Do not open your eyes until I tell you. One thing is sure: nothing will happen here, so you need not open your eyes, but still you are free. It will begin now. Make yourself comfortable. Gently close your eyes. Withdraw yourself from the external world and become aware of your being here in this hall. No concentration, no imagination for a while—just relax. Once, deep inhale and exhale; relax the whole body. Feel and relax your toes. Feel your foot soles. Feel and relax both your legs systematically: foot soles, the ankle joints, the calf muscles, the knees, the thigh muscles. Keep your legs very relaxed. You may stretch your legs a little far from the chair. Relax the hip joints. Relax the hips, muscles. Relax your elbows, shoulders, wrists, hands. Consciously, just relax your neck. Relax the jaw; do not bite your teeth together. Feel and relax your head, skin. Face muscles; eyelids are gently closed. Relax the whole body from the toes to the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. No concentration, no imagination. Just relax your body and mind. Say to yourself mentally: “Relax, my friend, relax. Just relax. Let me be one with myself.” No tensions at all, physically or mentally. I am relaxed. I am relaxing. Feel very relaxed and comfortable. Feel your breath. The breath is also very relaxed. Yes, I know that I am inhaling. I know that I am exhaling. Feel the entire respiratory system. How beautiful, how pleasant you feel when you inhale, and how relaxed you feel when you exhale. Keep your body relaxed. Feel your breath. Do not change the breath rhythm; let it flow as natural as it is. At the time of inhalation, the body is inhaling cosmic energy, the life force. Each and every cell of your body is recharging this energy. At the time of exhalation, all the toxins are exhaled from the body. I know that I am relaxed. I feel my breath. My body is recharging vitality, free from physical and mental stress. Relax the whole body from the toes to the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. How freely you can breathe—no worries, no thoughts, no imagination, no concentration. Just feel the reality. Relax. Be aware of your being here in this hall. Feel your breath and feel your body relax. Now, slowly, take a few deep inhales and exhales. Deep inhale and exhale. Inhale deeply. Exhale and try to become extroverted. Feel your body from outside, your being here in this hall and outward. Inhale and exhale. Now, slowly move your toes. Contract them, stretch them out. Stretch your foot, pull the toes towards the body, and then stretch out. Move your fingers. Close the fists, open the palms. Close the fists and rotate your wrists a little. Sit straight and move one shoulder up and down. Up and down. Then the other shoulder up and down. Both shoulders up and down. Just rotate shoulders, both shoulders. With closed eyes, slowly bend your head forward and back. Bend your head to the right. Now open your palms and rub them together. Place the hands on the face, slightly grab your face muscles. Open the eyes and move the hands. Interlock the fingers and stretch the hands up and down over the head. Once more, and down. Hands on the thighs. That was a practical session. You may call it relaxation, meditation, an anti-stress program, or a mental tonic—physical and mental both. Yoga does not mean you have to perform difficult postures; it can be easier. Yoga is individual. Every one of us has particular exercises we need. It is not like a circus, but our body knows what it needs. So the Yoga in Daily Life book, which you have, is designed so that everyone finds something—gentle movements. Now, Marjari, please. Look, they will demonstrate. Go ahead slowly. This is called the cat pose. The cat has the most relaxed and flexible back. This will remove back pain, back tensions, and neck tensions. Neck pain? It will improve the digestive system and cure constipation. It is very good also for women who have spasms or cramps during menstruation; immediately it will help to release. It is a very beautiful posture or exercise, not difficult. But, of course, those who have a slipped disc should please consult a doctor first. Come up. There are many beautiful movements. Stand up. Interlock your fingers—Tāḍāsana. This we often need; we do it naturally. You can do it in your office when sitting for a long time. Stand up and just do it a few times; that is all. This is very, very good stretching. Yoga has three movements: dynamic movements, stretching, and postures. And, of course, the breath is the major thing. Now, legs apart. Stretch hands up and bend to the left side. Legs more apart, yes, slowly. And other side. There is one posture which improves immunity in the body, is good for everyone, and awakens the spiritual energy centers. It is called Khāṭū Praṇām. Please come. That will be the last today. This posture, Vajrāsana, is advised to do after eating. It is a beautiful one with a very good effect on the body. Your muscles are stretched, and thigh muscles are stretched also. The back is naturally straight, which means the stomach is relaxed. The digestive process begins very well. When the back is straight and relaxed, our ribs—what we call the chest—expand, so we have more volume of air, which is good against asthma. When the trunk is relaxed and straight, the shoulders are automatically relaxed. When the shoulder is relaxed, the elbow is very relaxed. When this is relaxed, the neck muscles are relaxed. So the whole body has a very positive effect. This is called Vajrāsana. Khāṭū Praṇām begins with this. You will give yourself the explanation now for each position, because if I explain, it will be too long. For students, it improves memory, removes laziness or tiredness, creates new energy in the body, and is very good for children—especially those who have poor concentration and are very restless. Rest next time. Thank you. Well, dear brothers and sisters, thank you for listening. I wish you all the best. When you practice yoga, remember yoga is designed for the well-being of humans. It does not matter which country or culture one belongs to. There is only one out of 8.4 million: the human. All creatures are good, and they are the light of God. So, Yoga in Daily Life is carefully designed from ancient literature. You have it in your city also for many years already, and I hope some classes are still going on or will be. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your kind attention and for inviting me to your office. Also, I would like to thank the director and everyone from this hall. God bless you all. Thank you.