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Part 1: The Joyful Yogi: Growth, Responsibility, and the Path of Yoga There is a kind of professor who truly hates his work and does his job only for money. Once upon a time, he prepared a lecture, and then for ten, twenty, thirty years he repeats the same things. He does not necessarily hate his job, but sometimes he or she wants something better, yet they remain stuck in the school. And the children are not at ease in school. Generation after generation, it becomes harder and harder. That is one kind of professor. Others have enthusiasm inside. Enthusiasm. He or she loves their work and enjoys what they do. In the moment when you are enjoying what you are doing, you are always trying to make some progress. You are interested in the topic, and you go deeper and deeper. When I was at the university, the faculty was biochemistry. We learned from a book of the medicine faculty from 1954, and I was born in 1966. Everyone, even with a little knowledge, knows that the book is old and that something new has come since then. Not new, but deeper. Yet during the exam, you had to repeat exactly what was written in the book from 1954. For example, that a certain essential amino acid can only be obtained through meat. Full stop. If you want to pass. But everybody knows that it is not true. What does this mean? It is not that the program is wrong. It is a professor who has given up. Okay, who cares? He is already an idiot. That is the wrong attitude. And it is also visible that nobody likes such professors. This is not only about professors. It applies to any profession you wish to pursue. Because there is one excellent topic: Yoga. When we talk about Kuṇḍalinī, the awakening of consciousness, evolution—how would you say this?—it is important to know that through yoga you may accomplish everything that you want in your life. Thanks to yoga, we can achieve anything we want in our lives. If you want to be a good businessman, through yoga you will be a better businessman. If you want to be a good teacher, you will be an even better teacher. Anything, anything. A good politician—I will not say anything against politicians—but if you are a big politician, you will be a better politician. Anything. Why? Because with yoga, we are developing our abilities and developing ourselves. But now comes a question, without offending anyone. What do we see in yoga groups? Our friends in Hungary say "yoga chopper." You know what a chopper is? In Croatian, "chopper" means a pack of wolves. In the Hungarian language, "yoga chopper" means yoga group. And "chopper" in Croatian, and I think Slovenian, means a pack of wolves or lions or something. Because of that, I remember this: what is visible in a yoga group? We are not so good in business, etcetera, etcetera. And we are always saying, "Oh, I don't have money, we need a much cheaper seminar, much cheaper accommodation, much cheaper this and that." When you are in an organization, you always ask for a discount, discount, discount. That is okay, but on the other hand, it is not okay, because with such thoughts we become beggars. We want everything for free. But if you are successful in your life, what does Puruṣārtha mean? These four main aims of human life: artha, to have. For you to have money—for yourself, for family, for friends—and even when somebody comes to your house, to have enough to offer. It is said that a spiritual person should have enough for himself plus two or three more. In that moment, you do not need to think about money. Artha, kāma means that we are happy, we are satisfied. It does not mean that if you are on the spiritual path, you must look sad. Pathetically sad. As if having such a face means that you are spiritual. Suffering is not good. Listen to bhajans. The yogī is full of joy. When you hear in the bhajans, oh, this yogī is suffering—no. A yogī has pain, but sweet pain. Listen to bhajans, to the translation of the bhajans. The yogī is happy. We said that Maṇipūra Chakra is the level of consciousness where we feel as if we are in heaven. And then we say, "My Sahasrāra chakra is open, and because of that, I must turn because the energy is flowing so strongly." What nonsense. That is really nonsense. We are suffering. "Oh, this world is pain, everything is pain, but my Sahasrāra Chakra is open." No. You are full of joy. You are above this māyā, and nothing in this world has influence on you. Yes, they have influence. I remember when Swāmījī was in Zagreb, he gave an interview on TV. They wanted to ask a provocative question. Because a yogī and yoga are always calm, and you know the image of the yogī. The image of the yogī is that he is calm, that he is above these things. Because of that, Padmāsana is always a symbol. And because of that, we always say, "Oh, lotus feet of my master." Why lotus? Because the root of the lotus is in mud. The lotus lives in muddy water. And when the blossom opens up, if muddy water comes to the lotus, the water cannot stay on it; it just slips down. The lotus is always clean, but it is in the muddy water. The root is in the mud. It lives in muddy water. But it is above the muddy water and always clean. That is the yogī. We are from māyā. We are in māyā. But above māyā. And all this muddy water will not have influence on us. The question was: "Swāmījī, a yogī—but is a yogī angry?" And Swāmījī said, "Yes." It was a little shock to the one who asked the question. And Swāmījī said that this is the difference between a normal person who is not practicing yoga and a yogī. For a normal person, an emotion like anger is like taking a hammer and a chisel and carving a line into stone. It remains for a long, long time—thousands and thousands of years. Because of that, we still have something written on the stone. But a yogī is like drawing a line on water. What does it mean? That we have this emotion, but we do not chew it like old chewing gum all the time, all life. It comes and passes away. When we said we need to be—and that is the second, kāma—it does not mean only passion. It also means the emotion of being happy. And that is also an answer to your question. How does a professor or teacher develop? He needs to be happy and satisfied. In that moment, it is the same as what we always hear: like a child, and after that, like a parent. You say to your children, "Be good, be good, be good." And being good is just forcing that you must be good. But it does not mean that you are good inside, that you feel good inside. Because of that, we are always planting peace trees, and when it is Peace Day, Swāmījī said, "Inner peace for world peace." What does it mean? When we are at peace inside with ourselves, when we are happy inside, when we feel good, we will be a good person. And why do we think that people around us have ugly behavior? We only need to understand—but it is hard to understand the whole of life, all people—that mostly, they are hurt. They are in fear. Existential fear. You know, when everything is okay, people are very polite. When you open the door: "After you, after you." But if a fire starts here—not a little fire, but a real fire—existential fear begins: "After me, not after you." That is our nature. That is our Mūlādhāra Chakra, that is our Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra, that is our instinct. And if we are not—we said purify, but what does purify mean? Purify means to be aware of our behavior. If we think now, "No, no, no, Vivek Puri is talking nonsense. I will let others leave first, and after that I will go. I will go as the last one." There are two possibilities. Okay. Either you are really a yogī who understands your behavior, or we are completely unaware of what is in us. Because of that, we have Ātmāchintan meditation. To be aware of the qualities which are in us, the thoughts which are in us. And also, to be aware of—how shall we say it now, not in modern but in Western language—to be aware of our shadow. Our ego is always telling us that we are the noble one. "I am a good person." Who is not a good person? Everybody thinks that he is a good person. Everybody works with the best intentions. Very rarely is it different, and those are sick people. But if you are sick, the more you think that you are completely right, that you are always right, and that you are a positive person. Because we are always good and positive, and others are the guilty ones. And of course, because of others, I am not good in mathematics. I am not good in life because my father once shouted at me, and because of that, I am not a good father. That is nonsense. Excuse, excuse, excuse. And yoga is no excuse. Because of that, yoga is not so easy. Yoga is taking responsibility for our life. It is nobody's fault that we are not self-realized yet. Usually, your family is the guilty one. "Because of my family, I can't go to the seminar; I am not able to meditate." Your family is the guilty one, but it is not your family. Everything is on us. We are the guilty ones—but not guilty like, "I am a sinner, my sin, my sin"—but we need to decide and say what is the truth and what is not the truth. And when we see that something is not okay, there is Ātma Chintan Meditation. You see, yesterday we talked about how we need to be free of this position: "What will people think about me?" etcetera, etcetera, and talk about me. And that is one of the perfect meditations, Ātmacintan meditation. When you practice, you realize that Swamiji put really fantastic stuff inside. You know this part of the meditation when you sit and ask yourself, "Am I happy or not?" Yes, you know this meditation. It is boring? No, no, it is very... Just the question: Am I happy or not? Be honest. Who knows? Nobody knows. Only you know what you said inside. If the answer is yes, excellent. If the answer is no, I am not happy, that is also excellent. Everything is excellent. The only thing that is not excellent is if you ask yourself, "Am I happy?" and you have the answer, "I don't know." I don't know what I am. That is not good. But when you are unhappy, that is excellent—you know. The next question is: Why? What is making me unhappy? "I don't know." We know, but we don't want to tell. And just sit. Don't think, "Yes, I am in a church." Just relax. Because it is very important to relax. When you are answering something in school, and you are completely relaxed, it will come from you. Even if you read it only once, in that moment—oh yes. But if you are completely stressed, wet palms, Aśvinī Mudrā constantly running inside, your inner time is gone, and somebody asks you, "What's your name?" What do you think? How is my name? We don't know how to answer. Because we are completely in distress, and our brain is kaput. Same thing in meditation: nicely relaxed. And am I happy, or am I not happy? Okay, what makes me unhappy? And relax, and slowly you will see what you are not satisfied with, what is the stone in your shoe. And slowly you will see what your problem is, your issue. And after that, it is very important—like what we also hear in the Guru Gītā—to see that it may be only a program of other people, which is put in me, like a Trojan horse in a computer. And also, the next thing is: okay, I am unhappy because I don't have a red Porsche. Maybe a Porsche—I don't know—Lamborghini, something like this. But okay, if I have this, will it make me happy or unhappy? Just imagine: you have your red Lamborghini. Oh yes, I am running through the street. But in the end, you realize that you are not happy with this. More problems come with it. Where to park? And so on, and so on. And try to analyze. That is the Ātmāchintan meditation. Sometimes you see that our happiness or unhappiness—"I am good, I am not good"—comes because of the projection of other people onto us, and our projection onto other people. It is important to be familiar with our thoughts, to be familiar with our feelings, with our instincts. And it does not mean that we will kill or destroy them, but we will know that they exist in me. And next time when I come into a situation where such an instinct jumps out of us, we will be a little more cautious. But it is important to come back to Puruṣārtha, to be happy. Because when you are happy, when you are satisfied, you will be good at your job. Because you will enjoy your job. An American coach always said, "If you are no longer enjoying your work, change the work." And we hear in Eastern Europe, "Oh yes, it's easy for them to say. We need to pay our bills, how to find a new job," and so on and so on. But neither one side nor the other side is completely true. It is very easy to say, "Okay, change your job." Do not change your job. Change your attitude. And you will slowly change—not change, but slowly another door will open, and you will start to do something in a better way. Something you will change, and you will find some other field in which you will be good. And slowly, slowly—not that you close the door—but slowly, slowly, something will start to flourish and something will start to dry. And in a soft way, you will enter into the other part. And with this question—how to be better and how to develop as a teacher—it is the answer to how to be better and develop in any profession, and also in yoga. Always be curious, always try to learn something more, and always try to improve yourself. Never be satisfied with the position in which we are now, with our knowledge. Gurujī said, "Who is not growing, that person will just fall down." That means all the time, in every field, in what you are doing—especially, we will say now, for yoga—we need to grow. We need to be better and better. Always practice. And you saw Gurujī. Gurujī completed everything in his life. But still, he was practicing and practicing and practicing. Never think, "Now I have reached the top and I don't need to improve myself." That is the problem with the yoga teacher. And what we said: the system is perfect. But this first level is boring. And we need to improve the system a little. Look, I am not the guilty one, I am always right. But the system is not functioning well. We need more active āsana, more activity for the young people. I started Yoga in Daily Life at sixteen years old. And I was not thinking at that moment that it is a boring system and that it needs something for the young generation and for young people. I was completely flexible. And also, I have taught yoga for seventeen years—sixteen, seventeen years—and never did I think that there is a need to have more challenges for the young generation. I was the young generation, and still I am the young generation, yes, of course. And because of that, and for the fame of the young generation, I bought one t-shirt. Never orange, of course. "Never underestimate the old man with the yoga mat." And if we continue with the talk that we need something for the new generation, the young generation, I will wear only that t-shirt. I will not use any more yoga—this—only that t-shirt. I bought two. But we don't need—how to say—if we are growing inside, the most boring topic... I don't know the boring topic. TV commentator. Part 2: The Passion That Fuels the Path You know who is on TV was explaining and commenting on the sport and football. The new generation doesn't know about this. But you know, Sunday afternoon, Grandpa and such people have a radio and listen to the football match. Do you remember, maybe some of you? And the commentator of this—I don't know what the English word is for that—was telling, "And the ball is with this player, and he is running, running, yes, yes, and go," and nothing happened. And that person was completely in it. And for that, you need to be a real one. And it was in that time, two or three who were really good commentators. And the other was, "And he took the ball, yes, yes, and he's rooting for the next, yeah." And the others were completely, "Oh my God," and that is the problem. In a yoga class, you have a boring topic, but you put life inside and make it interesting, but only if you live for that. If it's your passion, but if it's not your passion, oh my God, again, I must talk about this. What's to tell? Again, you know, guru feats are very important, but you must have passion for this. Be patient, and feel, look, and you feel that energy is flowing, the circulation is flowing. Everything is in you, what you feel. And that is the key. Also, it's key for our success in the work, to get money, to have a good relation. Marriage, nicely Swāmījī once—not once, many times—said, if you will wait for your partner at home like your dog is waiting for you at home, you will never have a problem with your marriage. Okay, you don't need to move with the tailbone, but with such energy. Yes, but if your partner went home and you think, oh my God, he will come again and he will make, or she will make, a problem. Where to run? That relationship is not functional. For everything, we need to have passion. And when we talk about passion, that is our problem in yoga. Passion is not good. Okay, you know that experiment. And do you know the experiment that took a poor mouse and put some electrodes to the brain, and when he put some switch, electricity stimulates part of the brain, like sexual fulfillment, and also they put food near? That mouse was not to eat on that electricity, and if we are on that way, that we have forgot everything in life, just senses, senses, and more satisfaction, more this, we will die very soon. And we will not accomplish anything in life. And if you talk about that passion, that is wrong. But we need always to understand what we are talking about. But when you have passion for your work, that passion for work is no longer passion. That is the tapas, and we know what Swāmījī explained to us. That we wrongly understand what tapas is. Tapas is that fire, and Swāmījī explained, imagine that you have some scientist, and that scientist is completely in research. For such a scientist, nothing else is existing, only research. Such scientists don't think about food, sleep, comfort, nothing. He lives only for that research, and that is also yogī. Because yoga is science, and we are scientists. And we are in the laboratory. We make experiments. And imagine—not imagine, but remember—what Gāndhījī put like, not the name of the book, but down this explanation of the book. Not the title of the book, but the subtitle, yes. About autobiography, diary of one experiment, which means everything was like scientists make experiments. Because yoga is science, we are scientists, and also you need to have your laboratory diary, that is also very important, and with the passion, with the fire that will lead us in any field. And because of that, they said, it will be excellent that your job is your hobby, and your hobby is your job. You know, with the hobby, you have that passion. And every free moment, you will spend with your hobby. And you have never said, "Oh my God, I must practice all this, take care about that project, it is my hobby." No, you are... That is with the professor, that is with your job, that is to earn money, that is in spirituality. Everywhere is the same, same principle. And that is the satsaṅg, Sanātana Dharma. In satsaṅg, Sanātana Dharma is not a religion. Satsaṅg Nāthadharma is about understanding the principle. You don't need to talk about business school. Because now we said, what is the principle of being good in your job, in your family, in yoga, in science, in art, in everything? And now we have a few minutes more to continue with Guru Gītā. You are the source of the whole universe. The form is just not, how to say, the primary form; it's just a result. But the source is you. What does that mean cosmically, that citta, because Śiva, Guru, Brahman, Parabrahman are the same. And we need to understand in short. We need to understand one thing. And that is one story from Advaita Vedānta. If you put 50 cups of coffee, water, any drinks, any liquid, and each cup is different, from different material, on the moonlight, you will see fifty moons inside. In everything, in everybody, in every creature, because of that is ahiṃsā, and because of that we are following the ahiṃsā, because in each creature is a reflection of the God, absolute cosmic self, that citta, that conscience, and I am. That conscience, what means that I am in everything and everything is in me. In the world, there are so many different forms, shapes, and it's changing, and Swāmījī nicely explained that ring, different form, nicely decorated, but when you put all this gold in one pot, and put it in the fire, you will get only gold, and that's it. That we need to understand: this whole universe that we see, because we don't have knowledge, we don't have realization of that. We think that it's a different thing, but in reality it's only one Ātmā, Paramātmā. Brahman, Śiva, Śiva, same. And also you have one story. When you go to that in India, ghāṭ, ghāṭ of where the Gaṅgā is flowing. A British will say that is the water, other will say that is the jala, pānī, voda, but that is the water. Name will... not change anything. And if you are thirsty, and you drink this water, any name, what is written on this, who cares? And only because of our stupidity, we are fighting about the name of that water. And it is existing saguṇa, which means with the guṇas, and that is this physical form, but in the end we need to go above saguṇa to the nirguṇa. But it is impossible to talk about it without form. If you said, "No, I believe only in the God without form." Okay, how would you describe it, how would you imagine it, and what do you think about this? And you start to blah, blah... blah. But that is not true. When something is without guṇa, it is impossible to explain. It is impossible to imagine, it is impossible to understand, and to realize. And because of that, we need something that is in the form. Something that is possible to understand through our limitations. Imagine that you are in a two-dimensional world, and how would you explain a ball? Impossible. It is a circle, but it's also not. If you're above, you see the circle. And in that situation we are. And because of that, I'm always joking and tell one joke. You know that, but I will repeat once more. Two friends talk about a banana. A banana, and one never tried a banana. And she asks, please explain to me, that is Pārvatī asking Śiva, please tell me about the Guru. Please tell me, what is the banana? And that other friend starts to talk. You know what an apple is. An apple is nice and round, and full of juice, and you explain apple, and in the end that man said to friend, and look, banana is not at all like apple, that it's, try to explain something to your friend, something which is possible to understand only through experience. And that is the guru. What is the fruit that you have never tried? And the Guru tries to explain to you, to inspire you to practice, to get such experience. And this topic is not possible to understand with the intellect. And again, I will tell something, maybe I am boring, but for me is the, you know, when you have the cake, you have the cream, schlag, and the cherry is on the top. And for me, the cherry on top is what I hear from Swāmījī. I also said many times how Swāmījī talks about this. He, in Kāthu Āśram, was talking, giving satsaṅg. Of course, without mic, not loudly. And we tried to listen to his lecture. But the lecture was so great that we didn't understand anything. Just the lecture was trying to keep awake. And people, after one line, there was not any more sleeping, but he didn't hear what Swāmījī was talking about. And we were sleeping and tried to get something. And somehow after that, I asked, and what I remember, I got only, I think, one part of that lecture. What is more, Swāmījī said, "I don't know." And Swāmījī explained how we will realize the cosmic self, God, what is self-realization. How to reach that? And he said, you know these 3D pictures? Not this 3D picture, what is visible with the glasses. But in the old magazine, on the back cover, there was something. What was impossible to, what is this? This 3D horse, of course. And we try to, you also try to see this. And you know how long it was possible to be able to see that picture? Some people I know, they're stupid. Others were trying, how do you see this? Nothing. But if you were very persistent, and try, and try... In the end, for one second, you saw something. Oh, yes. What does that mean? It's not stupid things. Something is existing inside, and you start again and again. When I talk about this in America, somebody brings a whole book with such a picture. I tried to see again, and what happens? After 20 years of not practicing such gazing, it was like a bicycle. It was possible, but I also need a few minutes to catch up again. And Swāmījī said, the same thing is with self-realization, to see that another dimension, or to see Parabrahman. We need to practice. We will not be able to see, and nobody will also be able to explain to you how to practice. Something, look at this angle, look at this, but how you will do with your brain and what happens inside, nobody will explain to you. And also, if you want to explain to another person how to see that 3D picture, you will not be able. You will talk and talk for years and years, but if that person will not practice, will not see. And that is all this. Just trying a little how to look at a picture. But in the end, we need to understand that it is a different form, shape of that golden item. But in reality, it is only gold. Your two lotus feet are protecting us from the sorrow and pain of duality. We talked about Padma, lotus, why we always say lotus. And yes, Guru tries to explain this dvaita, like, dislike, black, white, and everything. He tries to explain that it is just a different form of the same gold. And now, one very confusing verse. From the rage of Śiva, Guru will protect you. But from the rage, yes, rage, anger of the guru, it is not safe. Nothing will save you from the rage of the guru. And now, what does this mean? It's a little confusing when you are listening to Guru Gītā. Yes, of course, to me also. Because of that, I dig. You know what Swāmī said. The love of the mother is a thousand times more than the love of the father. The love of God for man is a thousand times more than the love of a mother. And the love of the guru to the disciple is a thousand times more than the love of God. And here, an explanation: if you have a problem with God, you are angry, and you close the door. Okay. I remember myself. I think at 14 years, I became an atheist. Completely atheist. And all these talks about God, etc., were for me, oh my God, dogma. And you need to translate into another language. And I met Swāmījī. And I must say that through Swāmījī's teachings, I'm not a fan of the religion. But through Swāmījī, I understand what religion wants to tell. What it means is that through the guru, you will get knowledge. Even if you close the door about what is in Śiva and this god, goddess, etc. But here is this anger on you. It does not mean that the Guru is angry with you. But it means when you close that door and you say, "No, I don't want any more of this, I will not go to the spiritual path, I finish, I quit with Guru, I quit with that knowledge, I quit with the practice." In that moment, it is not anymore on the wrong, not wrong, but harsh way, I will say, it is not anymore a possibility for us. And we are not able to do anything more, because all knowledge is coming through the Guru. Because Guru will give to us that experience, not just empty words, but this experience. Because of that, Guru is Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriyā. And because of that, try to, in any way, try to nourish that relationship, guru-disciple, and find shelter at the Guru's feet. What means shelter on the path. And I bow down to the Guru's feet. And that Guru's feet are beyond the words. And the mind is not able to understand this. We just talked about this. That's two feet of Guru means Śiva and Śakti. O Pārvatī, it is said that Guru, without three eyes, is Śiva, without four hands, he is Viṣṇu, without four faces, he is Brahmā, he is Nirguṇa. I pray to the ocean of goodness, that the mercy of the Guru will save us from this saṃsāra. And with this, oh my God, it's already twelve o'clock. With this, we will slowly finish. We start with the neck. After that, we touch the teacher, professor, any profession in the world, how to be successful. So, but in the end, we come to the Guru Gītā, which means we will be successful only through the mercy of Guru Dev. Because any field, try to remember just this. Try to remember when you put a question to Swāmījī. Any question. Stupid question. A question about how to make pickles. Or once I was in India when Swāmījī was explaining how to make a plantage of the papaya to some Indians. Yoga is in everything. And if you want to know something, through yoga, you will get a right answer on how to do it. But not through some wellness yoga, stretching yoga, etc. But through yoga, what we got from Viśvagurujī. Because really, I know this, really from my experience. Anything, there was no topic on which Swāmījī was not able to give an answer. Not because it's my guru. I try to be really very correct and try to be critical. But really, try to go through your memory, and because of that I always said, there is no such thing as a stupid question. It is only existing, the stupid answer. And we know from Viśvagurujī that any question, stupid question, and from the most stupid question, he made a great satsaṅg. And in the end of the satsaṅg, in the beginning of the satsaṅg, oh my God, what a stupid question. Again, one stupid question, but in the end, oh my God, it's really good. And not only the answer to that question, but so many other questions.