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The universe is endless; we do not know where it begins or where it ends. Within this universe, there are three fundamental principles. The first is called pure consciousness. You may call it light, love, God, the ultimate truth, or reality. The second is called energy, Śakti. The third is called love, or harmony. The entire, endless universe is like a mother's womb where God—the Supreme, the Consciousness, the Holy Father—resides. The second principle, power or energy, is that which balances the entire cosmos. All stars, moons, planets, and visible and invisible elements are held in equilibrium. Our body, mind, emotions, thoughts, words, intellect, and the function of all our organs are balanced by it. If there is an imbalance, we become ill. Our thoughts and words should coordinate. If I am thinking of a mango but speak about a coconut, or if I intend to ask for ice cream but tell you to bring bread, there is disharmony. There must be harmony and coordination. Thus, the entire universe is harmonized and balanced. This balancing principle is known as yoga. The third principle is love. Love unites, while ignorance and hate divide. This is that love. You may call it, for example, the divine will of God. It is that divine will, which is love and is balanced, that has created this world. Therefore, yoga is as ancient as these universal principles themselves. Where there is balance, there is harmony. Where there is harmony, there is oneness or unity. Our ultimate aim is to become one with God, to attain self-realization—what we may call heaven—for everlasting happiness. The goal is to become one with Him, not as an individual, but to merge completely. What divides us from God? Our qualities. It is our qualities and habits that make us individuals. If we wish to become one with God, we must develop Godly qualities. Buddha was born a prince. Through his meditation, he developed those qualities. He attained realization and became one with God. That is why he is called Buddha; "Buddha" means buddhi, and buddhi means knowledge. Knowledge here means self-realized. Buddha was self-realized, but he had one problem—a problem Buddhism has still not solved—because at that point, Buddha could not see God. Since Buddha could not see God then, Buddhists say that Buddha said there is no personal God. This is because the individual identity is lost. When Buddha became one with the Supreme, he could not see "himself" either. As the poet Kabīr Dās said in a beautiful song: "When I was here, He was not here; now He is here, but I am not there." For the street of love is so narrow that two cannot walk together. Two must become one; that is called oneness. Consider this glass of water. The water is very clean, crystal clear. You see nothing inside. I see nothing inside. Yet, someone who brought me this glass put ten grams of salt in it, and the salt dissolved. The person thought, "Swāmījī doesn't see the salt inside," because the salt became one with the water. I might think the salt became one with the water, but when I drink it, my tongue says there is salt inside. This is a very important point. The salt changed its form but did not change its quality—the quality of saltiness. Even having changed, its quality did not become one with the water. Similarly, when we die, we may think we go to heaven, but that means you are still not one with God. To enter heaven, you must develop heavenly qualities, which are Godly qualities. This is trained and practiced by the individual. You know the Vedas are among the oldest scriptures in existence in written form. They are very ancient. What the Vedas describe, in the manner in which yoga is written about, is the ancient system. How old is yoga? Every holy book of Hinduism or India, no matter by whom it was written, is about yoga. It does not matter how old it is. Recording location: Hungary, Erd, Seminar