Questions and answers from Debrecen
A yogic path integrates self-sufficient living with disciplined practice. Begin a farm with both greenhouse and organic garden crops, developing it from a hobby into a community offering yoga retreats. The first spiritual step is dietary control: consume limited, home-prepared meals without sweets or junk food. Fast for four to five hours between meals, consuming only water. This discipline eliminates most bodily difficulties, strengthens immunity, and supports meditation, which requires a mantra. Prāṇāyāma cleanses physical diseases, and satsaṅg with virtuous friends is essential. Avoid all intoxicants, as they embody destructive energies. Prefer local, seasonal, organic produce; soy is nutritious only if organic. Raw milk is healthful, but regulations sometimes adulterate it. True practice requires organizing life around these principles.
"Meditation without a mantra is a body without a soul."
"Prāṇāyāma will tell them, 'Get out of this body! What are you doing here?'"
Filming location: Debrecen, Hungary
Up next
Causes of our tensions
Every evening should be dedicated to beauty and goodness, free from sorrow and negativity.
Our topic is anti-stress through Yoga in Daily Life, a holistic system for wisdom, joy, and bliss. In this age, negative energies like hatred arise from dualism based on culture or religion, creating fear and conflict within families and society. These negative thoughts can manifest as disease. Stress comes from craving and overwork without boundaries. Material gains are left behind; only our good or negative thoughts and deeds accompany the soul, leading it upward or into darkness. These are our mental impressions, purified through mantra, prayer, and divine grace. Be fully human; let the first morning thought be "I am a human being," dissolving stress and awakening love. Live with constant vigilance in all actions and associations. Let positive thoughts flow like pure water, cleansing illness and allowing bliss. Be like a tree, giving freely without anger. Be free like a bird, moving in joy. Unite with the divine in peace.
"Yoga in Daily Life is a system of wholeness. It touches our heart. It gives us a wisdom filled with joy, harmony, and bliss."
"Only good thoughts, good deeds or negatives... lead our consciousness to the higher levels... or goes towards the darkness."
Filming locations: Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Hanumanji
The divine play between God and devotee involves tests to purify ego.
God and devotee are ultimately one, appearing in two forms to enact a divine play. Hanuman, an incarnation of Shiva, is the perfect devotee of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu. After Rama's victory, he tasked Hanuman with remaining on Earth to protect devotees. One day, while Hanuman chanted Rama's name, he reflected on his own indispensable deeds in Rama's mission. Sensing this rising ego, Rama devised a lesson. He praised Hanuman extensively and then gave him a simple duty: to deliver a ring to a sage in the Himalayas. Hanuman journeyed there and found the sage, who instructed him to throw the ring into a water pond. When Hanuman hesitated, the sage told him to retrieve it. Hanuman found the pond filled with identical rings. The sage explained that each ring represented a past divine incarnation, and Vishnu performed similar heroic deeds through each. Hanuman's great feats were not unique but part of the eternal divine play, accomplished through divine grace. The lesson was to dissolve the devotee's ego.
"Hanuman, whenever Vishnu incarnates on this earth, he has to pay the tax."
"Go and say to Rāma that... 'Your duty is finished, now you can go back.'"
Filming location: Wellington, New Zealand
Learning in the Gurukul
The Gurukul provides traditional education rooted in Indian culture and spirituality, distinct from modern commercial systems. Education began with the ṛṣis, and the first university was Takshilā in India. Our Gurukul adopts students as Jñānaputra, offering free education. The ancient Pītāmbara uniform symbolizes purity and focus. True education is cultural, ethical, and spiritual, not merely for earning money. Knowledge itself is an imperishable wealth. Sanskrit is the mother of most languages, and Indian culture spread globally. The Gurukul system was dismantled under British rule, replaced by a limited English system. We now blend modern competitiveness with foundational morality, teaching why to use knowledge, not just how. Education must be daily and consistent, like eating. Supporters make this possible.
"Knowledge itself is an imperishable wealth. From the hand, you can steal money... but in the mind, the knowledge, no one can take it."
"We have to have modern education to be competitive in this world. But still, on top of that, Gurudev is trying to put one more layer, which was actually there before."
Filming location: Jadan, Rajasthan, India
Sanskrit names are important
Āsana is a term with deep meaning in the yogic system, which is connected to the Sanskrit language. The word signifies a seat, a dwelling place, or a posture. One's yoga mat is a yoga āsana. The place one sleeps is an āsana. The specific postures, like Bhujaṅgāsana, are also called āsana. The term's meaning depends entirely on context. Yoga is a vast science greater than allopathic medicine, and its proper terminology carries inherent knowledge. Similarly, prāṇāyāma fundamentally consists of inhalation, retention, and exhalation. The Sanskrit alphabet resonates with the body's energy centers, and the language balances the mind. True communication begins with the heart's touch.
"Wherever you sit, that is your āsana."
"Prāṇāyāma is only three: pūraka (inhalation), kumbhaka (retention), and recaka (exhalation)."
Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic
