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Śānti, śānti, śānti. Address to our holy Siddhāṅga Pīṭha. Very good evening, dear brothers and sisters. This is already our third evening in the beautiful city of Belgrade, and I am happy to see people from different parts of the world here. I am happy to be here and to give you some glimpse of yoga and the meaning of human life. Yoga is yoga, like God is God. It is not Mr. Engineer God or Professor God. Now we can measure ancient wisdom and modern wisdom. Ancient wisdom, without diploma or any titles, is perfect. Modern wisdom, though it has diplomas and titles and everything, is imperfect. Ancient wisdom teaches and informs the God-made world about the God-made world. Modern wisdom teaches and informs us about the man-made world. The God-made world is perfect, and the man-made world is imperfect. The God-made world has its sustainability, but the man-made world has no sustainability. Man will never be capable of doing what God did, but man is capable of destroying—that one can do. So, modern science and education are not sustainable. Something is better, but more is destructive. You may call it side effects. You may call it God, you may call it nature. Yesterday we planted a peace tree, and the president of the Green Society was there. We had only a few minutes to speak, and she told me about a project where children plant trees and observe how they grow day by day, month by month, year by year. That is a very good idea. Modern technology is capable of building multiple floors in one night or within some days, but modern technology cannot grow a tree in one night. So, to grow the trees slowly, which are a source of our life, we should not destroy the long years of work. The quick-made buildings, the skyscrapers, are not healthy for the environment. But God also made skyscrapers—the high mountains—and they are very good for the environment. So you see, it is comprehensive. God created so many creatures on this planet—8.4 million different kinds—and divided them into three categories: Jelchar, Thalchar, and Nabchar, meaning the creatures in the water, on the ground, and in the air. All these creatures are responsible for making the planet sustainable. Yes, it is said life will eat life. But humans are above that life. So, humans should think before they utilize something. But humans do not think. For example, if you give a full bucket of alcohol to a donkey, a monkey, a goat, a cow, or a house pet like a dog or cat, they will not drink it because they know it is not for drinking. But a human will. There is a beautiful green field, a so-called tobacco field, and you can put any animals there. They will not eat it; they will not even smell it. I do not want to tell further, so that human does not use in a proper way what God has given us between two ears. Humans are nearly God, but they do not use everything properly. All these creatures are different; they are balancing each other. Even the little bug, the mouse, rabbits, ants—everything is very important for our ecology. The day before yesterday, Chidānanda told one thing. You know, in the summer you see beautiful ladybugs. These ladybugs are also balancing the ecology. Humans again use their brain. They manipulated them, created a little bigger version, and put them in the fields. The result is they ate all the different creatures up quickly. They also killed the beautiful, small ladybugs. Now what should they eat? They began to eat the plants, the crops. Whatever a human thinks could be better always goes in the opposite direction. There is one story from your country here, somewhere in ex-Yugoslavia, about Indian mongooses. To save time... So, there is one very famous saying: try to come out of the frying pan and fall into the fire. Therefore, we should respect the law of nature, and we did not respect it the last few decades. Humanity has destroyed this planet more than in some yugas. We manipulated almost everything: grains, animals, fruits, all kinds of animals. You do not find a proper race, and humans, of course, already. So, this kind of mixing and manipulating in nature—what you call gene techniques, hybriding—is not good. Now they have melons like five kilos, and the farmers give injections in the night, and next morning they look like ten kilos. The pumpkins, long pumpkins about twenty centimeters, they give injections, and in twenty-four hours they are one meter long. And you do not know, then you are eating. No wonder there is cancer. No wonder there is depression. No wonder there is suicide, and no wonder that children do not understand their parents, and parents do not understand children. Yoga makes a man aware of life. What is life? Life means life, not death. It is very good you have the same words in Hindi and in your Serbian language: Jīvā. And Jīvā means living, and that will not die. This planet is known as a living planet, but all these chemical things are killing our planet. Too much chemical, too many factories. And you know one of the reasons for the global financial crisis is because the human is too, too greedy. Mahātmā Gāndhījī said, "Mother Earth has enough for everyone’s need, but not for the greed." For the needy, one is enough, but for the greedy, one is not. So, every factory, every manufacturer, they manufacture more than necessary. The consumers are little, so it collapsed. People are utilizing more than what they need. Everything collapsed. There are some people who have nearly 200 to 300 pairs of shoes at home. They need one flat only for the shoes. You will not believe me. There was one film actor in India, and she had 5,000 pairs of shoes, so she could take a new pair every minute. Nothing to do. We humans are not satisfied. The main thing is that our foot sole is protected. That is all. It does not matter whose is long or short. Now we want fashion. The lady is in high heels like this. So poor. Even they do not have proper shoes with long... But they are good candidates. They are good clients for the orthopedic doctors, because hips will be wrong, spine will suffer, ankle joints will suffer, knees will suffer, and it will be broken often. You will not believe me what I tell you. You know, I have so many experiences. Do not think Swāmījī is always sitting here and everything. One year ago, in Manhattan, in America, on a very famous street for jewelry and money... one lady took me there. I had two others with me, and she said, "Swāmījī, we will go alone." I said, I am always alone. So we got in a taxi because there was an interview about Yoga in Daily Life in some very expensive building, with some magazine and some office. And we took a big taxi. That lady was very kind, very nice, very correct, very respectful, very intelligent—a business lady. Why not? Why am I telling you this story? You will say, "What does this have to do with yoga?" Yes, it has to do with yoga. So there was a lot of traffic, and we were ten minutes late. She was nervous, and we got out of the taxi. She had about 15 cm high heels, and she said, "Come on, Swamiji, quickly, quickly, let’s go." Can you imagine Swamiji running with that lady in high heels? That was the subject of filming. The purpose of this story is, we were crossing the street and there is a canalization. Over the canalization, there is a lead with nets. Her high heel stuck in, and she broke it. Luckily, she did not fall down because she held me. Now, she is running with one shoe in hand. Powerful. If the shoes are nice, that will not happen. Thank you. So this is how we create unnecessary problems with our body. So it is said, "Simple living, higher thinking." You are not wise because of the shoes or because of your dress. You are wise because of something here. You learned, you got from your parents, from your master, and from the society. Learn to live. We will never be enough with our searching and greed. So yoga tells us to lead a peaceful, relaxed, happy, and harmonious life with nature. Every person has different anatomical problems. Every person has a different nature. Some are more flexible, some are not very flexible. So practice those exercises which you can do easily. No competition. If you cannot do head standing, Śīrṣāsana, it must not be. You can gain the benefit of the head standing with some different postures. The main thing is that your head goes more down and more circulation is towards the head. You supply more oxygen. The stress is that you have little oxygen in your blood, in the tissues. And you cannot access the oxygen bottle; you cannot just put it. That is only for emergency. To gain the oxygen in the body: prāṇāyāma. Prana. As I spoke yesterday, a lot about prāṇa. So, even if you do 10 minutes of prāṇāyāma regularly, you supply a lot of oxygen, and your body will be capable of absorbing it—the oxygen which you are putting in through prāṇāyāma—and prepare your body and muscles, ligaments, tissues, everything with the postures. That is why prāṇāyāma is mostly done after the āsanas. And of course, āsanas are done with prāṇāyāma: when to inhale, when to exhale. Almost every yoga book writes that, but almost no one uses it. If you use the technique as it is written in any yoga book—in the Yoga in Daily Life book, we have the name of the postures, the technique, the breathing, the benefit, the precaution, who should not do them, how to do them, how to breathe, and where to concentrate—when you follow all these rules, then your practice of āsanas becomes like a holy ritual with your body. And one yogī said when he practices āsanas, for him it is like a cosmic dance in that cosmic energy. Something like is flowing in the sky, and he is collecting these good things. So you collect that energy, prāṇa, good quality, the good visions, harmonizing yourself. So every movement of the body, full of awareness, then you enjoy. Otherwise, you can do like this; there is nothing except that you are exhausted. When you practice yoga, you should never feel exhausted. At the end of your yoga class, you are full of energy. And after some sports, you are empty, like this. What is that? You lost the energy. Now, you try to gain the energy, but a good yogī is so full of energy, always ready, relaxed, happy, and embodied. You feel your body. You should feel happy under your skin, and that you will supply more prāṇa through your nourishment, through your movements, through your thinking, and through your prāṇāyāma. Thinking can change a lot. So if you cannot think positive, at least do not think negative. If you cannot be kind, at least do not be angry. If you cannot be friendly, then at least do not be unfriendly. Paramahaṃsa Yogānanda writes that his master, Yukteśvarjī, said, "Any thought which goes out of the human brain will turn back to that place like a boomerang. Therefore, if you think negative, you are harming yourself. Karma will never leave you free, and time will not wait for you." So if you speak negatively, you act negatively, you think negatively, it means all is poisoning thyself. In modern psychology, they say negative thinking means poisoning oneself, and positive thinking means enlightening oneself. And so yoga tells us, think positive. Be positive, and do the positive things. And change your life to the positive things. And that is why we call it yoga in daily life. It is not only exercises and relaxation, but a way of life, a way of living. After all this, the human body is given to us for ātmā jñāna, self-realization. And what a mystery. What is funny is that we are in this body, but we do not know. We are lost somewhere in this body, and what is more funny: that self is searching self. You go in that window and say, "Where is 'I am'?" You go in the other window, "Where am I?" You go in the third window. Someone will ask, "What are you searching?" "I am searching for myself." "Say yes, sit down, relax. Drink water. Just close your eyes. Are you okay?" "What do you mean, 'I am okay'? But you are lost." "I am not lost, I am here, but I am searching for myself." This is the secret. Theoretically, we know very well, and tons of theory is nothing compared with a gram of practice. So all that you are searching for outside is within you. Within you. Therefore, you sit and close your eyes, and you enjoy everything. You have everything. You enter into your inner world. You can dance. You can swim. You can meet the friends. You can do many, many things while in your meditation. You have everything. Know where to go. Everything is within you. So, nourishment, prāṇāyāma, postures, concentration, meditation, and then you come to the last level: samādhi, nirvikalpa samādhi, savikalpa samādhi. Vikalpa, saṅkalpa and vikalpa—these are two words. So, Savikalpa Samādhi means still your mind is creating Saṅkalpa, Vikalpa, Saṅkalpa, Vikalpa. Some call it Sabīja Samādhi. It means the seed is still there. That is not the highest level, but we have to go through this. And in Sabīja Samādhi, in Savikalpa Samādhi, one thing is very good: whatever you wish to see, to feel, to experience, is happening in you. Very nice, Siddhārtha. We do not need to go sightseeing. We do not need to go to some disco. We have within us a disco. Holy Gurujī said in one beautiful bhajan: My brothers, I am sitting in the coach. And many times I sat in this coach, where I had a very pleasant journey. My coach is a very wondrous coach. And ten horses are pulling my coach. And these ten horses, symbolically, represent the ten senses: five Jñānendriyas and five Karmendriyas. And this body is pulled by the senses. Here, there, all the problems, troublesome things can be created by these ten senses. But my horses are trained well. And they are walking beautifully. They pull my coach without movement. So gently they are going, and if it is wild horses, the coach will be destroyed. So ten horses. The intellect is this, what you call the chugal in the mouth. Your intellect should be controlling your senses, and your mind is so alert. Yes, my dear, mind. Mind should be well-trained. The mind is a driver. The mind is the master of the horses. Mind is the coachman. So the mind lets the horses go on the right track. My beautiful coach. Vivek Mantrī is with me. The minister of the Viveka. Viveka is a minister. Anubhav Kārta Vicāra, declaring the experiences. Jñān kī bhaṭṭī rathme lagāī, the lamp of knowledge is lit in the coach. Anahad Bhaiya, ujara, endless light is there. Rājā ātmā bethe rahatamai, the king, ātmā, is sitting inside. Āgam nigam kī selkini, traveling in the past and present, from this planet Earth to the entire universe. With the physical body, with the astral body, not even a little discomfort I had. Endless instruments are played in my coach. Many, many drums are played in this, the subject of the Nāḍī Yoga. Caturdaśa Loka, Ikiso, Brahmāṇḍa. The fourteen different worlds. And 2,100 solar systems. A yogī is capable of traveling 2,100 solar systems. That is a research work of yogīs, without any instrument. Only the instrument of concentration and prāṇa that you sit in. Chaudha, lok, ikiso, brahman, ratme sakalpasara, everything is projected in my koch. Śrī Pūjā Bhagavān Dīp Nārāyaṇ bhed batāyā sārā, my master Śrī Mahāprabhujī taught me all the secrets of this koch. Mādhava Ānandbhaya Holī Gurujī said, "I am blissful." Naipaya kaṣṭa nigara, so comfortably I spend my time in this koch. So, yogīs, they make themselves introvert, and they have everything within them. Outside enjoyment is temporary. That will make you exhausted; that will make you tired. But the inner will make you happy and is always with you. So when you come from meditation and from Savikalpa Samādhi, you come so relaxed, full of knowledge, full of visions, joy. That is called Mahā Ānanda, Supreme Bliss. And when someone has experienced this, then all other experiences are just like dust. One yogī said, "Now I am divine while drinking the nectar of God’s name. When I taste this, then all worldly joy is tasteless." That is it. And that is within you. It takes time to get, and you will get it if you practice. It cannot be given to you like a tablet. It can be given to you as a blessing, and then you have to work with that after many, many years, or the last minutes of life, not before. You enter into the nirvikalpa samādhi, where there is no knower and no object; it merges into oneness. No saṅkalpa, vikalpa, only one Brahman. Finally, only that one truth. At that time, you are free from the cycle of birth and death. You know, when the baby comes out of the egg, how that baby feels? When a snake has a skin over it, it is very unpleasant for a snake. But when he goes to the thorny bushes and comes out of the skin again, he sees everything clear. It means great for that snake. So we are covered by that skin of illusion, the skin of that māyā. And suffering in this, finally you come to ātmā jñāna, the liberation. It will come. Keep on practicing. Practice, practice, practice. No expectation. Do not count how many siddhis you have now. Once someone asked Gurūjī, "Gurūjī, how many siddhis do you have?" That was a Czech person, and Gurūjī smiled. He said, a rich man does not count every day how many dollars he has, but the poor one counts how many pennies I have still. How should I spend? Half a dollar for bread, a quarter dollar for butter, now only a quarter dollar left for tomorrow. But multi-billionaires do not count every quarter dollar. So you are the richest one. Do not think, "How many siddhis I have?" Do not think of siddhis. Siddhis are a big obstacle for a yogī. Siddhi is a second step, and that is another māyā. So you have to come above the siddhi. Let siddhi serve you. You do not run behind the siddhis. Do not demonstrate your siddhis. That is it. So rest tomorrow. I think I spoke too much. Now you do not know where I began and what I told, and where you are, you have to digest. All will come. Something is coming. You know much about Kumbh Melā, and we have a 20-minute video from the last Kumbh Melā. Our video team was there. Nevertheless, not the last, at least, they tried to finalize, and I think it is worthwhile to see that, because in two years, at the end of 2011—there is only one year—there will be Kumbh Melā in Allāhābād at the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012. And you are all expected to be there. We will have more satsaṅg there. How does it look? I hope they made it proper. If it is not correct, do not attack me. I have my bodyguards. Attack the video people. So enjoy.