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This morning is beautiful, though very hectic, and it began early at seven o'clock. It is a hot day, but the temperature has gone down—did you notice? Suddenly it is a plus, whereas yesterday was a minus. So, a very nice good morning once more, and blessings to all. We know we always come to the yoga seminar. I must tell you that you are all practicing very punctually and disciplined—at least those who were in the practicing halls. One can see you do not neglect your exercises. But there are some who don’t practice and move here and there. That’s good, because we need guards for our cars and at the gate. So at least we have unpaid guards who are just moving about. A thief might think they are guarding. Everything has its sense. We come to our sādhanā. I always mention these two beautiful ślokas, these sūtras from Patañjali: Atha yogānuśāsanam. This word of Patañjali was also used very much by the well-known politician Indira Gandhi. She used to say in her lectures, "Anuśāsan deśako mahān banātā hai"—discipline makes the country great and strong. The same word has been researched psychologically by a well-known company in America called Caras, I think. They create programs and seminars for top management courses, promising their managers will never fail and will be the best. They have seminars around the world and also have this slogan from Patañjali: "The key to success is self-discipline." It means even in business life you need discipline. When you see the global financial crisis, if you think about it, it is the discipline that was missing. Business done without ethics will fail one way. And if you give your business just into the hands of your employees only, it cannot be successful. Therefore, there is always a quality supervisor. But the supervisor should be a good supervisor; otherwise, you need a supervisory advisor. There is a real story from about 50 years back, in the last century after the Second World War. In India, they introduced European cows because they give more milk. Humans are greedy; they want more and more. Cows and animals are meant for the family only. In India, it used to be said that milk and children you cannot sell. But since the tea and coffee business came, they began to sell milk. When I was small, a long time ago, milk was not sold. Almost everyone had a cow or buffalo and a goat at home. Those who didn’t automatically got half a liter or one liter of milk from their neighbors free of charge. But now, because of coffee and tea shops, they don’t serve for free. People said, "When you take charge of money, we will not give you milk free." So the system began: milk has to be sold. The human population increased, and people lost their love for animals. Now, even in cities, you cannot have cows. Many people don’t know where milk comes from. I gave a lecture in Washington about 15 years ago on the vegetarian diet, and I told how animals are killed for meat. A young lady, about 35 years old, began to cry. She said, "I thought meat is available only in the supermarket. I did not know that so many animals are killed." Our dear Krishnanant from Hungary has a five-year-old granddaughter, and someone else told me their grandchild believes ice cream is produced in the fridge because the parents bring it and put it there. So many people have lost their relation to nature, and that’s why new diseases are coming—because of greed. They said European cows give 40–50 liters of milk per day. One family cannot consume 50 liters daily, so it becomes commercial. The cow becomes a milk factory. Nowadays they give injections because an animal, like a human, produces milk when she has a child. In many ways, we are torturing and abusing animals. That’s not good. So the business began. An Indian introduced the European cow in India. In Rajasthan, one of the kings imported a European cow. It’s a strong animal. Someone went like Savitri and said, "Well, let us enjoy." So all three drank. It’s a real story. It went to five observers. The one observer sitting by the window, looking at who was drinking, said to the king, "Can I taste how it is?" Then again, he got the message. The king said, "Remove all the supervisors." It was only one glass of milk that was drunk by the one who did the milking, but because of the four supervisors, five glasses were gone. So it is better to lose one than five. This shows that when the owner gives things into the hands of others, there is always some gap. I spoke to one minister and asked, "Why are people talking that you are taking corruption?" He said, "We don’t take." But there is a principle, a logic. He explained: "Swāmījī, suppose from the top position, from the prime minister down to a clerk, there are about 25 or 50 people from lower level to high level. Now we are standing, all fifty in one line, and you give us one kilo of ice cream without a pocket. You tell us, 'Please pass on.' I take it carefully and give it to the next person. That person takes it carefully and passes it further. One kilo of ice cream comes to 15 hands—meaning 100 hands, as everyone has two. Let it touch all those hands." That is like the European saying, "Too many cooks spoil the soup." This is how the global crisis began. The top managers are sitting somewhere with only secretaries working on computers, but in reality, what is going on in the factory nobody knows. It’s not easy to get work done. Besides this, there are many human rights, labor unions, workers’ rights, employer rights—many things—and work is not done. Why? Anuśāsanam. Discipline is basic. There were people who worked in companies like their own, with heart and ethical feeling. So, anuśāsana: discipline makes one successful. It is very simple. If you are employed in a shop and you look at the watch, at six o’clock you have to close. As an employee, you will definitely close five minutes before, if not ten minutes before. As the owner, you will close ten minutes after. This is the difference, a gap that is very hard to fill. So even in business life, you need discipline and ethics. The same principle applies to your relations and family life, and the same is true for yoga. I think Patañjali, the great Patañjali, is the father of psychology. Till today, no psychologist or scientist has described the human being as truly as Patañjali. He is great, but unfortunately you don’t get proper translations. Therefore, you should study more Sanskrit at Prague University and Brno University. You should request the Indian embassy to bring more professors. Okay? Now, this is prasāda for the Hamburg Ashram. Go, don’t miss your train. I will finish my lecture very quickly. Patañjali said first: make discipline. It means to put things in order. For practitioners and persons like you who stay at home—I don’t stay at home; this is a problem. I am nearly every third or fourth day in another bed, in another room. Sometimes, due to jet lag, I wake up and don’t know where I am. Habit is the second nature of man. At home, you get up automatically; you know your bathroom is on the right side. But in another place, you wake up and the right side is a window, and you wonder where you are. Often it happens that I sit on the bed for half a minute to think, "Yes, I am in some other space." But for people who stay in one place, it is very important to organize the program. You have 24 hours. When you fly from San Francisco to Tokyo, you lose two days. I flew from San Francisco and sent a message to Tokyo that I would arrive on a certain day. When I arrived, nobody was at the airport. I waited and waited. Everything was written in Japanese. I couldn’t telephone. A lady came to me and said, "Excuse me, sir, I think you need help." I said, "Yes, I want to know how to telephone." She explained, and I telephoned. The people were not at home; they had gone on holiday. Anyway, the second day they phoned me back and said, "But you told us two days before you would come." So you know the date line. From there to Japan you lose two days, and from Japan to San Francisco you gain two days. So this is how things are. In the morning, get up and fix your time. In 24 hours, when you fly 15 hours, it feels endless. You look at the watch, look out the window, relax, look at the watch again—15 hours is so long. Now ask yourself: in these 24 hours, what are you doing? Sleep eight hours. Who is lucky enough to sleep eight hours today? Even if you would like to, you cannot because of duties and work. But allocate eight hours for sleep. What are you doing for the other 16 hours? Okay, eight hours for work. Who is so honest as to work eight hours? If you really worked, there would be no financial crisis. So, eight hours of working time. What are you doing with the other eight hours every day? In eight hours, you can fly from here to New York—an endless journey. What are you doing with eight hours? Shopping? You cannot shop for eight hours. Cooking? Who cooks so long? So let’s say shopping, cooking, eating—three hours. But still you have five hours. When a doctor gives you an injection, it is only for a few seconds, but five hours is so long. From five hours, let’s say two hours for your friends, telephoning, etc. Now you have three hours free to practice every day. Utilize your time for the best. Design your program from morning till evening: when and what will you do? This is the first step to organize—that means discipline. There are exceptions; anything can happen, but follow it at least 90%. Second, Patañjali said very nicely: Yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. Through the practice of yoga, you can tranquilize your brain waves and thoughts. Patañjali knew that humans would have stress all the time, and stress creates many physical and mental problems. For stress management, there is no medicine. Stress can cause diseases, even like cancer. Research on the two hemispheres came to the stress point and found no medicine. They gave the three best treatments: prayer, meditation, and yoga practice. These are the three best remedies against stress. When you pray, you go to the ashram, temple, church, synagogue, or mosque. You pray, and in prayer there is a scientific movement. When you bow down, some say, "Oh, we don’t bow down; we are human, we are not slaves." What a stupid thought. Scientifically, to move slowly to make a praṇām means more circulation towards the head. When a Muslim makes namāz, they slowly go down into postures. At that time, a lot of fresh blood flows towards the brain. All the jñānendriyas—eyes, nose, ears—are located there, and when you come back, you feel fresh. So after prayer and meditation, it is for your own benefit. If you are just standing, nothing goes up. In Christianity also, there is prostration. Satsaṅg and vat praṇām are done before giving initiation. Many things are lost. When you pray, either you are really praying or you can’t. Really praying means you give your total confidence to God. "Lord, I give all to you." It is like having a co-driver: you are tired, you relax, and the other one drives. Our co-driver is God. We are tired from the whole day’s activities, and we give the driving of our life into the hands of God. "Lord, I give all the responsibility of my life into your hands. My loss and success are in your hands." Therefore, when you go to an ashram, temple, church, or mosque, people should not be talking. When you come to the church, you see everybody talking: "How are you? Is there a cup of tea?" Then they have a cup of tea and chatter. You cannot do that in the church, temple, or mosque. When you enter a mosque, you have to wash your hands and mouth. When you go to a church, at the gate there is holy water. Why do you make the ashram like a club? The same principle: the ashram is a spiritual place, a church, a temple. Discipline is lost through gossiping and inner troubles. Every yoga teacher must know this. But when yoga teachers themselves begin to joke, then no wonder everybody will begin to smoke. So we have to deal with God. When we pray, all the stress goes. One day, Holy Gurujī asked me, "Why, when we begin to pray, suddenly we are yawning like this?" I said because we are tired. Gurujī said, "No, no. We are like a little baby. When we are praying, we are in the hand of God. Just as a baby finds eternal peace in a parent’s lap, similarly this Jīvātmā finds peace in God’s hand." Sleep comes because you are happy and relaxed. Scientifically, you cannot sleep or relax until stress is removed. Similarly, when you meditate and use a mantra, if you don’t use your mālā and mantra, you cannot manage your stress. It doesn’t matter what you think. So mālā and mantra are keys to enter into the peaceful chidākāśa. Therefore, meditation is the best remedy to remove all sorrows. And when you practice āsanas and prāṇāyāma, it’s not that you are doing bodybuilding or muscle movements. Nowadays, many people like to do things quickly, quickly. Again, you are creating stress. Peacefully understand the body movements; it’s called cosmic dance. When you concentrate and feel your body, stress is gone because all brain waves are moved towards that particular function. Doing things quickly is easy; slow is difficult. That is what they call Tai Chi. It’s not easy to move slowly, but when you do it slowly, it’s beautiful. So meditation, yoga, and prayer can solve many problems: restlessness, sleeplessness, anxiety. So please make discipline. Then, practicing will purify the stress from your thoughts and consciousness. Therefore, citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. It doesn’t matter which profession you have; you need this. I wish you all the best. The next program we will see in June. I’m going now again around the world. But you will have seminars here; we have many sādhus, swāmīs, bhagavāns, bhaktas, sādhakas—many, like Vivekpuri. But please practice. Make a discipline that in the ashram there is silence. Wednesday and Thursday we have the Śivarātri program. Śivarātri is celebrated on Wednesday night and Thursday the whole day. There is still a constellation till Thursday after sunset, then comes the constellation Amāvasyā. But it doesn’t matter; anytime we can celebrate and perform abhiṣeka of Śiva for good things. All constellations are good for good things, and for bad things no constellation is good. So in Vienna we have a Śivarātri program. But make sure there is no possibility of sleeping. We wish Vienna could have a big ashram like Strelky, but then we would have to buy the Schönbrunn. Who knows? It could be. I wish you a good journey, all the best. Wherever you go, wherever you are from, many blessings to all bhaktas. We came to practice. We come to find peace and good health, and that is our aim. God bless you.