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This morning we were doing netī, naulī, and agnisāra kriyā. Both kriyās should be done on an empty stomach, a minimum of five hours after eating. The best time is in the morning, before your coffee, milk, chai, beer, etc. Now, there is another technique called Trāṭaka. These are the six Haṭha Yoga Kriyās. They are very close to each other. Āyurveda speaks of Pañcakarma, and this is Ṣaṭkarma—six techniques. Trāṭaka has different methods, and trataka means concentration on one point. To master this concentration on one point means that during the gazing, your vṛttis should not be restless. From the Antaḥkaraṇa—Manas, Buddhi, Citta, and Ahaṃkāra—you should be above this. The Ṣaṭkarma, the Pañcakarma... Antaḥkaraṇam. It is said that trataka concentration is like a big bird standing in the water on one leg. Standing on one leg, with no movements. Also, the neck is not moving left and right. It has concentration on a particular area in the water, maybe five square meters or more, because it is waiting to catch a fish. The fish is very cañcala. Cañcala means restless. If the fish senses any movement, it will run away. So, what is that bird doing? You can call it a fisher bird. When the fish comes, the one leg that is held up immediately catches it. If both legs were in the water and you wanted to take a step, it would create a lot of movement in the water and disturb the concentration. Our very good example of concentration with the eyes is the crow. Birds have a wide, wide vision. At that time, there is no other beauty. Similarly, for the Haṭha Yogī’s Trāṭaka, at that time all your vṛttis, all your thoughts, your restlessness, all should go away. Now, there are different techniques for doing Trāṭaka. You can throw a stone somewhere in front of you, about two or three meters away, and you gaze at that stone. After a while, you close your eyes, and that stone—whether brown, red, or black—will reflect in the eyebrow center like a diamond. If you put a white marble stone, then you will have black visions. Since the stone will not move when the wind is blowing, you can do this anywhere. Alternatively, you can use an oil lamp or ghee lamp, a dīpaka, the flame. But that oil or ghee should be good and clean; otherwise, there will be smoke. In the flame, there are three colors. One is a little dark or red from the weak burning. Then in the middle is a very pure fire flame. And at the tip of the flame, it is a little bit grey, smoky. These represent the three guṇas: the tamas guṇa, sattva guṇa, and rajas guṇa. For this technique of our trataka in Haṭha Yoga, the room should have no movement of air—no air conditioner, no ventilator, and no windows open. Otherwise, the flame will be restless and you cannot concentrate. So, you concentrate on the middle of the flame for just one minute, or thirty seconds. During this time, do not move your eyelids. Then, slightly close your eyes. Immediately, a vision of the reflection of that light inside will come, mostly a nice bright light, white light, or red light. Sometimes it comes from the left into the center and disappears; sometimes from the right side. Now, the training is to not concentrate on that inner flame. Otherwise, it will disappear. It is like trying to catch a fish—the fish will run away. Similarly, you will see the flame, but what happens? The flame will disappear; it goes somewhere, this side or that side. So it is like a star. You may see beautiful circles; different kinds of petals are there. If you gaze for one minute on the point, then for five minutes you should keep your eyes closed to relax and calm your eyeballs. Otherwise, it can harm your eyes. What can happen? It is not so big a deal. All is very simple: you become blind, that is all. If you do it wrong, you harm your eyesight. If someone is looking like this, it damages our eyesight. The flame distance is when you are sitting straight and you raise your hands in front exactly—not like this, not like this, just very simply. Make a fist with your thumb, and this distance and this height—that is the Haṭha Yoga Kriyā of Trāṭaka. After these 30 seconds, now make a second round for one minute. And after one and a half minutes, this is the finish. No more, only three rounds. Then you can do longer. Practice with your mantra and your mālā so that your breath does not wander. Sometimes you will see the light like a rainbow, diamond stars, black spots, different things. It is better to do it in the evening when it is dark. Then you do the trataka, and afterward, you go to sleep. But make sure that before you go to bed, you blow out the flame. Recently, some person forgot, and it became a fire—big flames. It was cold, so the person was feeling warmer, and the fire brigade came. Therefore, make sure you have blown out your candle. Also, you can take one beautiful leaf of a tree, a neem leaf—the leaves of the neem tree—and just fix it somewhere. Or any beautiful leaf; all leaves are beautiful. But always look at the tip of that object. Only with the candle, look at the middle. It improves our eyesight, concentration, and memory. For those who have a problem making the bed, wait—then do the trataka for these little children, and it will be okay. It is very simple, very simple. Only three days and finished. Or you can make a very nice little black spot on a piece of paper, put it in front, and then do it. The object should not be movable. There are many different colors, so seven colors change. And still, from these seven cakras, seven qualities, seven saptadhātus, etc., etc., then comes the highest. Then comes the light. That light is not like this one. It is not like the sun. It is not this physical light. That light is indescribable, and that is meditation. So there are many ways to do trataka. Some people do it at morning dawn, observing how the dawn is rising, with no clouds; winter is beautiful. As the sun comes out, when the complete sun has risen, that is all—no more trataka. Do not do any more trataka. You will 100% damage your eyes. So it is only from when you see the first sun ray. Never, never do it on your face in the mirror. Look in the mirror: "I am beautiful." You will get hallucinations, psychic disease. So never gaze at your own picture for long. Also, do not gaze long at the candle flame on the table when you are sitting with friends and family, looking at the big candle. Suddenly everyone becomes silent. Now, yeah, I just want to talk, tell something—it means you are absent. So, do not gaze with your eyes fixed somewhere. The Haṭha Yoga Kriyās are very beautiful, very nice, but be careful. Do not hurry. There are some stories: the Master said we will climb to the peak of the temple or the mountain. The Master said to the disciple, "Should we take a longer way or a shorter way?" Mostly, we choose the shorter way, but the shorter way is always the longer way. It is dangerous. The long way is comfortable and good. So this is very important: slowly, slowly. Otherwise, you will fall down; you will not achieve. Also, with the trataka, if someone is sitting in front of you or coming, then do not look into their eyes. Others will see. They must be mad. So, the visions—kind vision, happy vision, loving vision—but we have to give our eyes some rest. In the eyes are all our thoughts, so you should always take a break. That is it. So trataka is a very high technique in Haṭha Yoga. Then you meditate. You see the many, many lokas. Haṭha yoga is very pleasant. A lot of energy is coming. A lot of energy is recharged. But take the long way. It does not matter if it takes a few lives. Yeah, we will meet again in a later life. I will go, and you will be here. But I will come, I will be young, and you will be old. But when we look eye to eye, then there is some kind of feeling that this was my friend, father, mother, sister, wife, husband, something, you know. He was my friend, my father, my mother, my neighbor—so everything is registered in our eyes. And all these wild animals—if you look them in the eyes, they will attack you. Do not look in the eyes directly, especially with a monkey. Try, when you go to the animal zoo, and there is sitting one monkey or a gorilla, and you sit and look like that. After two minutes, this monkey will attack you. But he does not eat. That is it. So, Trāṭaka is very beautiful, very good, but also risky. And therefore, Mahāprabhujī said: Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Devpurīṣa Mahādeva Kī Jai, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Sāī Maheśvarānandajī, Viśvaguru Deva Kī Jai.