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Lecture Tour in Slovakia, Humenne

Karma governs action and result. Action is within one's control, but its result is not, shaping destiny across lives. This cycle of action and reaction creates disharmony within the soul. True harmony arises when one's environment is balanced. Belief does not alter reality; a higher cosmic consciousness exists. Humans possess intellect, a tool to awaken dormant talents through disciplined action. The mind functions as a messenger, transferring impressions from the senses to the subconscious, where they become desires. Unfulfilled desires create internal conflict. Harmony is achieved by limiting sensory needs and practicing renunciation. The body follows nature's law of growth and decay. Health depends on balanced nourishment and movement. Yoga harmonizes body, mind, and soul through psychosomatic practice, fostering kindness and unity with creation.

"Action is in your hands, but the result of your action is not in your hands."

"Limit your needs, and your mind will be in harmony."

Filming location: Humenne, Slovakia

We call it in Sanskrit karma. You call it deeds. Good actions will have good results, and bad actions will will have bad results. So, now we are the victims of our destiny. Action is in your hands, but the result of your action is not in your hands. Suppose I have a stone in my hand. I can keep it, or I can throw it. The decision is mine, but as soon as I throw the stone, it is gone out of my hands. It is no longer under my control. It will hit that point, whether it is a human, an animal, a stone, a tree, or anything. So, anything you do, you have the freedom to do, but you should know what fruits it will bear. And destiny is not only influencing us in this world. It is the waves, the wind of destiny that will lead us to different lives. So as an individual, we have our decisions, our deeds, and our destiny. Every action will have a reaction, and every reaction will again become an action, so we do not know if we are in this life as a reaction or an action. Therefore, the soul is not in harmony. Ask yourself, are you happy? Temporarily, yes. We are trying day and night to become happy, but sometimes that happiness becomes the biggest unhappiness. So, the joy of that joy which you would like to enjoy—is there less joy than the sorrow of that joy? The harmony of the soul appears when the world, our world, our environment, our surrounding, is balanced and happy. And finally, God. Whether you believe or you do not believe, it does not change. Australians say, "Now is night." And when you find them, they will say, "Good morning." But we said, stupid, it’s evening. So, belief does not change reality. If a blind person believes there is no sun, it does not mean there is no sun. So, politics, philosophy, and all these beliefs cannot change reality. Reality is there. There is a higher consciousness, and that higher consciousness is the origin of us; that is called cosmic consciousness. Now, out of 8.4 million different creatures, humans have got a very powerful tool. That is called intellect. You can decide, you can act, you can think. And due to this, we have immense hidden powers within ourselves. Of the thousands of talents which we have, perhaps one percent is awakened in us. But through our actions and following discipline, our intellect can awaken the dormant talents in our body—maybe concentration, maybe some work. There are many, many things. Learning awakens within us the talent. Suppose you cannot drive a car; you never drive. Now you practice for a few weeks, and you can drive. It means that dormant talent awakens in you. So, one after another, layers open through our intellect. So the cosmic consciousness, then, is called higher consciousness. Then comes subconsciousness. Then comes the unconscious. But, in the present, we have unconscious, subconscious, and conscious—awaken, sleep, and dream. The unconscious level of every individual is that storeroom where past lives and all karmas are dormant. As long as we do not purify that storeroom of unconsciousness, we cannot proceed further. The subconscious level, from the beginning of our life in the mother’s body until now, the past time from now, all good or bad experiences in this life, that is recorded or stored in the subconscious. And conscious is now, where we are, and we are awakened. So we come to the mind. I know that you know what a mind is. But in yoga, there is a very concrete explanation of what the mind is. So, I will explain this a little in detail. We come to our body. Our body is made out of five elements. But within this is the soul, the self, the consciousness, the memory, the thoughts, the mind, the emotion, and what not. Happiness, love, joy, anger, hate, jealousy, greed, and what not? Yes, we have. In this small body, you know, it can explode like an atom bomb. Thanks to God, they are all dormant. Jealousy is very bad. Anyhow, we have got five senses, that is called senses of knowledge, and five senses of karma. Whatever we learn from childhood till now—in school, college, university, with friends, with parents—only through the five senses. And thanks to God that all of our five senses are healthy. First, the vision: color and objects. You saw me today. Any time in the future, you will see my picture somewhere, and you will say, "Oh yes, I know that Indian." Forever, my picture is recorded in your consciousness. Second, the sound. Everything that we learn through sound. Third, smell. We can identify what kind of smell it is. Fourth, the taste. And fifth, the touch. These are the five senses. Now, whatever we experience through one of the senses or all five senses is immediately recorded in our intellect. And the intellect is ever free and empty, ready to get new. It is like a camera film; what we experienced is rolled back. Where did that go? To the subconscious. So, the mind is that principle which takes the information and brings this information to the subconscious. When someone is talking to you, your wife is talking to you, but you are thinking something else. And your wife says, "Do you understand what I said?" Oh no, can you explain once more? Because your mind was not there, and therefore it could not take the things inside. Now, whatever you experienced went to the subconscious through the mind. Every experience or every impression, when transferred to the subconscious level, works there and becomes a desire. And it comes again out, like smoke from fire. Now it has no form. From the subconscious, the desire is brought up by the mind. The mind does not know what it is. You are the mayor of the city. You are given a closed envelope to pass to someone. You should not open that, and you do not know what is inside. Similarly, the mind is a messenger, bringing the message from here to there. The principle of the mind is the moon, and the principle of the moon is changing. And moon means emotion. And emotion means that you are in motion. And sometimes emotions are so strong that you cannot master them. Emotions have many different forms: anger, hate, jealousy, happiness—many of these are emotions. So our mind is never equal. We say, "I changed my mind." So, mind is not responsible. Therefore, do not trust your mind, but analyze your mind. The mind is very correct. Now it brought the hidden desires from the subconscious to the conscious. And consciousness is connected with the intellect. And the principle of intellect is to give judgment on what is what. And then, automatically, that desire is transferred to that organ or sense of the body. Suppose you are walking with your friend, wife, or husband through a beautiful pedestrian street in Humenné, and you see a beautiful ice cream shop. Who does not want to eat ice cream? The husband tells his wife, "Let’s go and eat ice cream." Good husband. And the wife says, "No, my dear." A good husband will never ask why. If he asks why, she has an answer. So, the husband knows why his wife does not want to. That is called mutual understanding, so the husband is silent. The wife feels pity, and she feels to give him an explanation. Why not? She says, "Remember, the doctor told you, ‘Do not eat ice cream for ten days because you have a problem with the vocal cord.’" He says, "Yes, yes, I know." Let’s go home. After three days, you dream. Look, the desire which you could not fulfill is now being brought from the subconscious mind into the dream level. And you dream. Your wife is inviting you for ice cream. She says, "Now it’s twenty days gone. Let’s go to enjoy the ice cream." And you are so happy, and she orders two balls of ice cream. And you take a spoon of ice cream, and the ice cream is coming near your lips, still four centimeters away, and an alarm is ringing. No ice cream, it was a dream. Now what will happen to this desire? It will go again to the subconscious. It will repeat a few times. Then disappointment, it will turn into disappointment and go to the subconscious and lose its form, and that will create a conflict between you and your wife. You do not know why, and she does not know why. And then you go to a psychiatrist or psychologist, and a good psychologist will say, "It’s psychic." When we do not know what it is, then we say it is psychic. And you go home, and your wife says, "How are you?" "Tak, tak. So, so." What happened? The doctor said I am psychic. And what more? Come again. And you go to the mirror and look, "I am psychic." So these are unsolved problems in our subconscious. So meditation, prayers, and mantras can clear up the levels of our consciousness. The mind is not guilty. Guilty are our senses. We would like to see, we would like to hear, we would like to taste, we would like to touch, and so on. So, limit your needs, and your mind will be in harmony. Balance with yourself, and your mind will get into balance and will harmonize with you. Mahātmā Gāndhī said, "Renounce and enjoy." If you would like to enjoy your life, then renounce things and be satisfied with what you are. Then you will see your mind is in harmony. Now the soul is happy, in harmony. The mind is in harmony. Now the body. The principle of the body is to be born, to grow, to rise, and to die. It is the bitter truth. It is the law of nature. Who is born one day has to die. What is created one day has to be destroyed. Who came one day has to go. So, those are the changes in the universe. But our body—everything for us now is our body. Whatever exists in this world exists for us as long as our body is here. But the body is not in harmony. Many diseases, pain, or one is not happy. There are some people who would like to lose the kilos, but they cannot, though they do not eat very much. There are people who are only looking at the food, and the kilos are growing. And there are some people who would like to have muscles, but they cannot. Some are happy with their hair. Some are coloring it. Some cut it. Some keep it long. Some make it like this, and some are tightening here. The disharmony—we are not content. But health, we need health. So one scientist said, "Health is not everything." But everything is nothing without health. And there are thousands of different ways to be healthy. Our health depends on two things: nourishment and movement. Good nourishment. Organic nourishment. Fresh, balanced. We yogīs always say it is the vegetarian nourishment. And good, balanced movement. Walking is very good. Cycling is good. Swimming is good. Many, many are good. But yoga is something which is harmonizing all three at once. That is called psychosomatic movement. Balanced, and you do not need anything. You need not go anywhere. In your sleeping room, or in your living room, or in your garden, anywhere you can practice. Practice makes a master. And I tell you many times, we yoga teachers say, "Practice half an hour." Twenty minutes? That is only chocolate. If you would like to be really healthy and achieve something, then one and a half to two and a half hours practicing daily. Get up at 4:30 in the morning, and until 6:30, you do your yoga. In one year, you will see, you will be surprised. Your body is very light, very healthy. You feel that you are getting young. The growth of old age is blocked. Now we are going on at 200 km speed, and when you will practice yoga every day... You will do only one. Zero less, how much is that? From 200 to 20, so slow. When you drive a car at 200 and then you have to come to 20 kilometers, it looks like you are standing nearly. So, yoga tells us to be kind to all. Help all. Helping hands have more value than folded hands. Love God’s creation. Love and live in harmony with your surroundings, your families, and your good neighbors. Believe there is God. Where do you pray? You have consultation directly with God. And when you practice mantra and meditation, you are sitting on the lap of God, like on the lap of a mother. You become one with it. Human life is very beautiful, and what is a mystery? Very difficult to understand, and time will wait for no one. Today is gone. It means we became one day older already. Tomorrow, one day also will be little. Karma will not leave no one free. And time will wait for no one, so harmony of body, mind, and soul through the practice of yoga and dhyāna. Now it will come to the practical session, and I think you have listened too much. So I will give you now the mental tonic. Not vodka, but spiritual tonic. So, I invite some demonstrators. Now, the practical part is coming. You will do with us. Thank you. This you can say relaxation, this you may say meditation, or this you may say anti-stress technique. Okay? So, if it is possible, take off your shoes, that you feel more energy on your feet, so do not miss it. Tomorrow, if you come here, I will not be here. So please lie down. Demonstrate how to lie down. While sitting, you will do this mentally. So, make yourself very comfortable. You may lean on your chair and move your toes a little bit. Do you know how many hours your toes were in the shoes? Yes. Now relax them. Hands on the thighs, palms open, index finger and thumb together. This functions to overcome the stress. Palms either facing upward or down on your thigh. Whatever you want to see in this hall, do it. Then we will close our eyes. Do not open them until I tell you to. One thing is sure: nothing new will happen here. Nothing will change until then, so you do not have to open your eyes, but still you are free. So it will begin now. Make yourself comfortable. Gently close your eyes. Withdraw yourself from the external world. And become aware of your being here in this hall. No concentration, no imagination, for a while just relax. Once deep inhale and exhale, whole body. Feel and relax your toes, feel your foot soles, feel and relax both your legs. Keep your legs systematically: the foot soles, the ankle joints, the calf muscles, the knees, the thigh muscles, relax. Keep your legs very relaxed. You may straighten your legs a little apart from the chair. Relax the hip joints. Relax the hips. Muscles relax. Relax your elbows, shoulders, wrists, and hands consciously. Just relax. Relax your neck, relax your jaw. Do not bite your teeth together. Feel and relax your head, skin, and face muscles. Eyelids stay gently closed. And relax. Relax the whole body from the toes to the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. Say to thyself mentally, relax, my friend, relax, just relax, let me be one with myself, no tensions at all, physically or mentally. Som uvolněný. I am relaxing. Uvolňujem sa. I feel very relaxed and comfortable. Uvolníte sa. Now feel your breath. Breath is also very relaxed. Yes, I know that I am inhaling, and I know that I am exhaling. Feel the entire respiratory system. How beautiful, how pleasant you feel when you inhale, and how relaxed you feel when you exhale. Keep the body relaxed. Feel your breath. Do not change the breath rhythm. Let it flow as naturally as it is. At the time of the inhalation, your body is inhaling the cosmic energy, the life force, prāṇa. Each and every cell of your body is recharging this energy. And at the time of the exhalation, all the toxins are exhaled from the body. I know that I am relaxed. I feel my breath. My body is recharging the vitality, free from physical and mental stress. Relax the whole body from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head to the toes. Feel how freely you can breathe. Please, no thoughts. No imagination, no concentration, just feel the reality. Relax, be aware of your being here in this hall. Feel your breath and feel your body relaxed. Now, slowly, deep inhale a few times and exhale. Deep inhale and exhale. Inhale deep. Exhale and try to become extroverted. Feel your body from one side. You are being here in this hall. And outward. Inhale and exhale. Now slowly move your toes, contract them, stretch them out, and stretch your foot. Pull the toes towards the body, and then stretch out, and move your fingers. Close the fists. Open the palms and close the fist, and rotate your wrists a little. Sit straight and move one shoulder up and down, then the other shoulder up and down, and then both shoulders up and down. Just rotate your shoulders. Both shoulders. With closed eyes, slowly bend your head forward. And bend your head to the right and to the left. And now, open your palms and rub your palms. Place the hands on the face. And slightly warm your face muscles, open the eyes, and open the nose. Interlock the fingers and stretch the hands up and down over the head. Once more. And now, hands on the thighs. So that was a practical. You may call it relaxation. You may call it meditation. You may call it an anti-stress program. Or you may call them mental tonic, or physical and mental both. And yoga means not that you have to perform difficult postures. Just easy. Yoga is individual. Every one of us has particular exercises which we need. It is not like in the circus, but our body knows what the body needs. It is a yoga and daily life book which you have. It is designed in such a way that everyone finds something. Gentle movements. Marjari, please. You look, and they will demonstrate. You go ahead slowly. This is called the cat pose. The best relaxed and flexible back has the cat. And this will remove the back pain, back tensions, and neck tensions. It will improve the digestive system. It will cure the constipation. And it is very good also for women who have spasms or cramps during menstruation. Immediately, it will help to release. It is a very beautiful posture or exercise. It is not difficult. Of course, those who have what we call the slipped disc, then please consult with the doctor first. So, come up. There are many beautiful movements. Stand up. So, interlock your fingers, start Tāḍāsana. And this, many times, we do it naturally. You can do it in your office when you are sitting for a long time. Stand up and just do it a few times, that is all. It is very, very good. Stretching. Yoga has three movements: dynamical movements, stretching, and postures. And of course, the breath is the major thing. Now, the legs apart. Stretch hands up. Bend to the left side, legs more apart, slowly, and on the other side. There is one posture which improves the immunity in the body and is good for everyone. And it awakens the spiritual energy centers. It is called Kaṭhūpraṇām. So please come. That will be the last today. So this posture, Vajrāsana, is advised to do after eating. This posture is a beautiful one. It has a very good effect on the body. Your muscles are stretched, and your thigh muscles are stretched also. The back is naturally straight, which means the stomach is relaxed. Digestive process begins very good. When the back is straight and relaxed, then our ribs, or what we call the chest, are expanding. So we have more volume of the air, good against asthma. When the trunk of the body is relaxed and straight, the shoulders are automatically relaxed. When the shoulder is relaxed, the elbows are very relaxed. And when this is relaxed, the neck muscles are relaxed. So the whole body has a very positive effect. This is called Vajrāsana. Kaṭhūpraṇām begins with this. You will give yourself the explanation now. Three positions, because if I explain, it will be too long. So, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, continue. It is very good for children also, for the students also. It improves the memory and removes laziness or tiredness. It creates new energy in the body. And it is very good for children, especially those who have no good concentration and who are very restless. Rest next time. So, thank you. Thank you. Well, dear brothers and sisters, thank you for your listening. I wish you all the best. Practice yoga. Yoga is designed for the well-being of humans. It does not matter from which country or which culture one belongs. Only one out of 8.4 million is the human. All creatures are good, and they are the light of God. Yoga in Daily Life is carefully designed from the ancient. You have in your city also Yoga in Daily Life, many years already, and I hope there is some classes still going on, or it will be. Will be, and thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your kind attention, and that you invited me to your office. Also, I would like to thank the director and all from this hall. God bless. May God bless you all, and thank you. Dear guests, thank you in the name of all of you. These beautiful, timeless thoughts which were spoken here by Paramahaṁsa Maheśvarānanda are valid everywhere in this world. So I thank you very much, and if you allow me, I would like to give him flowers. And for a beautiful translation.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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