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Try to be innocent

Yoga is the path of returning to oneness, merging the self into the Supreme.

All beings, through different paths, ultimately converge like rivers to the ocean. The journey begins from birth, where a mother's care and a father's guidance are the first lessons. This innate purity and innocence are the foundation. Meditation is not a rigid practice but a return to that comfortable, natural state. However, the inner journey requires directing consciousness upward. Energy must ascend through the central channel; if it descends, one becomes lost in worldly emotions and loses vital force. The goal is to rise to the highest consciousness, not to be pulled downward by transient thoughts and feelings. Stay on the path, for leaving it in search of another leads only to exhaustion. True guidance comes from within and from all who point toward the Supreme.

"Like clouds become rain, water flows on earth, collecting into creeks, rivers, and finally one great river whose power finds its path back to the ocean. Similarly, we all, in different ways, return to oneness."

"In your meditation, how do we meditate? We go up through the cakras. If you go down, you are lost."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

O Guru Brahma, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt Parabrahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ. Dhyāna Mūlaṁ Guru Mūrtiḥ, Pūjā Mūlaṁ Guru Pādam, Mantra Mūlaṁ Guru Vākyaṁ, Mokṣa Mūlaṁ Guru Kṛpā. Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Good evening, all dear sisters, brothers, and yoga practitioners around the whole world. I pray for all humans that they are healthy, happy, and harmonious within themselves. I pray for all countries around the world to remain happy, peaceful, and friendly. We know the corona problem continues, and we all need help to keep clean and protect ourselves and others. I pray for all. Our subject is always yoga. How many years is my age? My life in yoga began in the womb of my mother, being held in my father's hands, embraced by brothers and friends. I feel I was born a yogī, I work as a yogī, and I am in service to you. If I make a mistake, please forgive me. If you are happy and like it, good. I surrender with humbleness. This must come from within ourselves, and from it, we gain immense energy, peace, harmony, and happiness. Human beings have been great according to their capacity. In ancient times, there were many great humans—yogīs and spiritual people. In this way, we move forward on our globe. I always pray for all humans and animals to live in harmony and peace. We have scriptures and teachings given in writing, through voice and thought, and they continue to help us. One may like something, another may not, but in the end, we are all connected as one. Like clouds become rain, water flows on earth, collecting into creeks, rivers, and finally one great river whose power finds its path back to the ocean. Similarly, we all, in different ways, return to oneness. That is yoga. That is the path of the self merging into the One—whether we call it Brahma, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Brahmātmā, or Allah. We are all merging into one. The wind carries water from the ocean to the sky, and it falls again as rain. On Earth, we have high mountains thousands of feet tall, and oceans. On a mountain peak, one may think, "I am very high." Rain falls there and says, "I was in the clouds. I want to go directly to the ocean, but I am on a high mountain. How will I return?" Do not worry. It will come. The waters will gather power, carve valleys, break stones, and reach the ocean. Similarly, my dear, we are now at the highest point as humans, and we know our path. We will make our path, come all together, and reach the highest consciousness, and from there to the cosmic. That is the path of yoga. We learn through lectures, books, and alphabets because we want to reach there. That is also yoga. Even Brahmā knows he wants to write, speak, and teach further. In every part of the world—even on a big rock in the middle of the ocean—people receive the name of God. We yogīs say each cell in our body is like we are in a vast ocean. So what should we do? Sometimes we think our path is good; sometimes we think, "I don't like where I am. This path is not good." There is a beautiful bhajan by a great holy man, a blind saint. A big boat was on the ocean, and a bird was on it. For a hundred kilometers, there was only ocean. The bird wanted to go elsewhere or back to land. It flew one, two, five kilometers, but found nowhere to rest. Tired, it returned to the same boat. It tried to fly away again, but grew tired. We try to go here and there, but we return to our good path—our guru, teacher, master, or saint. Sometimes we say, "I don't like this; I will search elsewhere." You will not find. You may think you are good somewhere new, but sooner or later, you must turn back. The bird may fly until tired, fall into the ocean, and be lost. Likewise, we humans try this way and that, grow tired, and are lost. It is said your guru is not only one you find. Your father is your guru, your mother is your guru. That is the nest where babies are born. There are many gurus in the world. What does this mean? It is whoever puts us on the path to the Supreme. But how? How should we practice? What is yoga? My dear, your mother gave you much yoga. When your child is little—one month, a few days, one year—the mother takes the child in her lap, massages, stretches, puts them on the stomach, massages the spine, palms, and fingers. She bathes them in warm water. The baby may cry, but then becomes happy and moves nicely. They cannot walk yet, but this massage is the mother's yoga practice for her child. How to give food? After a month or a year, the father comes, and the child holds the father's finger. Have you not seen in the Rāmāyaṇa how Bhagavān Rāma walked holding his father's finger? That is yoga. Slowly, brothers and sisters also help the child move, talk, stand, and sit. Our neighbors and friends all help. It is said a little child is like a god because they have no negative thinking; they are pure, and everyone loves that purity. Even when we see baby animals—dogs, cats, cows, rabbits, deer, tigers, elephants—we say, "Oh, nice baby," because the divine is in everything. They are pure. So we work hard, do good things, and help, but we must return to meditation. Remain innocent. Remember the happiness in the lap of your mother and father, or your guru. You do not know how much the Guru loves you. It is said the Guru is more than mother and father, holding one's whole life in the palm. Therefore, when you come to meditation, close your eyes or open them. You may sit leaning or straight—whatever feels comfortable, like a little baby wants comfort. When we come home after playing football, swimming, running, working, or driving, we should first feel as if in the mother's womb. We do not know how hard it was in the womb, like workers making clothes, building the body. But when born, we see happiness. So when we come home—in different countries, with different people and philosophies—feel positive thinking according to your culture. Do all things for God, and then come to meditation. You need not sit perfectly straight. Many sit with hands on knees, but after five or ten minutes, they slump. Make yourself comfortable. Perhaps lie down, stretch a leg, lean on a chair, a wooden pillar, or a wall. It should not be too cold, or you may have problems. When you want to meditate, try one day to sit as comfortably as possible. Then you will come within yourself. Consider how to sit and breathe, but do not let your mind run. Meditate for as long as you can—10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, two hours. Some people sit relaxed by a river, watching the beautiful flowing water with eyes open. That is also meditation. It is not necessary to close your eyes and sit straight. That is for people who think, "Oh, this is yoga, it is very good, we will do it." Why? Be comfortable. If during meditation you need to use the bathroom, please go. Do everything to make yourself happy. If you cannot make yourself comfortable, who will? It is you, my dear, and that is your inner guru. Your inner guru does everything. But when sitting in meditation, if you think about money, friends, desires, "I want to be," "I miss something," "I am young, it is difficult," or "I want to be old"—you will become old. So, as young as you are, please use it to reach the highest. Do not go down. In our yoga, we speak of hidden powers in humans, the cakras and kuṇḍalinī. There is a technique called yoga in daily life where we must move energy up the spinal column through the cakras. The power must go up. If it goes down to the lower cakras, the roots will be gone. In prāṇāyāma, the iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā nāḍīs pull us up. There is also another energy called Vajranāḍī, which becomes like iron—immovable, without feelings. Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā go left and right, but Vajranāḍī is strength. If you go down, something will be wrong. You lose your life force. The highest power in our body is put down, leading to different kinds of feelings. How many horses are in the body? There are ten. We must bring them upwards. Those who are weak are like a branch that breaks. Do not be like a single branch, but like the whole trunk of the tree—the Vajranāḍī. Through the Vajranāḍī, drawing from the iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā from the mantra cakra at the roots, we go further. So, in your meditation, how do we meditate? We go up through the cakras. If you go down, you are lost. Let the energy go where it will, but keep your consciousness in harmony, always going up. Always look up, not emotionally down. Otherwise, there is no meditation. You will not be spiritual. You will not reach the cosmic Self. Merely saying, "This is a good book, I pray, I say praṇām," is like children playing. We pray morning and evening, say praṇām, but inside there is so much emotion. And what is emotion? The roots become rotten, and we are nothing. Therefore, try to control. Very few can control 100%, but we must try hard. The meditation I speak of is how meditation should be. I will speak on nothing—but not nothing in the sense of the whole body being empty. No, that is another thing, my dear. Let us continue. What is real meditation? Who has spoken the great sense? Not many people are like that. Here, one speaks more, and many go there. One does not want to talk, and a few sit. So it is said. Let us come further for our meditation. It is perfect, but I must bring you on the right way, as my Master, my Holy Gurujī, did. You will know how Mahāprabhujī meditated—with mantra and meditation for 18 hours. When resting, his mala still moved in his fingers. All people in Kathu, Nagara, Gujarat, everywhere, who know Mahāprabhujī Swāmī Madhvanājī Bhagavān, say he was always in bhajan, mantra, and meditation. That meditation will come. Hari Om. Wish you all the best. Om Śānti. Om Śānti. Om.

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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