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Because we are living a materialistic life. There is no spirituality in our actions or thoughts, that is why everything is going topsy-turvy in the world, and that is why yoga is necessary in this world. Yoga sows the seeds of respect for others within us.
This present world is very peculiar. We have preferred to enjoy the worldly pleasures and now we are becoming tired of them. There is no problem in enjoyment and leading a worldly life, without that this world would not exist. Enjoyment is necessary, but this act must not cause inconvenience to others. We have to enjoy with harmony. If we enjoy the pleasures of life, we must do it spiritually. In the Ishavasya Upanishad, it is mentioned, "Live up to the age of one hundred years and in your life enjoy, but let it not be the cause of others' envy." I hope you understand that. This is why we have come to learn for our spiritual evolution. This morning we heard the shantipath of the Ishavasya Upanishad.
Om poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornamudachyate poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaa vashishyate.
What does it mean? In every microcosm there is a macrocosm. A body is certainly within the universe, but within every body a universe is also present. This is what the shantipath of the Ishavasya Upanishad means. So we are here to learn yoga, and not only to learn yoga but also to teach yoga. With all due respect to Swami Sivapremananda, what he said yesterday was not true. When I left England no one knew of yoga and when I returned in 1985, everyone knew of yoga. There were not many practitioners but everyone knew of yoga. What does this mean? If a person has heard the word 'yoga' he knows that by practising yoga he will benefit. What does this mean? That a person who knows yoga to be beneficial will certainly practise at some point in time in the future. Books talk of yoga, newspapers talk of yoga. That means that if someone hears of yoga today maybe in the next twenty or fifty years he will practise it. Therefore, I think it is spreading quite fast. Without yoga we cannot evolve further. The whole world is bound for destruction if it continues on the same path.
Each one of us is a microcosm and modern science has begun to understand this peculiarity. People who are making deep studies on matter were surprised because the deeper they went into material things, the more they discovered their innate spirituality. That is consciousness. People who are
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