We'll explore the alarming trends in depression and suicidal behavior, discussing the critical role of both self-help and external support systems. Discover how the mind's energy, which Swami Tadananda describes as a powerful vortex, can either uplift or drag us down, and learn practical tools to help those in distress.
Next, grasp how the energy of various environments impacts our mental well-being. Swami Tadananda sheds light on the uplifting power of high-energy spaces like pilgrimage sites and the draining effects of places steeped in sorrow. We'll highlight the importance of surrounding ourselves with positive individuals and influences and how we can be a beacon of positive energy for others.
Finally, delve into the transformative power of mantras, cultural practices like Vastu and Feng Shui, and the significance of maintaining positive energy. Swami Tadananda explains how mantras connect us to higher spiritual energies and how consistent practice can fortify our mental resilience. Tune in to grasp the essential strategies for safeguarding our mind against the perils of a downward spiral, and build the resilience needed for a balanced, fulfilling life.
www.vedanta.nz
We'll explore the alarming trends in depression and suicidal behavior, discussing the critical role of both self-help and external support systems. Discover how the mind's energy, which Swami Tadananda describes as a powerful vortex, can either uplift or drag us down, and learn practical tools to help those in distress.
Next, grasp how the energy of various environments impacts our mental well-being. Swami Tadananda sheds light on the uplifting power of high-energy spaces like pilgrimage sites and the draining effects of places steeped in sorrow. We'll highlight the importance of surrounding ourselves with positive individuals and influences and how we can be a beacon of positive energy for others.
Finally, delve into the transformative power of mantras, cultural practices like Vastu and Feng Shui, and the significance of maintaining positive energy. Swami Tadananda explains how mantras connect us to higher spiritual energies and how consistent practice can fortify our mental resilience. Tune in to grasp the essential strategies for safeguarding our mind against the perils of a downward spiral, and build the resilience needed for a balanced, fulfilling life.
www.vedanta.nz
Namaste to the listeners. My name is Sunil. I'm with Swami Tadananda from the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre of Auckland, New Zealand. How are you, Swamiji?
Speaker 2:I'm very good Sunil. A bit cold Winter is here, but all right, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good. I'm good as well, swamiji. Yes, winter is here, definitely getting colder at nights at the moment, and early morning as well at nights at the moment, and early morning as well. So, swamiji, we'll carry on from the last episode. In the last episode, we talked about the subject of untimely death and then we concluded right at the end by saying if our mind is slipping into a downward spiral for a person for which this is happening, that is in a situation and we need some tools that would help lift this mind up, can we carry on from there?
Speaker 2:Yes, this is a delicate subject, but a very important subject. When we hear the increasing incidences of depression, suicidal behavior, people just sometimes do not know what to do. It's affecting both the person who is suffering as well as those around. People feel pretty helpless. They seek help outside. You know, here we are discussing what we can do ourselves, how we can empower ourselves with the spiritual knowledge, understanding, to lift that mind out of that dark space.
Speaker 1:so to say so.
Speaker 2:The important thing here is, these tools are all about helping oneself and a little bit those around us also, people that are around can help.
Speaker 2:So this is both educational for those people who can see parents, family members to whom somebody has approached. I'm not feeling good about myself, I'm having these not so nice thoughts and I'm trying to avoid them. I need help, yes, okay. So what to do in this situation? What to do for those? So let's discuss first about what others can do, yes and then we'll also discuss about the person can do, because sometimes that person is not in that mind space that this type of thoughts and ideas and knowledge that we're talking about, even though they might have heard it, they will not come to him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he won't be able to penetrate, yeah, he will not be able to avail, that, he will not be able to remember them and action them. See, so, those around them, what at least initial help? You know, reach out, give me your hand, I'll pull you up, and then the other person puts a little bit of his own effort and together they are able to come out.
Speaker 2:So first part is those around. Let's talk about that. Then we talked about the general principle, the method, about helping Two things. So it's like somebody is drowning, he's screaming up, but his feet is not touching the bottom of the pond or something, so he can't lift him, he doesn't know how to swim. Somebody can extend a hand or some stick and say hold on to the tunnel, pull you out. Okay. What is that others can do around him? That's important, okay.
Speaker 2:So let's try to understand a depressive mind. It's a mind, is a vortex of energy, sometimes the mind, that energy energy has got a like a tornado. It spins. It's not stationary, it will be moving. If it's moving in a particular direction, say a clockwise direction, then it's lifting up. And the same mind is spinning in the anticlockwise direction, it's going down. That's right. So all minds have some sense of direction, all right. A good, positive mind is always filled with positive ideas, is able to lift itself from the problems, and but some sometimes get influenced by the negative and the negative direction begins to pull them down. That's when they're drowning into it, okay, sinking down that tunnel or downward spiral, so to say. And that's when they're drowning into it. Okay, sinking down that tunnel or downward spiral, so to say. And that's when they scream out help me, type of thing in different ways. Those around, if they can reach out with the right tool, can help that person out. So let's talk about that.
Speaker 2:But understanding the person in front of you is not only as a physical person is very important. There's a mind, there's a spiritual being. These three dimensions are what make us. The mind is a vortex of energy. Okay, it's either going up or down. There is higher energy inside us and lower energy. The body is the lowest level energy in our being. The mind is the middle. The spiritual dimension is most powerful, like 2g, 3g, 4g okay, different planes of existence, different frequencies and different amounts of energy available in that. So in spiritual life, let's say why our spiritual person would not go. The less chance of a spiritual life. Let's say why a spiritual person would not go. There's less chance of a spiritual person slipping down.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, because he is proactive in taking a preventative approach. Yes, okay, all right. So he says I have this mind. There will be experiences in my life that might be uplifting and buoyant or, you know, it's opposite. But I will train myself that I have developed that capacity that I can do a little bit of self-help to lift my mind up. So let's use a little bit of science in understanding the mechanics by which the mind is operating there. Energy flows from one thing to another, yes, okay. Electricity flows from high voltage to low voltage yes, the sense of direction is a flow. Water flows from high pressure to low pressure, okay. Heat flows from high temperature to low temperature Okay, these are all heat.
Speaker 2:All these are different forms of energy you know, so imagine when our minds get connected to certain things in the world. There'll be a flow of energy between me and whatever I'm connected to. If my mind is connected to something higher, then I will have an inflow of energy. Right, because it's flowing from inflow of energy into me. Right, because it's flowing from the higher source to lower source.
Speaker 2:All right, and if my mind is connected to something lower, then again there will be a flow. Yeah, because you're the higher. In that case, yeah, you're the higher and therefore you're losing energy to the lower. It goes to the lower outflow. So when there is an inflow, then you know, like a battery is connected to a power supply, there's inflow. The battery gets charged. Water is flowing into a barrel, the water level rises. Heat is flowing into whatever substance. Its temperature rises. That's an inflow. When it's an outflow, you get depleted. Yes, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:So now you can see that when you interact with the world, casually or intentionally, there are certain places you go and you feel uplifted. Naturally there was an inflow of energy. You feel very good about it. You know you meet certain people who have a higher energy and it uplifts you, like that company that was very good, I enjoyed that company, come out better. And then you have other people, other situations. You go where there's an outflow of energy okay, and you feel drained out and depleted. Okay.
Speaker 2:For those people who visit temples and places of pilgrimage they go and for the time being they have forgotten the world and their mind is in a bittersweet because that energy is flowing and charging them.
Speaker 2:Yes, all right, people make a special effort to go to such places. These are the places of pilgrimage, these are the places where that energy is high is. You know, if you imagine the world, the spiritual world, uh, as not a flat land, but a terrain that has got valleys and mountains and plateaus and peaks, there'll be certain places where the energy level is low and if you go there then you'll be in that deep valley, ravine, and if you climb that whole peak then and the top of peak, then you are in high energy space. So these places of pilgrimage, like in Hinduism Banaras and Valur Mart, and you know Vrindavan, these are high energy spaces. You know the Vatican, makkah these are high energy spaces. And there are other places around us there where there are low energy spaces. You know, for example, if you go to a funeral pallor somebody's, you know attending somebody's funeral the moment you enter in there there's 100 or 200 people. They're all thinking in a all those minds are tuned together.
Speaker 2:It's a very powerful vortex and you step into that you'll find it automatically drags you and to its level forcefully, and you might. You don't know the person there. Everyone is crying. You might also shed a tear, all right, because that energy works on you. So one has to be very, very vigilant. You know you just can't take anything and everything very casually, mixing with people. What type of people you're talking to? At work and around you'll find some people are there, always very cheerful. You go and talk, you smile, jolly, this, and that they exude that positive energy and people gravitate towards it. But then there are other people out there, morose, complaining, whinging down. You know that type of thing and you go and listen or sit down to them. You feel a little bit drained out. Some people you know, just like they suck the energy out of you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Some meetings I come out of, and some days when I come home I won't be just going to sleep, even though I've just sat in some meetings pretty much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, draining.
Speaker 1:Just draining, yeah, and it feels like you've probably done more physical activity and then you know and you pull the mind down pulls the mind down exhausted.
Speaker 2:So it's good to understand the world that we are living in. It's not only a physical world, there's a mental world. The mental world is full of energies, thoughts, emotions, feelings. Energies are of different levels, positives, their peaks and plateaus. When you climb there, you are in a very good space, and there are these dark spaces, the valleys. When you get in there, everything is dark. One must know what to avoid, how to avoid. You can't just casually go around the world mixing with anyone and everyone, thinking and you know nothing happens. No, no, always keep in mind your mind is connecting with people, connecting with ideas, connecting with different things, and they are going to influence you either. Positive energy will come into you. Seek that out.
Speaker 2:We talked about in the last episode how shri krishna gives the advice to arjuna make an effort to always lift the mind, then you are your own friend. But if you're careless or for whatever reason, your mind gets caught in the negative spiral and goes down, you will do self-harm. Your enemy enemy is one who does harm to you, but not an external enemy. Your own mind becomes the enemy. Self-harm, you know. Physically it might manifest by somebody cutting himself or, you know, you know, trying to destroy the body. But actually the problem is not in the body, it's in the mind. That is where it has to be treated. So I think you know, rather than having talking in a very, very jargons, we have a little bit of a practical, scientific understanding of what the mind is, how the mind is connecting, how energy is flowing. Imagine somebody in the family or around there is putting the signal up, need help, and if we can pick up, he says, for some reason the earth under my feet is giving up, it's a sinkhole or something you know, I need help. How could you help? So if we, if one has this understanding of energies, these energies, then you say what can I do? How I can be that positive energy that I can feed into it? Okay, I have to be the positive energy myself. Then only I can give something else. All right, but I'm going to connect with that person. It could be positive thinking, talking, counseling, encouraging, you know, engaging them in some positive activity or something like that, just so that there's a exposure to that positive energy. All right, as much as possible. So being positive around them, don't go down and, you know, make a big deal about, then you're just feeding the negative energy to them.
Speaker 2:You know, if he's feeling bad, like somebody is sick, and everyone comes around and talks about their sickness oh, how bad it is, and these are the symptoms that is not good. You should talk about health, you know. Yes, the positive energy that you know that's good, you know you'll get well, all right, it's just a process, you know, just blah, blah, blah. You talk to that person cheers up. But if 10 people come and look at the medical report and say, oh, this is so bad and this is so bad, that makes it even worse, leaves a person in a traumatized state there. So people around should try to consciously create a sphere, a space space, a positive energy space for that person. Maybe sometimes it might mean moving out of that. Let's go on a out of the space where it is.
Speaker 2:Sometimes some particular places have negative energy. Where people have lived and done something that's not has been very good, places where murders have been committed or some crimes have been committed, becomes a place of negative energy. When you go there, enter that house or that place, you'll feel something is not very comfortable, you see, and if a person lives in that space, then that energy has got that negative effect on it and so some people who know this, they they're very choosy about. You know where they buy the house. It's not dependent on the cost of the house. They look for that. Yeah, you know, we have this vastu in the indian system. We have that in the chinese. You know what is it? What do you call feng shui or something like that? Yeah, it's all about understanding that energy in which you are going to live in. Make the right choices. So that is it.
Speaker 2:People might give somebody I'm just talking about who others around them can help House that is Beautiful. Bhajans are going on. Spiritual energy, puja or something. Let's say, have a spiritual program around the house. Invite some people with some devotional singing, this puja or something. Let's say, have a spiritual program around the house, you know, invite some people where there's some devotional singing, some puja is happening. You try to create that house and fill that house with some positive energy.
Speaker 2:Okay, positive conversations happening all the time, reading some very good, uplifting books. Books are sources of ideas, thoughts and the person reads that. They're feeding your mind with that energy, putting water into barrel Thoughts you're putting there Up to so much you can do In the very early stages. You can see that somebody comes home a little down this and that you cheer them up a little bit. As they say, talk something positive, and that person comes out of his back to his normal thing, easily done in the early stages.
Speaker 2:But when it spirals down a little bit more, sometimes it's more difficult, you know, and you're sort of left without tools. It is, and sometimes it's, extremely difficult in there. So that's one part of it only so much people around can do. But at least the basic concept is I should be positive, I should be a positive source of energy to that person. Yes, he should be exposed to all those type of people also, so he should not be alone. You know all the good friends come, you know relatives come on talking around there, take that person out for, uh, on a holiday or something like this type of thing.
Speaker 2:You know, get out of that environment, you know, and while you're there, uh see what else is available there in terms of positive energy. Yes, okay, does that positive energy mean going to the counselor? Well, you can ask what. What happens in that counseling session? I don't know, I haven't been to one, but understand. Does it come off better or worse?
Speaker 1:yeah, well, I've been to some and I think, a lot of time the conversations are around trying to find the cause, the root cause of things, right? And therefore, you're talking about the negative stuff a lot more than what you would want to right, so your mind is still in a very negative state.
Speaker 2:They stir all those things up a little bit, yeah, stir the things a bit more. Do they give you some positive energy in any way?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think so. It's mainly about trying to understand what's happened, and so it's always a bit negative. Yeah, positive stuff, something quite hard anyway but here's the science of it.
Speaker 2:You make the choices. What's there? Okay, sometimes it might help if you've got a person who's a good counselor, who can knows what he's doing when he's interacting with that. Mind in that, but more so, what can that person do by themselves?
Speaker 2:okay, that's more important because you might not have somebody around you, yes, okay, and when you need them, you know well one what one should not do and what one should do. Both things have to be understand, understood. One should not connect oneself to any lower energy. Don't go to people who would drag your mind down, don't connect yourself to any source that will feed negative energy. And unfortunately, in this age and time, what's available on the internet and I've read some of this you know incidents of you know available on the internet and I've read some of this. You know, incidents of you know where children got in their own quiet room at night. They are communicating with people out there who are feeding them so much negative energy, basically encouraging them in that direction yes, you know and dragging that in until those accidents happen. So those are extremely dangerous situations.
Speaker 2:Parents, if they know they should cut off the internet, at least you'll disconnect them from that type of situations. Okay, keep that person. Don't let that person be alone. Let that be close in their, you know, in the general company, interactive. So that's that person who's looking for help must be very careful to avoid all sources of people who can drag their mind down, who might encourage them or justify them or say, hey, you can do it, or type of thing. I'm telling because I've read some incidences where, after the child had gone and the parents went and looked at what the child was looking through at night on his phone and said for the last one week the child was awake till two o'clock in three o'clock morning and he was visiting this type of sites and they saw this. My god, that is what really encouraged that person down that line, unknown to anyone. Parents are sleeping in the next room and this is happening. So all by all means, that is to be avoided.
Speaker 2:Now, that's if they have that self-control and discipline there, yeah, but what is the best way to avoid that? The thing is, when you get down there, sometimes you you do not think like we're thinking. Now, the normal, what we call normal thinking, these ideas that we are talking, suppose he has heard and read it. They will not be available to him because the mind has gone to a lower level and that negative energy is feeding into it. So these spiritual solutions are more of a proactive and preventative approach. How do we prevent ourselves slipping down that way? Okay, and that's why the spiritual disciplines of meditation and repetition of the mantra are extremely powerful and repetition of the mantra are extremely powerful because when we meditate, we meditate on some divine energy, divine personality in the core of our heart, whatever you might want to visualize or conceptualize that being to be If one is an one meditates, or on one's own divine nature, I am a spiritual being.
Speaker 2:I am pure, I am perfect, I'm eternal, I'm immortal, I am of the nature of infinite knowledge, please. You know everyday meditation. Uh, it might not put a divine personality or god in there, but I am a wonderful being, a spiritual being. Even an atheist will accept that. That means that's his inner belief. I believe in myself and some higher power, potentiality that is there. I'm going to assert that as my identity.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I want to, during at least an hour of meditation, to lift my level of my identity from this physical body, from my mental body, into my spiritual dimension. That is the constant effort, the, the logistics of it or the logics of the mechanics of it, of what we are trying to do during meditation in spiritual practices. We're trying to lift that mind which Krishna was was telling Raise yourself by yourself, do not love yourself. By connecting ourselves to our this mind, to our higher self. You might represent that with some deity, if you wish, ramakrishna, christ, buddha or that infinite power that's in me.
Speaker 2:Making that connection is important thing. Whichever way, if you can't have an abstract idea that you know a devotee makes it, it becomes easier for devotee because he can visualize divine personality and it's a caring, loving, protective being. So it's very natural. Okay, I can, I'll seek out that help. And the divine is my protector, my guide, guide, just like my mother and father. He will provide and protect me. But if somebody doesn't have that belief, then it's more difficult to make that abstract connection to that abstract idea that I'm a spiritual divine being. Okay, but in either case, that power source is available within us, in our spiritual dimension.
Speaker 2:The important thing is to make that connection and if somebody, morning and evening, meditates regularly, then they have developed this capacity to willingly, consciously, lift the mind up and the natural level of the mind will be higher than otherwise. That's why, before going out to work, going out in this world, it's good to charge yourself, lift your mind up, do sit down for 15-20 minutes and do an intense meditation. And no, we know that the world is going to drag it down. Yes, so down. But I prepare myself before I go and then during the day, the world will drain you out, as you say, you come back mentally exhausted, drained. You know, physically you haven't done very much, but your mental energy is very low and that's why it's again important in the evening to put another, give another dose of that meditation and you'll find that you'll be better is again important in the evening to give another dose of that meditation.
Speaker 2:And you'll find that you'll be better, you'll sleep better, you'll be ready for the world better. So that is meditation. Most people would not find difficult to meditate. Meditation means keeping your mind anchored or connected to some divine source. So you think, visualize the divine presence, but in between other thoughts will creep in, break that concentration and hijack that mind and take it to what you have been doing. And that's what most people struggle with. But you have to keep on training yourself, training yourself until that capacity to increase that connection concentration increases, also becomes more and more and more, and the flow of that energy is strengthened.
Speaker 2:But for those people who cannot simply meditate, the practice of the repetition of a mantra is very, very powerful. Okay, because mantras are the energy connectors. You might say.
Speaker 1:It's a bridge.
Speaker 2:So the mantra always have a divine personality, a particular deity as its essence. Imagine that there is a being of power. Mantra always have a divine personality, a particular deity as its essence. Imagine that there is a being of power, of a high energy, in a high spiritual dimension, represented by these divine forms. Okay, ganesha, krishna, christ, buddha all those are there very compassionate, benign, helpful. But I have to make a connection. Yes, yes, so the mantra will have a deity, the name and a few things in there. Okay, but basically it is the connector. It's just like in the house you have got a Wi-Fi but you need the password to make that connection. Yes, if you're not connected, you're not able to draw down any data. Yes, okay. So imagine there is this very high frequency, high, okay. So imagine there is this very high frequency, high energy. Okay, 6g, 10g connection.
Speaker 1:Energy source right Energy yeah.
Speaker 2:And you have your data. The password is there that you can connect your device Device is your mind to this energy source. So you use the mantras, yeah, and mantra is that connector, part of it, you know. And so by repetition of the mantra means you're making that connection again and again and again until it locks in. Sometimes you may say the signal has dropped, okay, that means a disconnection has happened. The data is not coming out. For most people in the early stages it keeps on dropping off, okay. But you work yourself, keep on working, and that signal will become better, synchronizing better. At some point it becomes perfectly connected. See, then you are safe.
Speaker 2:Such a mind that is connected to some spiritual source habitually, or one has trained oneself. How is it happen? Well, as a young age the parents taught the child this Gayatri Mantra. Okay, gayatri Mantra is a very powerful mantra, mahamrityunjaya Mantra. Or one gets initiated in a particular mantra. There is a personal mantra for you.
Speaker 2:Any of those things have tremendous helps in tools available to that person to manage and navigate through life, where they can go out in the world and do all those things, knowing that the world will have a tendency to drag it down. But they can bounce back because they have a tool to lift their mind up again. Yes, okay, all right. So, knowing the possibilities of all this, the dangers that are around and you do not know when and where it can happen, one has to be proactive and preventative, be armed so that these negative ideas cannot touch them. See, there's a whole science of it. Look, in this space where we are, there's a lot of signals, so many TV channels to radio stations, and if my mind is like a radio, it will catch the channel to which it is tuned to, yes, okay. And if I change the channel to another one, the first one will drop out and the next one will appear. Yeah, so likewise, imagine that the mind can either go up, and when it goes up, it is now receiving all the positive, better energies yes, okay. And you expose yourself to that positive thoughts and ideas that have been put there in the mind's mental space by all wonderful thinkers okay, saints and sages and spiritual energy, and then that lifts you up again and then you catch the next level. So that is how it spirals up lifting, lifting, lifting up. It is like, you know, an eagle that is flying up in the sky. Sometimes you see, it flies without flapping its wings. Why it is riding that hot air current. It has found that hot air current and it knows how to hold itself there. It's not remaining stationary. That hot air current is lifting it up, okay, self almost effortlessly.
Speaker 2:But the other side is suppose the mind slips down. The first danger is that slip, because it goes from level one to level two down, say. Then the negative energy of that lower plane begins to attain to that person again. All right, it's not just that the mind came down, now you've exposed yourself to that lower energy again. All right, it's not just that the mind came down, now you've exposed yourself to that low energy also All around. Thoughts are powerful, ideas are powerful. They're not contained in our head, that's around us also. And suppose those negative energies enter you. What happens then? It drags the mind one level down, one notch down. And what's the result of that? Well, even love and energy enters into you. So it's a spiral, right?
Speaker 2:that's how the spiral comes, okay so if you leave it for too long, okay which is why we need this practice.
Speaker 1:Need to be done daily.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it keeps on lifting things up done daily. Or when you see parents people. So it keeps on lifting things up done daily. Or when you see parents people see something, somebody going down or not feeling, and you ignored that person or didn't respond early, then he's not stationary, he's thinking, and sometimes they will reach too low that when you extend that long stick to the drowning person he can't catch it. That's where the real danger is actually. That's where accidents happen. We lose them, you know. So prevention is better.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 2:That's why, in our wellness program approach, we understand this, explain all this psychology of the mind, how the mind, all these planes of how the mind operates, knowing the dangers are there. What is a proactive, preventative approach to save us from these pitfalls in?
Speaker 1:life. Okay, thank you, swamiji. I think that's a good explanation. Today We've learned a lot. We've talked about energy and the flow of energy from high states to low states. We've talked about the tools that we can use to lift energy levels, which includes support from others that can share the higher energy that they have created, and also from within ourselves, things like meditation, mantra, japa and other spiritual practices. So, thank you. That's been a very enlightening episode. Well, a question I have I suppose we'll leave it for the next one, maybe, or the one after is you talked about a person that is initiated into the mantras? What does initiation mean? Some of our listeners would not know what that is, so maybe something that we can talk about.
Speaker 2:I know we did introduce as part of our tools is meditation and briefly explain what we're trying to do during meditation. And I talked about mantra and mantra shakti, the power of mantras, how do they work. Basically, if you understand something, then you will use it. Well, like if the doctor explains to you this antibiotic and how it's going to work through your body and all those things, then say, okay, I'll take the whole course as prescribed by the doctor. But if you don't have that understanding and don't have that faith in the medicine also, then you'll not take it and the medicine will not be useful. That faith in the medicine also, then you'll not take it and the medicine will not be useful. So it's good to have some understanding, knowledge of what these mantras are and where we get them and how they work. So then you'll seek one out for yourself and have something to you know, use that to nature and strengthen your own mind.
Speaker 2:When, when we say build resilience, people say be resilient. Well, resilience means developing that internal energy. If you don't give the tools to somebody and say, hey, just be resilient, be resilient, you're just setting a benchmark but you're not giving that support. That is there. So if you wish we can take that up in the next episode. Definitely will do. Thank you, swamiji. Thank you, most welcome, sunil.