Swamiji TV

Other links



Video details

The Path of Memory and Awakening

A spiritual discourse on awakening consciousness through daily practice and wisdom.

"Imagine at the bottom of the ocean, there are many valuable diamonds, precious stones, and jewels lying there. You see them so clearly, but they are a thousand meters deep."

"What you can enjoy forever and be one with forever, that you never separate from, is with your memory. Anytime you can recall it."

Swami Satyananda Saraswati addresses practitioners, explaining the dormant potential within the human system's 72,000 channels. He uses the metaphor of deep-sea diving to illustrate the need for proper technique (sādhanā) to access inner richness. He discusses the role of memory, the illusion of separation from the Divine, and the process of purifying past impressions using wisdom (jñāna), devotion (bhakti), and renunciation (vairāgya) to prepare for the awakening of Kuṇḍalinī.

Filming location: Warsaw, Poland

We have many friends around the world, yoga practitioners in daily life. They are with us now through webcast. When there is no sound, they are sad. You can also always see Swamiji.tv. This lecture, and all my three or four lectures in Warsaw, will be played many times on Swamiji.tv with translation. It is good. Very good. There are 72,000 channels from the universe, from the sun's rays, and they enter our body. These 72,000 channels take care of our health, our well-being, and all functions in the body: physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual. All these energy channels, all of this, is according to human science. This is that wisdom, this human health, which you possess. So you have immense abilities, but they are dormant. We do not know which button to press. If you press the wrong button, you might go crazy. So if you do not know, it is better not to touch. But it is a pity, because this chance will not be given to us again; it would be a great pity. Therefore, it is said: practice correct sādhanā, come out of emotion, and go with your devotion to thyself. With very clear thinking, Jñāna Yoga, then you can attain something. Otherwise, it is difficult. Imagine at the bottom of the ocean, there are many valuable diamonds, precious stones, and jewels lying there. You see them so clearly, but they are a thousand meters deep. You are free to take them. How will you dive a thousand meters deep to bring that richness out? Jak zamierzacie zanurkować tysiące metrów w głąb, żeby wydobyć to bogactwo na zewnątrz? Our diving capacity is about 3-4 meters, maybe 8 meters. We go down, dive, and then come back up. If we go deeper, our lungs will be crushed. So how to go there? There is training for divers. There is an underwater boat through which you can descend. These are all techniques so you can dive deep into your consciousness. It is not enough to know what a chakra is and how to meditate on it. That is very nice. It is like looking and seeing many jewels lying there. You meditate, you look, but you cannot get anything. This requires a different technique and theory. You can learn this technique by yourself, practicing every day. You should know the aim of your life. When you know the aim, you will do everything to reach it. But many do not know, and we have no time to realize it. What I want to tell you is a very easy way: practice every day. That will bring you very far on your spiritual path. Without expectation, without laziness, connect every feeling and every thought to that Divine. That will make it possible for you to arrive. Among the thousands of chakras, there are certain main stations or powerhouses, centers of energies. You cannot imagine how much richness is there. Oh my God, you will enjoy and enjoy the richness of happiness, love, gratitude, devotion, and wisdom—many, many things. Your life will entirely change into beautiful situations. Then no worldly situation can make you unhappy. You have to practice every day. Without practicing, I have told you and you have heard. That is all. It will remain here. As we spoke yesterday, there are some pictures; we have ordered them in this way. There are eight chakras, located approximately in the body. You have definitely seen this chart many times. You cannot see it here because it is too far, but here the prāṇa goes in through the nose and comes to Maṇipūra. It turns, enters the spine at the Maṇipūra Chakra, and then the consciousness flows up. These are very important centers in the brain, where there are also very important glands like the pineal gland and the pituitary gland. These centers are the most powerful; they receive energy from the Divine Mother. The human body—it does not matter who created it; we may say God, whom we call Brahmā, the creator. What kind of thinking did Brahmā have when he created this entire universe, especially this planet, and many, many creatures—8.4 million? Why did he create humans like this? There must be some thinking. But we humans have lost the value. We are just wandering in dark ways, saying, "I am unhappy, I'm lonely, I'm alone, suffering, nobody's there," and so on. The creator Brahmā, by the order of Śiva and through the Śakti, under the protection of Viṣṇu and the divine śakti of Śiva... Śiva means consciousness, not a physical body. Śakti also means not physical; it is energy. The problem is that people imagine Śiva, Śakti, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Lakṣmī physically. Problem jest to, że ludzie wyobrażają sobie Śivę, Śakti, Viṣṇu, Lakṣmī fizycznie. This is only our projection; we imagine what we like. Brahmā gave us this intellect, and in the intellect, he implanted a seed, like you put a seed in the earth. That chip is called memory, and it is downloading everything. Whenever you think, your memory makes a situation alive for you, because the physical is not permanent. The physical situation is constantly changing. We were sitting there, and the sun was disturbing you. Now we are sitting here. That situation is gone, but it is recorded in us. When we think, yes, we are still sitting there. What you can enjoy forever and be one with forever, that you never separate from, is with your memory. Anytime you can recall it. Zawsze możecie to przywołać. Kiedy zamkniecie oczy i widzicie piękną twarz waszego ojca, matki, czy waszych przyjaciół, czy waszego ogrodu, zamkniecie oczy, jesteście tam. Z nimi. There was a beautiful Kumbh Melā, and when you close your eyes, oh, it was—it was not—it was—it is. A yogī can make the situation present all the time, and that is with your memory, with your imagination, the screen of your consciousness, with the projector of your intellect and the life of your memory. When you practice this, you are there. Therefore, there is no distance. It does not matter how far Gurudev is and how far you are; you are together all the time. There is a story: a man was walking on a very nice beach, alone. He disappeared. The man could not see or feel that some of his friends were walking with him. He is alone on a hard way, with thorns and stones, hot weather, thirsty. The man became very disappointed and said to himself, "When I have a nice, comfortable life, then he is with me. Now it is a very hard situation; he left me alone." He lost his faith. After a few kilometers, again a nice way came, with a beautiful water spring, a fountain from the mountains, and a nice, beautiful tree. He sat under the tree and drank water. Suddenly he sees, he feels that God is sitting with him. So he just moved to the other side. God said, "What happens?" He said, "I am angry. I am disappointed. When I have nice, beautiful situations, then I share with you. And when I am in a terrible situation, you just leave me alone. What do you mean?" God said, "You know what I'm saying. When I was walking on the beach, nice breeze, good air, very soft sand, and you were walking beside me. And when it was a very hard, thorny, bushy way, with stones, wild animals, and heat, you were not with me." God said, "Yes. I was not walking with you. You know, where it was a very hard way, then I walked for you, and I was carrying you in my palm so that nothing happens to you. And when it's comfortable, then I drop you. I walk only beside you." So is the situation in life. We think God is not with us. We think we are alone. No. Those beautiful minutes of your life are in your memory, and anytime you can recall them. You close your eyes and you see everything. You are there, you feel it, you speak, you see it. That is what God has placed, not only in humans but also in other creatures: a chip of memory. You know your cat. Even if you take your cat a thousand kilometers somewhere and lose her there, after a few days or weeks, she will come to your door, make herself comfortable, and say, "Meow, I'm here." Through which memory did that cat come? When I was young, about seven or eight years old, we had an ox at home. There was a drought with no rain for a few years, so we brought this ox to a relative's place about 250 kilometers away in the mountains. After two months, he did not like it there. Surprisingly, one day he came home. Our relatives wrote us a letter—there were no telephones then—saying they lost the ox. It took him about three weeks, and two or three times he was caught by other people who tried to keep him, but he escaped and came home. Even animals have those feelings, that memory. That is a reality in us. These physical moments are not everlasting. This life is like a dream. You were dreaming. Open your eyes. Nothing is there. Did you dream today? What? You dream wisdom? No, no. Did you dream? What did you dream? I was dreaming about my horse, and I left him somewhere. In the morning, do not kill your animals. It does not matter if it is a rabbit, a cow, or a buffalo. They are born in your home; you give them food and take care. They have love for you. It is like killing family members, and that is not good. In memory, this can be a negative memory or a positive memory. Now the question: In the Mūlādhāra Chakra, those past life memories are dormant. Those recollections from past lives... Kiedy one się obudzą, to znaczy obudzenie się Kuṇḍalinī. Here in the glass is very clean water. At the bottom is dirt, sediment. It has settled. Now I will take a spoon to take all this dirt out. What will happen? It will come out, but it will still mix into the water. So it is not easy to take only that dust out; it will be filtering through. Therefore, we must first have knowledge, logical knowledge, to master the situation. So when in memory a bad situation comes, then use your wisdom. It was. Now I am somewhere else, and this I will delete from my thoughts. Only you can do it; nobody else can. You can delete with what? Which button? That is called the button of wisdom, not hate. Because if you hate, you create one more problem. When you are angry, you create one more problem. When you are scared, you create one more problem. So the situation was only one, but now around the situation, pollution is coming: hate, jealousy, sadness, conflict, anger, fear, and so on. A wise person, a self-realized person... Awakening of the Kuṇḍalinī means that you delete all these problems. You are free. It is said you change your dress. When you put your dress in the washing machine or wash it, you are not sad. You take the clean dress, and the other you put in the wash. Similarly, such a situation in life, if it is not clear, just wash it out. With what? You wash on the stone, like we used to wash laundry on the stone. It is called the stone of vairāgya, which means renunciation. Renunciation means to be free with bhakti, the water of devotion—not with hate. Love; that water is love. And the soap is called jñāna, wisdom. Then all the spots will be removed. The spot remover is knowledge. When you have no knowledge, you cannot remove them; you will suffer all the time. When you realize the knowledge, then you know the reality, what it means. Now the spots are removed. Your dress is clean. You put it on your body, and you say, "Oh, good smell," very fresh because it came through the cleaning process: vairāgya, bhakti, and jñāna. Now you have clear vision, a clear picture, and close friendship with that purity, pure knowledge. Therefore, before the awakening of the Kuṇḍalinī or touching that point, you should develop the wisdom, the ability to renounce—not with hate, not with anger, not with enemy feeling, but with love. Just gently separate it. It will be in memory, but with a good relation. And you know, always there are two, not one. Any mistake we do, we are not alone. There is someone, too. You walk through a glass window or glass door. You do not see it; it is very transparent. You go through and hit your head. So you are not the only one guilty; the glass is also guilty. Not only are you in sin, but also others.

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:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel