Video details
- Recorded on: 19 Mar 2011
- Resolution: 1024×576
- Language: English
- Length: 1h 29m
Yoga Workshop, San Francisco
A satsang discourse for the Holī festival, blending storytelling with teachings on yoga.
"Today is the day, the victory of the dharma, righteousness, the victory of the devotees, and the end of those Hiraṇyakaśipus, Rākṣasas, who are full of such negativity."
"Yoga was designed for reunion. Yoga practice consists of exercises for this reunion. We are part of the universal one, but through ignorance we feel separated."
Swami begins the morning session by explaining the spiritual significance of the full moon and Holī. He narrates the ancient story of the devotee Prahlāda and the demon-king Hiraṇyakaśipu, culminating in the Narasiṁha Avatāra, to illustrate the victory of devotion. The discourse then shifts to the purpose and practice of Haṭha Yoga, with detailed explanations and demonstrations of the Ṣaṭ Kriyās (Netī, Dhautī, Naulī, Bastī, Kapālabhātī, Trāṭak) for purification and health.
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:
- Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3 - The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0 - Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4
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| Time position | Words |
|---|---|
| 00:01:47 | Good morning to everybody. How are you today? |
| 00:01:51 | Good. Nice to be with you this morning. Today |
| 00:01:57 | is a very special day. Very special. |
| 00:02:01 | And I want to tell you why today is special. |
| 00:02:07 | When I started from my residence to come here, |
| 00:02:13 | I was thinking, what will I talk about? |
| 00:02:22 | When I entered this building, I changed what I will speak. |
| 00:02:27 | Then I came to the door, and you |
| 00:02:29 | were still meditating, so I was there sitting. |
| 00:02:34 | And I said, "I know what I will talk about." |
| 00:02:40 | Then I came here and I said, "Now what will I talk about?" |
| 00:02:50 | Then I prayed to Mahāprabhujī to bless me. You know that |
| 00:03:01 | in every spiritual path, every culture or religion or old tradition, |
| 00:03:13 | Whatever we do, we say, "Let's begin in the name of God." |
| 00:03:26 | Now, in this modern civilization, many |
| 00:03:32 | have forgotten these kinds of thoughts, |
| 00:03:38 | and we don't remember those beautiful things, |
| 00:03:46 | which are actually a guideline for us. |
| 00:03:57 | There is some energy, and this energy |
| 00:04:04 | is cultivated or received with positive thoughts, |
| 00:04:11 | and this energy should be for us a pathway, a |
| 00:04:17 | guideline, like a torchlight to walk in the darkness. |
| 00:04:28 | So I chant Aum, the universal sound. |
| 00:04:34 | I always, when I chant, I visit my great masters and adore them. |
| 00:04:47 | Then I chanted that, "I will say mantra, |
| 00:04:50 | I am not the doer, you are the doer." |
| 00:04:57 | O Lord, Mahāprabhujī, you are only the doer. |
| 00:05:05 | I am an instrument. Please guide |
| 00:05:11 | my actions, physical, mental, intellectual, and so on. |
| 00:05:20 | And I open my eyes and look to you, and then the subject changed again. |
| 00:05:29 | So you see how we come to the core point. |
| 00:05:35 | So today is a special day, and many of you know, many may not know. |
| 00:05:45 | First is today's full moon, Pūrṇimā, and the full moon |
| 00:05:53 | has a very special radiance, a light on our planet. |
| 00:06:01 | Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "I enter into the vegetation |
| 00:06:08 | as a nectar through the moonlight, the full moon." |
| 00:06:21 | On this day, people make more prayers, meditations, and fastings |
| 00:06:29 | to receive more of this pure, very gentle light of the moon. |
| 00:06:37 | But there is another thing which is today, and that |
| 00:06:46 | we call, and we all Indians celebrate a festival called Holī. |
| 00:06:57 | And this is a very old event, some ages past. |
| 00:07:15 | But it is said, evidence will never die, which |
| 00:07:24 | was written by great sages who have preserved this wisdom. |
| 00:07:40 | Only, I don't know exactly in which yuga it was. |
| 00:07:47 | You know, the time is counted by the yugas. |
| 00:07:53 | And we are at present in the Kali Yuga. So millions of |
| 00:08:04 | years, trillions of years lasted in yugas, manvantaras, kalpas, and so on. |
| 00:08:16 | That, perhaps, you will read in this book, written exactly. |
| 00:08:26 | The great master of Paramahamsa, |
| 00:08:29 | Yoganandajī, Śrī Yukteśwar's calculation, he said, |
| 00:08:33 | Kali-yuga is already ending, already ended. |
| 00:08:39 | But through the Vedic calculation, Kali-yuga is still lasting. |
| 00:08:47 | Kali-yuga, iron time, the most terrible time, the most terrible time. |
| 00:08:55 | So, in some yugas—I am telling some yugas because |
| 00:08:59 | I don't know exactly which yuga it was—always, in |
| 00:09:02 | humans, there have been two desires: |
| 00:09:14 | power and existence forever, to become immortal. |
| 00:09:27 | Not to die, but by cosmic law and by |
| 00:09:36 | law of nature, which manifested is only temporary, which |
| 00:09:45 | is born only temporary, created is only temporary. So, though we are human |
| 00:09:56 | and we have many talents, many techniques to live healthy and long, but |
| 00:10:07 | still no one succeeded to be immortal with the physical body. |
| 00:10:21 | But still we don't give up; this is a problem. Still there is hope. |
| 00:10:31 | There are some people trying day and night, but there is a law of death. |
| 00:10:43 | And death says, "I follow the protocol of the Dharmarāja." |
| 00:10:51 | Dharmarāja is the king of the universal law, and |
| 00:10:59 | everything is written in his book for every creature. |
| 00:11:11 | And Dharmarāja, his order is followed by Yamarāja. |
| 00:11:21 | Yama means the god of death, and there |
| 00:11:30 | is Devarāja, the goddess of justice, the divine god. |
| 00:11:39 | When we have good karma, and our soul will be |
| 00:11:48 | merging into the universal light, what we call liberation forever, |
| 00:11:59 | Then come the devas, what you call |
| 00:12:05 | in your culture, the angels, to take you. |
| 00:12:13 | If we have bad karmas—karmas means |
| 00:12:17 | actions—and these are done through four things. |
| 00:12:22 | Through body, through mind or intellect, through |
| 00:12:29 | the words, and through the social position. |
| 00:12:37 | Also, it means your wealth, power, and so on. |
| 00:12:44 | If you use your actions through body, through mind |
| 00:12:52 | or intellect, through your words or your position positively, |
| 00:13:01 | Then the angels will come to receive you. |
| 00:13:08 | If you act negatively and harm |
| 00:13:13 | others, misguide, confuse, and do many things, |
| 00:13:20 | Instead of creating a faith, you create a fear. |
| 00:13:26 | Then, be sure, by the protocol of the Dharmarāja, death will come. |
| 00:13:36 | The Yama will come, Yama Rāja. That's also called king. He's also king. |
| 00:13:42 | So King Yama will send Yamas, his army, and Yama |
| 00:13:49 | said, "For death, it doesn't matter how you die." |
| 00:13:56 | This is very Kuruval. For death, it doesn't matter how you die: |
| 00:14:04 | accident, under the water, in |
| 00:14:08 | the fire, while suffering, suddenly, anything. |
| 00:14:13 | Death, Yama does not acknowledge your pain. |
| 00:14:24 | And that's why every creature is afraid to die. |
| 00:14:30 | And we all know that one day we will die. |
| 00:14:35 | Perhaps we are not afraid of that, but we are afraid of how we will die. |
| 00:14:43 | Which day, which time, how, and which place this mortal body will fall down |
| 00:14:56 | and will not be able to move even a small finger, that day will come. |
| 00:15:07 | Just now, there was a tsunami, there was an earthquake, many people died. |
| 00:15:14 | Many suffered under the damaged buildings. |
| 00:15:21 | Some had an iron rod in the thigh, some had |
| 00:15:25 | an iron rod through the stomach. You know, who knows? |
| 00:15:29 | Their pain, only they know. We don't know, and we don't want |
| 00:15:34 | to know, that somebody will have pain. And we don't want that we |
| 00:15:39 | will have. This is the fear of suffering. Also, the |
| 00:15:48 | devas, they will say, "You are not forever here. Now |
| 00:15:56 | time for you, come, go with us."So sooner |
| 00:16:01 | or later, it doesn't matter in which part we are. |
| 00:16:06 | For which side we are, my dear, we |
| 00:16:09 | have to surrender everything to the Mother Earth. |
| 00:16:15 | Whatever we have here is not ours; it is given to us. |
| 00:16:23 | And what is given to us, we have to give it back. |
| 00:16:27 | And again, this individual has to follow the path of destiny. |
| 00:16:37 | For that, why do we learn always to be humble, to be kind, to be |
| 00:16:48 | loving-hearted, helpful, and so that we may |
| 00:16:53 | have some good vibration, good energy in us. |
| 00:17:01 | So when we pray something beautiful, then it makes our path clean. |
| 00:17:11 | So long ago, there was a king. Now he didn't want to give up his kingdom. |
| 00:17:21 | He didn't want to die, and he knew he |
| 00:17:24 | was afraid that God would take him away one day. |
| 00:17:30 | So he went to the forest and made tapasyā, |
| 00:17:36 | austerity, standing on one leg, both hands up, |
| 00:17:44 | sometimes hanging upside down on a tree branch, |
| 00:17:51 | fasting, praying, praying... a long, long time, long. |
| 00:17:57 | God came, the Brahmā came, and Brahmā said, |
| 00:18:08 | "My son, what do you wish? Why do you |
| 00:18:14 | do this hard practice? Why are you torturing yourself?" |
| 00:18:24 | He said, "Father, I want to have your blessing." |
| 00:18:29 | He said, "Yes, for what? To be immortal."He said, |
| 00:18:35 | "Yes, you are immortal in your ātmā."He said, "No, in body." |
| 00:18:42 | God said, "Brahmā, I cannot give you that |
| 00:18:46 | because it is beyond my limitation. I gave the law, and I |
| 00:18:54 | cannot break it. Even I have my time. One day this |
| 00:19:01 | Brahmā will also be released from his |
| 00:19:05 | position, and another Brahmā will be created." |
| 00:19:10 | He said, "But I want this."It is not possible. |
| 00:19:16 | Ask something else. You can ask something different, |
| 00:19:22 | where you can live long and so on. |
| 00:19:29 | King said, "Okay, bless me, fulfill my wish." |
| 00:19:38 | Number one, no human should be able to kill me. |
| 00:19:46 | No animals, it means disease, bacteria, and |
| 00:19:49 | so on, should be able to kill me. |
| 00:19:52 | Number three, no weapons on this planet which exist can cause death. |
| 00:20:10 | End. No natural death should attack me. |
| 00:20:15 | Fifth, I should not die outside of my house, |
| 00:20:22 | nor inside the house. Seventh, I should not |
| 00:20:28 | die in the daytime, nor in the nighttime. These |
| 00:20:34 | are my eight points. Father Brahmā, if |
| 00:20:39 | you wish, bless me. Otherwise, I will continue. |
| 00:20:44 | You may have told it. Brahma said, "Very good, |
| 00:20:53 | it shall be,"and disappeared. Now he was the |
| 00:21:01 | happiest person in that minute. Neither animals can |
| 00:21:05 | kill me, nor humans can kill me; no weapons can |
| 00:21:08 | be the cause of this, and everything. |
| 00:21:14 | Now I am immortal. But you know, it can be slow, |
| 00:21:22 | but it is sure in God's will. |
| 00:21:26 | Now he himself became against God, that he didn't give |
| 00:21:33 | me what I want. Therefore, he is not anymore God. |
| 00:21:39 | King, his name was Hiraṇyakaśya. He said, |
| 00:21:45 | I am the God. He announced in his kingdom, |
| 00:21:51 | no one should pray to any gods. In every temple, |
| 00:22:00 | Everywhere should be my photo and my statue. |
| 00:22:04 | If someone prays to other gods, they will |
| 00:22:08 | be punished with death, frightened. |
| 00:22:11 | They will be punished, they will be beaten, they |
| 00:22:17 | will be thrown into the fire of life. |
| 00:22:22 | Fear is a fear, and he did not trust his own people. |
| 00:22:31 | He himself used to go in the night and see |
| 00:22:34 | if anyone was singing the name of God, bhajans, songs, or prayers. |
| 00:22:38 | One day he took his horse, and after the sunset he rode his horse |
| 00:22:56 | and went to a small village. There was a big fire burning. |
| 00:23:05 | And one elderly lady was sitting there |
| 00:23:08 | and repeating the name of God loudly. He stopped his horse. |
| 00:23:21 | What are you doing here, lady? |
| 00:23:24 | She saw what he did, and she began to say his name. He said, "No, no,..." |
| 00:23:29 | No. You are praying to God. For what have you been praying to God? |
| 00:23:34 | What do you wish? What do you need? I will give you everything, but why? |
| 00:23:38 | Where was the necessity that you pray to God? She said, "King, |
| 00:23:48 | I am by profession an artist who makes pots out of the clay." |
| 00:23:58 | And then I put the pot together and burn it, so it becomes waterproof. |
| 00:24:14 | And he said, "Ant?"I said, "Sir, it's not ant." |
| 00:24:21 | In one of my pots, which I put out |
| 00:24:26 | drying, my cat had three babies inside, three kittens. |
| 00:24:34 | I did not know this, and I put all |
| 00:24:37 | pots together, that one also, and I started the fire. |
| 00:24:43 | Now they are in the fire. |
| 00:24:45 | And my cat, you see, is running around, meow, meow. |
| 00:24:50 | I pray to God to forgive me or |
| 00:24:54 | protect me, these three small babies of my cat. |
| 00:25:03 | I said, "Okay, I will stay here till |
| 00:25:07 | the fire becomes calm and cool, your pot." |
| 00:25:12 | If babies are alive, I will forgive you. |
| 00:25:17 | If they are not alive anymore, then I will make the |
| 00:25:22 | same fire like this and put you in the fire. |
| 00:25:26 | Now she's praying more deeply to God. |
| 00:25:30 | When we have problems, we really enter into our heart and |
| 00:25:34 | we pray and we pray. And she was praying, "God, God, pray." |
| 00:25:38 | It took about 35 hours until the fire became calm and cool. |
| 00:25:52 | And he called his people, "Remove one after the other pots." |
| 00:26:01 | They removed the pots. And when they came to that pot where the |
| 00:26:07 | cat babies were, two pots were facing each other, and |
| 00:26:11 | these two pots were untouched by fire, and |
| 00:26:14 | babies were jumping from one to the other. |
| 00:26:19 | The king threw his towel away and went away. |
| 00:26:29 | This was the first introduction for him, that he is not almighty; God is. |
| 00:26:37 | Then he had one son. |
| 00:26:50 | His name was Prahlāda, a devotee of God. From birth onwards, and |
| 00:26:57 | from when he began to speak, he was only speaking the name of God. |
| 00:27:07 | And the father was so angry. |
| 00:27:10 | And the father sent the child to a small kindergarten, a nursery school, |
| 00:27:16 | and told the teacher that they do all their |
| 00:27:19 | best so that he forgets the name of God. |
| 00:27:24 | But what happens? He taught all children to sing God's name. |
| 00:27:30 | All the small kids come home and sing the names of the gods. |
| 00:27:37 | Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om, Hari, the God, Viṣṇu. |
| 00:27:45 | Then he sent him to the other school. The teacher came and said, |
| 00:27:51 | "Sir, we can't educate your child in that way." |
| 00:27:57 | He spoiled all the children in the whole village. |
| 00:27:59 | They are chanting God's name. And we are not guilty. We can't do anything. |
| 00:28:06 | Father knew now there is something, some divine game in it. |
| 00:28:15 | So he told his people, "Take the child and |
| 00:28:19 | throw him in the lake where the many crocodiles are." |
| 00:28:25 | In the middle of the lake, they threw him. |
| 00:28:28 | He swam through. He came back. No crocodile attacked him. |
| 00:28:34 | Third action, throw him where the many wild |
| 00:28:38 | elephants are. Among them, he came back safely. |
| 00:28:43 | Then he let him throw from the mountain. |
| 00:28:50 | And when they threw him from the mountain down, there was a tree hanging. |
| 00:28:56 | The tree was there, the tree went down, and |
| 00:28:59 | he hauled the tree branches and he came home again. |
| 00:29:04 | Jisko rakhe saiyān, mār sake na koī, bāl |
| 00:29:08 | na bāṅkā kar sake, jo cāhe jag verī hoī. |
| 00:29:13 | Whom God protects, no one can kill. Even the whole world is your enemy. |
| 00:29:27 | He had one sister. That sister had some supernatural powers, |
| 00:29:33 | I don't know what you call them, siddhis. She can sit in the fire, and the |
| 00:29:41 | fire will not burn her; nothing will happen to her. |
| 00:29:45 | So the king came to his sister, her name was Holikā. |
| 00:29:51 | Say, my dear sister, you are my dear sister. |
| 00:29:56 | Please do one favor for me, otherwise I will kill you,"he threatened her. |
| 00:30:08 | She said, "Yes, brother, what?" |
| 00:30:10 | Take your nephew in your lap and sit in the fire. |
| 00:30:18 | He will be burned. You have seen the fire can't burn you. |
| 00:30:25 | So she takes him in her lap, holds him, and they put the fire, a big fire. |
| 00:30:37 | What happened when the fire was finished? The Parada was sitting |
| 00:30:43 | and singing, "Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om Tat Sat," |
| 00:30:48 | and she was completely burned into ashes. |
| 00:30:53 | Now he knew, this child is my enemy. |
| 00:31:02 | So today is the day that the devotees, the bhaktas, were protected. |
| 00:31:12 | And non-believers, negative thinking, and all those who cause |
| 00:31:17 | trouble to all creatures and others are burned. |
| 00:31:24 | And that festival is today called Holī. |
| 00:31:28 | So, in India, they put one tree, one month, in |
| 00:31:33 | the center of the village, and a small trunk |
| 00:31:37 | of the tree as a symbol of the Pāhalāda. |
| 00:31:43 | And today, now, they will fire the holy, and |
| 00:31:47 | Pralhāda will be in the center of the village. |
| 00:31:52 | They will carry her somewhere outside and burn her. It's a festival. |
| 00:31:57 | When I came to Europe, the first time I |
| 00:32:01 | saw that in every village, they call it a may tree. |
| 00:32:06 | In the month of May, they put that tree there. |
| 00:32:10 | That is coming as a holy tradition from that time. |
| 00:32:19 | Well, now the king is restless. The king is restless. |
| 00:32:28 | Pahala da is growing in about 10 to 15 years. |
| 00:32:35 | The king called him, "My dear son, do a favor for your father." |
| 00:32:44 | I have done nothing to you. I love you. |
| 00:32:48 | Don't, don't chant your mantras and these, and this is stupid things. |
| 00:32:56 | For those people who are mentally not in order, we |
| 00:32:59 | are intelligent, we are powerful, we have everything. Enjoy life. |
| 00:33:06 | A small son says, "Father, you are a devil." |
| 00:33:12 | There is God, and don't think that you are immortal. |
| 00:33:18 | Your days are counted already. You know, next day, |
| 00:33:27 | in the yard of his palace, he organizes one iron |
| 00:33:37 | pipe, a big iron pipe, and he puts inside coal, |
| 00:33:44 | a lot of coal, and fire. A thick iron pillar, the |
| 00:33:51 | coal inside was completely red, hot. |
| 00:33:56 | You can't come near. Maximum, maximum that you could come |
| 00:34:03 | near is 15 meters or 20 meters, then you |
| 00:34:08 | can't come more near. So the father said to |
| 00:34:12 | the son, there are two options for you. |
| 00:34:18 | Either give up the name of God, don't repeat your |
| 00:34:25 | mantra anymore, or I will kill you. I will chop your head off. |
| 00:34:34 | If you believe there is a God, then |
| 00:34:40 | go and hug that pillar. Then I will say, |
| 00:34:47 | "Yes, there is a God."Pallada said, "Better to die in |
| 00:34:54 | the fire there than to be killed by you, |
| 00:35:00 | O sinner. I go."And the father was laughing. |
| 00:35:07 | That was a good deal. Now I gave him an option and let him die with |
| 00:35:16 | his own wish. He spread his arms and sang, "O Hari Om Tat Sat, Hari Om |
| 00:35:27 | Tat Sat,... Japa Kar."Hari is God. |
| 00:35:37 | That's Om. Tat and Sat, that is the truth. |
| 00:35:46 | Only God is the truth. Brahma is Satya, Jagat is Mithyā. |
| 00:35:51 | And that small child can imagine going towards the fire. |
| 00:35:57 | When he comes near, just for some seconds he is thinking, |
| 00:36:05 | "Oh, I will burn." |
| 00:36:11 | In that second, he sees some ants crawling on this hot pillar. |
| 00:36:21 | He said, "When this little creature can't burn, how will I?" |
| 00:36:27 | He ran to hug the pillar, and the pillar broke in two parts. |
| 00:36:38 | And he ran to hug. From this fire pillar came |
| 00:36:45 | one figure out, one form, and he embraced him like that. |
| 00:36:53 | That was, from the navel, half lion and half human. |
| 00:37:06 | The lion took him in its arms. Now the king, who was sitting about thirty |
| 00:37:13 | meters from the fire pillar and holding his |
| 00:37:18 | chair, knew his end had come. He looked left and right. |
| 00:37:25 | He got up from the chair to run in the house. |
| 00:37:34 | That his name was Narasiṁha Avatāra, incarnation. Nara means human |
| 00:37:40 | and siṁha means the lion, half lion and half human. |
| 00:37:47 | Caught that king in the middle of the door, push him down. |
| 00:37:55 | Say, king, open your eyes. |
| 00:38:00 | Look, where are you, inside or outside of the house? |
| 00:38:06 | He said, "Not in the house, not outside." |
| 00:38:09 | Look carefully, is it day or night? |
| 00:38:13 | Just was sunsetting. Neither day nor night. Look to me. |
| 00:38:24 | Am I an animal or a human? He said, "You are neither animal nor human. |
| 00:38:35 | You are in between. Now look at this |
| 00:38:39 | cloth of mine. Are there any weapons?"He said, "No." |
| 00:38:46 | My promise, what I bless you with, is fulfilled. |
| 00:38:53 | Your end is here, and he killed him there and saved |
| 00:38:59 | his devotee, Prahlāda. So, from these |
| 00:39:08 | twenty-four incarnations of God which we |
| 00:39:13 | count, one of those was Narasiṃha Avatāra. |
| 00:39:19 | Then the whole kingdom was celebrating. They |
| 00:39:22 | were happy, they were throwing the colors on |
| 00:39:25 | everyone and screaming, "Hi, happy, happy new year, |
| 00:39:29 | happy new year, happy!"So that is today. So today is the day, the |
| 00:39:38 | victory of the dharma, righteousness, the victory of the |
| 00:39:44 | devotees, and the end of |
| 00:39:51 | those Hiranyakasapas, Rākṣasas, who are full |
| 00:39:55 | of such negativity to destroy our planet. And therefore, this day is a very |
| 00:40:06 | special day, my dear brothers and sisters. And devotees of God, bless you. |
| 00:40:17 | In the name of Narasiṁha Avatāra, we pray, and |
| 00:40:23 | we wish, and we should be like Prahlāda and not like Hiraṇyakaśipu. |
| 00:40:33 | So this is a small story, a reality, |
| 00:40:37 | real, which came to mind to tell you today. |
| 00:40:42 | Tomorrow, perhaps I will tell, in the Indian |
| 00:40:47 | temple we will also have satsaṅg there. |
| 00:40:53 | So why should we not chant a little bit? Hari Om |
| 00:41:03 | Tat Sat, |
| 00:41:12 | Hari Om |
| 00:41:20 | Tat Sat,... |
| 00:41:31 | Hari |
| 00:42:05 | Hari He Om. Hari is the Om, and that is the truth. Tat Sat. |
| 00:42:19 | So, next step, yoga. And that's why in |
| 00:42:27 | every yuga, many great saints came, hermits, dervishes, yogīs. |
| 00:43:09 | And they gave a beautiful science, or a knowledge, |
| 00:43:16 | for the well-being of the entire planet. And this wisdom, |
| 00:43:23 | they gave it into the hands of humans. |
| 00:43:29 | That human will learn to be together as sisters and brothers. |
| 00:43:39 | That human will protect the beautiful creation of |
| 00:43:47 | the Almighty One, where we also belong. |
| 00:43:58 | Humans are protectors, not distractors. |
| 00:44:06 | A farmer makes a fence around his farm |
| 00:44:14 | to protect his crops from wild animals. |
| 00:44:21 | But if the fence begins to destroy the |
| 00:44:27 | crops, then for what is the fence there? |
| 00:44:33 | If your bodyguard kills you, then what kind of bodyguard is that? |
| 00:44:46 | So God gave us as our mission to be protectors. |
| 00:45:01 | It means to protect us from that |
| 00:45:06 | ignorance, negative qualities, and negative thoughts. |
| 00:45:14 | Understand every nation, every culture, every |
| 00:45:20 | religion, and every individual's needs and feelings. |
| 00:45:27 | For that, the human needs a healthy body and a healthy mind. |
| 00:45:42 | Sometimes people say a healthy body has a healthy mind. |
| 00:45:49 | This is discrimination toward disabled people. |
| 00:45:57 | Physically, they are not capable of running; maybe |
| 00:46:01 | they are paralyzed, but their mind is very healthy. |
| 00:46:05 | Their intellect is brilliant, very beautiful, positive. |
| 00:46:12 | Therefore, I would not say a healthy body has |
| 00:46:16 | a healthy mind only. Mind, intellect, body—these are different things. |
| 00:46:27 | But still, the holy saints give the spiritual injections. |
| 00:46:39 | The injections of spirituality to the humans, |
| 00:46:47 | That they should not become wild, destructive. They should think. |
| 00:46:56 | Therefore, to keep body, mind, intellect, consciousness, |
| 00:47:05 | and your soul in oneness, in harmony, concentrated |
| 00:47:12 | to send your divine thoughts and light to all. |
| 00:47:20 | And for that, they designed the yoga. |
| 00:47:35 | Yoga practice means exercises for reunion. |
| 00:47:42 | We are part of that universal one, |
| 00:47:45 | and through our ignorance, we feel separated. |
| 00:47:48 | And on the day when we overcome our |
| 00:47:55 | ignorance, we will be one with that. |
| 00:48:02 | And that's yoga exercise, which can lead us. |
| 00:48:06 | Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion; jnāna yoga, the yoga of philosophy. |
| 00:48:17 | Rāja Yoga is the yoga of self-discipline and practice. |
| 00:48:28 | One part of this is coming hatha yoga. When I came first time to the |
| 00:48:39 | West, people said, "We are all interested, |
| 00:48:44 | or we would like to practice Haṭha Yoga." |
| 00:48:55 | Well, I said, "Very good." |
| 00:49:02 | But when I saw that they are practicing Rāja Yoga, not Haṭha Yoga. |
| 00:49:10 | It means you here in America also think Hatha |
| 00:49:18 | Yoga is physical postures, exercises, breath exercises, and relaxing. |
| 00:49:26 | That's all. Everywhere in North America, anywhere |
| 00:49:30 | you see, they will call you Hatha Yoga. |
| 00:49:37 | I am doing Hatha Yoga. Actually, you are not doing Hatha Yoga. |
| 00:49:48 | Hatha Yoga is great. |
| 00:49:54 | Hatha Yoga is something which will keep you really healthy. |
| 00:50:02 | Free your body from toxins. It is a beautiful cleaning, inner purification. |
| 00:50:09 | And with that, also the mental peace will come. |
| 00:50:17 | The definition of Haṭha Yoga: "Ha" is called Iḍā Nāḍī, yesterday I spoke a |
| 00:50:29 | little about chakras, and "ṭha"is Piṅgalā Nāḍī. |
| 00:50:40 | And Yoga means balance or union. |
| 00:50:43 | If you can balance your emotion and intellect in a |
| 00:50:50 | perfect way, or your physical health and mental health in the |
| 00:50:59 | best way, that's called Haṭha Yoga, which will bless |
| 00:51:06 | you with a long, long life, which will make your |
| 00:51:14 | life very comfortable, which will make you enjoy your |
| 00:51:21 | Live more, which will give you more strength to work. |
| 00:51:29 | And that Haṭha Yoga is different than what people here think. |
| 00:51:45 | Another meaning of Hatha Yoga is discipline. |
| 00:51:50 | You need strong discipline to do these Haṭha Yoga Kriyās. |
| 00:51:59 | In some classical books, they call Sat Kriyās, Sat Karma. |
| 00:52:08 | Like in Āyurveda, they have Pañca Karma, the five Kriyās. |
| 00:52:12 | They are coming from Yoga, and these are six Kriyās. |
| 00:52:23 | These six kriyās have their names: |
| 00:52:30 | netī, dhautī, naulī, bastī, kapālabhātī, and tratāk. |
| 00:52:39 | These are the six kriyās, and that's why I brought this book from here. |
| 00:52:45 | I told you that I want to show you the book, where |
| 00:52:50 | in this book you have heart yoga exercises, very nicely guided. |
| 00:52:55 | And this is a purification of the body. |
| 00:53:05 | On this book, page number 352, begins many, many pages. |
| 00:53:17 | Yes. So, here is a short explanation of |
| 00:53:25 | how to do your Haṭha Yoga techniques or Kriyās. |
| 00:53:31 | After doing your Haṭha Yoga Kriyās, you can do |
| 00:53:39 | your other postures, which are very good also, classical |
| 00:53:46 | āsanas, and these classical āsanas or exercises or postures, |
| 00:53:53 | they have three different categories, what is called dynamical movements. |
| 00:54:12 | This is a body warming movement, and this should be |
| 00:54:19 | done first. After body warming postures, you come to |
| 00:54:27 | stretching, but stretching not too much, otherwise in old |
| 00:54:34 | age you will lose the control over your ligaments. |
| 00:54:42 | So do not force your body, but slowly, day by day, slowly, one millimeter. |
| 00:54:54 | If you succeed one millimeter one day, that's very great. |
| 00:55:02 | In one week, you will have seven millimeters. |
| 00:55:09 | So every day, practice makes perfect. |
| 00:55:17 | When you begin to stretch your body |
| 00:55:21 | and you feel pain, that is a limitation. |
| 00:55:25 | That's your border, so never come to the feeling of pain or uneasiness. |
| 00:55:37 | After this stretching, then you come to the postures. |
| 00:55:43 | That you can sit long, or you can hold yourself one minute, |
| 00:55:51 | two minutes, half a minute in the particular posture. |
| 00:55:59 | We see many good pictures in the yoga |
| 00:56:03 | books, beautiful postures, but they are only for photos. |
| 00:56:10 | Let's sit straight like this, and then photos will be... Thank you. |
| 00:56:17 | So it should be really that, yes, we can really sit. |
| 00:56:26 | And if you sit one minute, two minutes, then after the photo, you sit. |
| 00:56:33 | So it means we need not master the postures. |
| 00:56:40 | And so, to come to the postures, we |
| 00:56:44 | have to practice every day, gradually, slowly, slowly, slowly. |
| 00:56:47 | So it's not one weekend seminar. This is not |
| 00:56:50 | one week or four weeks. It is a lifelong process. |
| 00:56:55 | No competition, no challenges. Gradually, day by day, just practice. |
| 00:57:04 | So when we come to the postures, and |
| 00:57:07 | you are capable of holding this position, that |
| 00:57:10 | time, now this yoga posture will influence our organs positively. |
| 00:57:25 | It will influence our gland functions in the body. |
| 00:57:34 | It will influence our chakras, energy centers, and nervous systems. |
| 00:57:44 | So, slowly, slowly, entire functions in the body will change positively. |
| 00:57:51 | And therefore, the postures in yoga are very important. |
| 00:58:00 | And to achieve that and to keep |
| 00:58:06 | the body healthy, we must practice haṭha yoga. |
| 00:58:15 | So, the first kriyā, the first |
| 00:58:21 | exercise, the first technique is called neti. |
| 00:58:32 | Neti means cleaning of the nose. |
| 00:58:41 | And our nose is a filter for our lungs. So whatever we inhale |
| 00:58:51 | goes through the nose; all dust and everything is filtered and kept there. |
| 00:59:04 | If we practice this neti with warm water, the temperature of the |
| 00:59:12 | water is about 38 degrees centigrade, |
| 00:59:17 | maximum 40, depending on summer or winter. |
| 00:59:25 | And a little salt inside, otherwise only raw water will |
| 00:59:29 | burn; you will have a burning feeling in the nose. |
| 00:59:33 | And salt, that must, like, you have a |
| 00:59:37 | soup, but a little bit too much salt inside. |
| 00:59:42 | You will say, "Oh, a little bit too much salt inside,"like that. |
| 00:59:48 | Different kinds of salt have different intensities inside. |
| 00:59:58 | Morning, when you come to your bathroom, definitely |
| 01:00:02 | many yoga practitioners have got a neti pot. It's called neti loṭha. |
| 01:00:13 | Who has neti lota? So many, very good. |
| 01:00:17 | And those who do not have them can ask the yoga teacher or Amrit. |
| 01:00:26 | I don't know where to get here, |
| 01:00:28 | but it will definitely be available somewhere. |
| 01:00:34 | So we fill the liter, half liter |
| 01:00:38 | water, or quarter liter water in this lota. |
| 01:00:44 | And there is a special pipe in this lotā joint already. |
| 01:00:49 | We put it in the nostrils. You open the mouth. |
| 01:00:52 | Now you should inhale and exhale only through the mouth. |
| 01:00:56 | And you lean a little bit, and water |
| 01:00:59 | will go automatically through the right nostril up |
| 01:01:02 | and automatically will come out through the left nostril. |
| 01:01:06 | It is such a fine feeling, so good, and it's cleaning everything. |
| 01:01:13 | And that's also very good for the tear channels, it's |
| 01:01:17 | good for the eyes, and it's a purification of our eyes also. |
| 01:01:22 | So let's run a quarter liter of water or |
| 01:01:27 | half a liter of water, no problem, through one side. |
| 01:01:33 | After comes kapālbhāti. Kapāl means these sinuses, and here |
| 01:01:42 | water remains somewhere, and that we should take it out. |
| 01:01:52 | So what we do, first we turn the head a little like this and a little like |
| 01:01:59 | that, and then we do the kapālbhāti, which means |
| 01:02:03 | exhale a little forcefully only with the nose. |
| 01:02:06 | Water comes, all drops come out. |
| 01:02:11 | Then you do with the right, left side. Let the water run |
| 01:02:21 | also, and it will clean. Both nostrils will be |
| 01:02:28 | very nicely cleaned. And again, you do the Kapālbhāti. |
| 01:02:36 | After doing both, you hold your hands on your |
| 01:02:42 | waist, lean a little bit forward, and do Kapālbhāti. |
| 01:02:48 | After doing additionally with the finger, |
| 01:02:59 | everything is clean; you feel beautiful. |
| 01:03:11 | If you want, you can take a little ghee or |
| 01:03:16 | butter, a little bit on your finger, make your finger |
| 01:03:21 | a little oily with ghee, and put it on your |
| 01:03:26 | nostril a little bit, and then clean the nostril. |
| 01:03:31 | Whole day you will have no tensions at all. |
| 01:03:38 | What we call the mental tension will pay attention towards you. |
| 01:03:46 | That will not come nearer. |
| 01:03:50 | How easy it is to remove the tensions, the mental |
| 01:03:54 | tensions, from here through the practice of nītya and kapālabhāti. |
| 01:04:00 | Beautiful. |
| 01:04:05 | The third is called dhauti, and that you do once a week. |
| 01:04:15 | In the beginning, they are doing it every day, but |
| 01:04:20 | once a week is enough. Also, in the morning, with an empty |
| 01:04:25 | stomach, everything, before your coffee |
| 01:04:27 | or anything, lukewarm water with salt, |
| 01:04:30 | and you drink one and a half liters of water quickly. |
| 01:04:37 | One and a half, or two liters, no problem, or two and a half, it depends. |
| 01:04:43 | And then you lean on the wash basin or in your bathtub, and two |
| 01:04:51 | fingers press the root of the tongue a little down. Hold one hand on |
| 01:04:58 | the stomach and lean forward, and you will see all water will flow out. |
| 01:05:06 | Everything will come out: yellows and bitters and everything. |
| 01:05:11 | Clean your mouth. That's all. |
| 01:05:24 | Always, you will have a good smell from your mouth. |
| 01:05:29 | Otherwise, sometimes some people speak to you, and the smell |
| 01:05:34 | of the mouth is sometimes unbearable, but what to do? |
| 01:05:40 | And especially if you are going in the train or the bus at the airport, and |
| 01:05:45 | many people are in this bus standing, you |
| 01:05:47 | know, you are holding, and someone is beside you, |
| 01:05:50 | some people have, unfortunately, not good |
| 01:05:55 | digestion and smells through the mouth. |
| 01:06:00 | So it's not only for you, but it is a courtesy |
| 01:06:06 | towards others to have a good smell out of the mouth. |
| 01:06:15 | So once a week, you will have no more feeling of |
| 01:06:20 | acidity, no more feeling of what you |
| 01:06:23 | call heartburn, and all these problems solve automatically. |
| 01:06:27 | You feel so light, you see, you feel relaxed. |
| 01:06:33 | But some people, they get a headache after, then don't do. |
| 01:06:37 | If you feel really unpleasant after, then don't do it. |
| 01:06:40 | And you are feeling unpleasant and have |
| 01:06:43 | a headache because you are doing it wrong, maybe. |
| 01:06:47 | Therefore, you have to do with the teacher. |
| 01:06:51 | Some people make a mistake: they force water to come to the house. |
| 01:06:56 | Then you hurt your vocal cords a little bit, and a little blood may come. |
| 01:07:03 | So don't do that much. You have to learn. |
| 01:07:08 | And you learn in such a way, you lean, and |
| 01:07:10 | water is like you open the water tap. It goes out. |
| 01:07:15 | It's very, very good. So this is the third technique. |
| 01:07:22 | Then there are people who swallow a |
| 01:07:26 | cloth, a cotton cloth, about 10 centimeters wide |
| 01:07:30 | and about two, two and a half meters long, three meters long. |
| 01:07:39 | They dip in the salty water and slowly, slowly |
| 01:07:43 | chew like this and swallow, and chew and swallow. |
| 01:07:49 | And then slowly you bend forward and slowly |
| 01:07:51 | take it out. Don't do it like this. Otherwise, you will feel like a fish. |
| 01:07:59 | And if it is stuck and doesn't come out, don't be fearful. |
| 01:08:07 | Just take one sip of water, that salty |
| 01:08:11 | water, and then again it will come out. |
| 01:08:15 | We will see the last part is stinky, yellow, bitter, and so on. |
| 01:08:23 | Clean it nicely and dry it. |
| 01:08:26 | Don't give your other friend the same cloth to do with. |
| 01:08:32 | It should be your personal one that you can do once a month. |
| 01:08:39 | That's very good. For the neti water, there is also with the catheter, |
| 01:08:46 | You put in the nose slowly, a thin catheter, |
| 01:08:50 | and with the two fingers, a cage in the mouth, and then you move like that. |
| 01:08:59 | Take it out. Clean it. Put it in the other nostril slowly. |
| 01:09:04 | In the beginning, it's like that, you know. |
| 01:09:08 | But when you know, then it's very good. |
| 01:09:11 | And again, hold and do it a little bit like this. |
| 01:09:17 | So you will have no problem with the nose and with the breathing. |
| 01:09:22 | You will feel very good and clean. |
| 01:09:29 | Then comes nauli. Nauli is with the stomach, the churning of the stomach. |
| 01:09:41 | We have here masters of naulis, but they |
| 01:09:44 | had breakfast, so they can't show you. |
| 01:09:47 | Is there anyone who can do the nauli and had no breakfast? Who can do? |
| 01:09:58 | You can do it. |
| 01:10:04 | Okay. So now the two will come and show you. |
| 01:10:11 | Very good. Thermos, there's some water, a warm drink, bring it. |
| 01:10:28 | And they will explain to you what they are doing and how |
| 01:10:30 | they are doing it, so I need not explain this, okay? |
| 01:10:45 | One on this side and one on this side, okay? |
| 01:10:53 | So first you must explain what you are doing. |
| 01:10:59 | It is as it is, or just how it is. |
| 01:11:05 | Okay, first do Agnesa, it's very good also. |
| 01:11:08 | Agnes Akhriya is actually the preparation for an Auli. |
| 01:11:12 | It is just as we explained in the |
| 01:11:16 | book, but in principle, it goes like this: |
| 01:11:20 | you completely exhale, and then expand your lungs |
| 01:11:25 | as if inhaling, but without taking any breath. So it looks like this. |
| 01:11:37 | This is the preparation for Agni Satrīyā. |
| 01:11:44 | This is Uḍḍīyāṁbandha, actually, and then Agni Sāṭriya is |
| 01:11:58 | a different posture like this, moving the stomach muscles. |
| 01:12:19 | This will be Agnisāra Kriyā, which should |
| 01:12:23 | be practiced for a few weeks, and then |
| 01:12:27 | the next step, Nauli Kriyā. You start |
| 01:12:30 | the same way as Agnisāra, but you don't |
| 01:12:34 | move the stomach in and out, but try to rotate these stomach muscles, not |
| 01:12:42 | the diaphragm, but the stomach muscles on. |
| 01:12:45 | On the one side, and on the other side. |
| 01:12:56 | Let me show you. I will step up so that you can see better, okay, Sanjeev? |
| 01:13:06 | Yes, yes, okay. You can go a little higher, no problem. |
| 01:13:14 | Now the cameraman has a problem, he doesn't know where he should show this. |
| 01:13:22 | One's this side, and one's this side. Thank you. |
| 01:14:08 | Sathya, now you feel very hot, especially when demonstrating. |
| 01:14:14 | So, this was the fifth or fourth technique of the Haṭha Yoga Kriyās. |
| 01:14:40 | Then the fifth one, that we call Basti. |
| 01:14:52 | In Haṭha Yoga, it is called Basti. |
| 01:14:58 | And Basti, they used to go into some clean lake. |
| 01:15:06 | And like in Agniśāra Kriyā |
| 01:15:09 | first, he demonstrated making the Uḍḍīyānabandha. |
| 01:15:14 | You go down and you make such a |
| 01:15:16 | way, Uḍḍīyāna Bandha, you suck the water through the anus. |
| 01:15:21 | And then you go out and you let it out. |
| 01:15:26 | In this way, a few times, then it cleanses all intense times. |
| 01:15:34 | Now, there is a developed, easier way. That's called Śaṅkh Prakṣālāk. |
| 01:15:41 | Sankha is what you call coins. |
| 01:15:48 | Which has the layers. |
| 01:15:58 | We put water in, it doesn't go properly in through. |
| 01:16:01 | You put a little water and you turn it, then you can go through. |
| 01:16:06 | Similarly, our intestines, it is |
| 01:16:17 | said, are 8.4 meters long. And whatever we eat has to go |
| 01:16:32 | through this 8.5-meter-long pipe, the intestines. |
| 01:16:40 | Creatures which are non-vegetarian have a small |
| 01:16:49 | intestine. And all creatures which have |
| 01:16:54 | a vegetarian diet only have, by nature, |
| 01:17:00 | long intestines. Whatever we eat, something |
| 01:17:05 | remains; some layers remain on our intestines. |
| 01:17:10 | It influences the digestive system. |
| 01:17:17 | So four times a year we should practice Śaṅkhaprakṣālana. |
| 01:17:25 | Prakṣālan means cleaning, Kriyā, and that is a one-day process. |
| 01:17:36 | Best is on the weekend. |
| 01:17:39 | If you are not working on a Friday, do it Friday or Saturday. |
| 01:17:44 | Morning begins at 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock. No coffee, no tea, no breakfast. |
| 01:17:53 | You come to your yoga teacher, and the yoga teacher |
| 01:17:59 | will teach you, give you the practice of how to do it. |
| 01:18:08 | Again, drink warm water with a little |
| 01:18:13 | salt, and you will get one glass of water. |
| 01:18:21 | You drink and perform five āsanas or |
| 01:18:25 | exercises, which are also in this book. |
| 01:18:34 | And then again, drink one glass of water. Again, you do |
| 01:18:39 | these exercises, five exercises, and again you drink the water. |
| 01:18:45 | Till six glasses, after you go to the toilet. |
| 01:18:55 | If it comes out or not, it doesn't matter. |
| 01:18:59 | Come back, drink one glass, and perform the exercises. |
| 01:19:03 | Again, go to the toilet, come back, drink one |
| 01:19:05 | glass of water, perform exercises, and go there. |
| 01:19:09 | Likewise, you drink about 25 to 30 glasses. So a few liters of |
| 01:19:16 | water goes into the stomach, and it will come out with force, because |
| 01:19:23 | the exercises are like this, they will clean and press all the water down. |
| 01:19:31 | And it's like you are brushing your |
| 01:19:34 | intestines, like you brush the water channel. |
| 01:19:40 | You will be surprised, sometimes it's coming, black things, |
| 01:19:44 | sometimes like stones, sometimes different colors, and so on. |
| 01:19:48 | This will last about one hour, one and a half hours. |
| 01:20:01 | Then you have a rest, 45 minutes, no water drinking anymore. |
| 01:20:08 | After doing the Saṅkṣālana Kriyās, the teacher will give you more water to |
| 01:20:14 | drink to make Kunjal Kriya, drinking water and vomiting also, and Neti. |
| 01:20:21 | And then the course is finished. You relax for 40 minutes, 45 minutes. |
| 01:20:29 | Now, for one week, you should observe carefully |
| 01:20:35 | what to eat and what not to eat. |
| 01:20:44 | So we call it in Indian language khichḍī. |
| 01:20:51 | That's with the moong dal, the green soya |
| 01:20:56 | moong dal, which is cleaned and peeled. |
| 01:21:03 | There's not any more green skin on it, and it's 60% good |
| 01:21:14 | rice, or you can have basmati rice, and 40% this moong dal. |
| 01:21:27 | Clean it nicely and cook it thin, not so solid. |
| 01:21:40 | When it's completely cooked, then rice and dal, |
| 01:21:44 | they both mix in such a way, they |
| 01:21:48 | are already opened, and hardly you notice if the |
| 01:21:52 | rice is or the dal is. It becomes one. Inside, you put a little of this: |
| 01:22:03 | cucumber, yellow powder like curry, only cucumber, |
| 01:22:11 | and a little jeera, cumin powder, cumin |
| 01:22:16 | seeds powder, a little, half a teaspoon. |
| 01:22:22 | When you eat, mix in two to three tablespoons of ghee or butter. |
| 01:22:36 | Now, when ghee, this haldi, cucumber, and jeera |
| 01:22:42 | powder, rice and dal, it becomes like a paste. |
| 01:22:52 | And it will nicely apply on the wall of your intestines. |
| 01:22:59 | Eat as much as you can, don't say, "Oh, enough."Stuff. |
| 01:23:06 | Suppose you eat only 150 grams, then now you |
| 01:23:12 | must eat 200 grams, so it is nicely applied |
| 01:23:17 | on the intestine's wall. Evening, you eat also |
| 01:23:23 | the same kind of khichḍī, and next day you |
| 01:23:29 | cook spinach, shape it very nicely, or you can |
| 01:23:36 | grind it, and also with the rice or khichḍī. |
| 01:23:42 | No potatoes, no beans, no eggplant for one week. |
| 01:23:53 | Also, no juice, no fruits, no alcohol. If possible, |
| 01:24:00 | avoid coffee, or coffee with a little milk, or |
| 01:24:06 | tea. And avoid alcohol and meat for at least one month. |
| 01:24:16 | This is for the sake of your good |
| 01:24:20 | health. You will feel very nice, very, very, very relaxed, |
| 01:24:24 | very healthy. And after that, three |
| 01:24:29 | months again, you repeat this course, Saṅkīrtanākṣara. |
| 01:24:33 | So it means every three months the season is changing. So at the end |
| 01:24:38 | of one season and the beginning of |
| 01:24:41 | another season, at that time in our tissues, |
| 01:24:44 | in the body, in the circulation, |
| 01:24:47 | everything is changing with nature. Not only |
| 01:24:50 | are trees changing, their colors and such, |
| 01:24:54 | but our body is also a mobile tree. |
| 01:24:58 | The weather and environment affect our body, as |
| 01:25:02 | well as the forest, trees, and grass, equally. |
| 01:25:08 | So to be with nature in one day, that is the aim of yoga. |
| 01:25:16 | It means respect nature, don't go against |
| 01:25:22 | nature, then you will be very happy. |
| 01:25:28 | The fourth, fifth, sixth, the sixth technique is called Trāṭak. |
| 01:25:34 | Tratak means concentration on one flame. |
| 01:25:44 | Very nice candle, which doesn't make too much smoke when you light it. |
| 01:25:53 | The week should be not too long, or |
| 01:25:58 | a ghee lamp, and you sit peacefully, relaxed. |
| 01:26:07 | After five minutes, you open the eyes and gaze on the candle flame. |
| 01:26:13 | The flame normally should be at a |
| 01:26:15 | distance when you sit straight with your hands. |
| 01:26:18 | Stretch your hand and thumb. This is a flame. |
| 01:26:23 | You gaze on the tip of the flame for one minute and then |
| 01:26:29 | close your eyes. You will see a beautiful flame inside. |
| 01:26:35 | Beautiful. After a few minutes, again |
| 01:26:39 | you open your eyes and gaze at the flame. Make sure |
| 01:26:42 | that now you are not sitting like this, or you are not |
| 01:26:47 | sitting like this. Keep the distance. |
| 01:26:51 | People who are using glasses should put them on |
| 01:26:59 | so that they can see the candle very clearly. |
| 01:27:06 | If you want to take your glasses away, then put a candle at that |
| 01:27:10 | distance where you can see very clearly. This is best to do in the evening |
| 01:27:15 | before going to sleep. And don't forget to blow out the candle. |
| 01:27:25 | So these are the six techniques of the Haṭha Yoga. |
| 01:27:31 | And this is Haṭha Yoga. Other is Rāja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, |
| 01:27:39 | Karma Yoga, and so on. So Haṭha Yoga, which will develop concentration, |
| 01:27:46 | will give peace of mind, relaxation, and health, very good health. |
| 01:27:54 | You will feel very happy, very balanced. And your teachers |
| 01:27:58 | further know, your yoga teachers, how to do this, all Kriyās. |
| 01:28:03 | And if not, and you have more people than |
| 01:28:08 | our Brahmapurī, who is living in Brahmaloka in Vancouver, |
| 01:28:14 | and he can come for one weekend to guide you in practicing prakṣālas. |
| 01:28:25 | So that's all for today. Wish you all the best. |
| 01:28:28 | God bless you. And first of all, very, very good health. |
| 01:28:33 | Thank you for listening. |
| 01:29:13 | Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. |
This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. Double click the desired cue to position the recording 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:
- Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3 - The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0 - Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4
