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Part 1: The Nature of Chakras, Prāṇa, and Inner Purification Today, I would like to explain more about energy centers and Kuṇḍalinī. This morning, we had a session demonstrating how to awaken certain chakras for healing power, self-healing, or giving healing energy to others. That was an example: if these particular chakras can be awakened, then why not others? Other chakras can indeed be awakened through certain practices. Before I speak about the chakras, I want to address a common misconception. People sometimes think, "My chakras are opened wrongly." Chakras cannot open wrongly. Sometimes people feel their chakras are blocked. Chakras cannot be blocked. What is true is that a chakra can be less active. A chakra is like a dynamo. The dynamo is lying there; you can activate it to gain energy, or you can let it be. That is all. To activate this dynamo of our chakra, there are certain exercises. The first is physical and mental purification, about which we spoke yesterday: malvik shape and āvaraṇa—three points, I hope you remember. After this purification—and by purification, I mean inner purification—we can proceed. We can clean our outer body in many ways: with water, earth, sand, paper, air, or cloth. But how are we going to clean our inner body, under the skin? How are we going to clean all these inner systems, nerves, and everything? Within the body, some tissues are constantly dying, and new tissues are constantly being regenerated. Those spent tissues, which are a form of energy, have to be expelled from the body. Now, Mother Nature, or the Father Creator—you may say the Creator or Mother Nature, whatever you wish—has created this wonderful body of every creature with automatic systems, like air conditioning and ventilation. There is prāṇa in our body. There are ten kinds of prāṇa. The breath we inhale is divided into ten parts. Different energies in different parts of the body serve different functions. Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Vyāna, Udāna—all have their different functions. There is special prāṇa for the heart, for the eyes, for digestion, for the whole circulation. Prāṇa and Apāna are particularly important for our discussion now. Prāṇa, in one way, we call oxygen; in another way, we call it the breath. Ultimately, it is the life force, energy. Without this, we cannot exist. Our planet is full of prāṇa, and we do not inhale only through the nose or mouth; we inhale through the whole body. Prāṇa is very hard to define. What is it? In our language, we call prāṇa ādhāra: "Oh Lord, you are the basis of my prāṇa." Or we say, "You are my prāṇa, you are my life." When someone dies, we say this creature or this person has given up the prāṇa. There is no more prāṇa in the body. So prāṇa is something more than oxygen. It is the energy, and our body has the ability to constantly suck in this cosmic energy. Apāna is the energy, the force which exhales from the body. Everything that comes out of the body—stool, urine, coughing, perspiring—all this is the function of apāna, apānaśakti. Constantly, we are getting energy to regenerate, to create new tissues, the life force in the body. But at the same time, the old tissues are reduced, are dying, and apāna śakti cleans them out. Thus, inhaling and exhaling are very important functions. The first thing we did in our life when we were born was inhale. The last thing we will do in our life is exhale and not be able to inhale again. So we have one long breath from birth until death. What is happening between? Inhalation and exhalation—these are only waves. Like a big ocean from one shore to the other, between are only the waves. Mahāprabhujī, Karatā Mahāprabhujī, Karatā Mahāprabhujī. It’s like a little bit of a joke, but it’s good, it’s true. I don’t know the name of this story, and it is written in German. It is about twins in the mother’s womb—a conversation between two twins. One asks the other, "Do you believe in the next life or life after?" The other says, "That’s stupid. There is no next life. There is no other life." The first insists, "Yes, there is another life. You know, we will breathe." The other replies, "Stupid, we will breathe? Funny, it will not be breath." "Oh yes, we will eat something through the mouth." "What? What a crazy idea. We have our navel; we are nourished here. To eat through the mouth? Such fairy tales." "No, it will be. And you know, we will walk." "We will walk? We are so comfortable here, and you think we will walk? That’s crazy. I don’t believe in that life." So it is a life-changing transition from one life to another, because we still don't know about that future state. "We will open our eyes, we will see." "What will you see? Nothing. We see everything here now. That is all that exists. The entire universe is here. What more do you want to see? Everything is here." It is like a little frog in a small pond. That frog thinks, "This is my whole world. There is nothing bigger than this." Then someone brings it and puts it into a big lake or the ocean, and the frog says, "Oh my God, I thought my pond was the biggest one." And so there is a bigger and bigger reality. So the breath, energy—this is a mystery. A mysterious life, a wonderful life. Can you create one finger that functions in such a way? There must be some extra energy and some God consciousness. Though scientists are cloning and doing experiments, still there must be some function of the prāṇas and these elements together. Without God’s energy, nothing can happen. We cannot be thankful enough to that Mother, the Cosmic Mother. Mātṛ Devo Bhava. Mother is God. And she is constantly nourishing us still. What do you inhale? And what do you exhale? Why are you inhaling? What is that? That Cosmic Mother is nourishing her child, which is here inside. Constantly, we are in touch with that life force, the unreachable life. The human body is created within that creation which I spoke about last Friday evening. There are 8.4 million different creatures; out of them, one is the human. In the human body, there are 72,000 nāḍīs, or energy channels. A complete, healthy, pūrṇa puruṣa (human) has 72,000 nāḍīs. I am always wondering about that heavenly architect: within nine months, how beautifully this electric wiring, this cabling, is finished. We have to purify the body. The first step of purification, which Adidas is doing and will teach you, is called Saṅkhaprakṣālana. You should do it four times a year because every three months the season changes. Every three months, our tissues renew nicely, and the whole system changes. You should do śaṅkha prakṣālana (stomach cleaning), and netī, and bastī, and dhautī, and naulī. That is purification. After that comes work with the breath. Some nāḍīs are so gentle that if you touch them, they break. Those can be cleaned and purified with concentration and prāṇa śakti—the energy I inhale and exhale. Out of the 72,000 nāḍīs, there are 72 that are very, very important. The nāḍīs are energies radiating. A small picture is in this book, Yoga and Daily Life; I have put it here for you to see how this network looks around the whole body. In your yoga book, you will see very clearly the chakras and the connection of these nāḍīs to these chakras. These are also the points in acupuncture or acupressure. For awakening certain energies, they are connected to our eyes, nose, heart, solar plexus, kidneys, and every center. Through prāṇāyāma, in one technique, we can control everything. When a room has bad air, we put on a ventilator, and it sucks all the bad air out—an exhaust fan. This prāṇāyāma you have been practicing. Within this system, out of the 72 important nāḍīs, three are paramount. They are called Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumnā. Iḍā Nāḍī belongs to the moon principle. It is lunar. Our entire emotion is controlled by the moon principle, and the mind. The deity, the principle of the mind, is the moon. Just as the moon does not rise equally every day and changes its position, similarly your mind is not steady. Every day it changes; every minute your mind changes. The nature of the mind is saṅkalpa and vikalpa. Saṅkalpa means to make a resolution, a thought that you want this or that. Vikalpa means, "No, I don’t want." So the mind creates thoughts and dissolves them; it brings thoughts, gives them up to the intellect, and they go away. The mind does not take responsibility. We spoke about the mind the day before yesterday: what the mind is. For those whose mind is restless, for those who have a problem with the mind, begin prāṇāyāma by working first with the iḍā nāḍī. In medical terms, I think they call this the sympathetic nervous system. The right channel belongs to the sun system. That is called Piṅgalā. It controls our activities—all activities that take place in our mind, body, and consciousness. This happens through the Iḍā and Piṅgalā Nāḍī. The third one, which is a central channel controlling all of them, is called Suṣumnā Nāḍī. That is the central nerve. These three nāḍīs come from the base of the brain and start, and they control the entire nāḍī system. This is the center. Suṣumnā is that which flows straight downward. Sometimes you don't see the nāḍīs; there is no physical connection, but there is only an energy connection. There is no translation of the word nāḍī in the English language or in any language. In many books, many expert yogīs do not accept the translation of nāḍīs as "nerve." Nāḍī is not the nerve; Nāḍī is something different; it has no translation. When we speak about Nāḍī, we could have a one-month conference on it and still not fully grasp what it is. Therefore, in Western countries, people talk about Haṭha Yoga and do āsanas. You can have many people only doing these exercises, but that is not Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha Yoga is saṅprakṣālana, netī, dhautī, bastī, naulī, tratāka—the inner purification of the body. That is Haṭha Yoga. What you are primarily doing is Rāja Yoga. But if someone asks to do Haṭha Yoga, we say, "Okay, this is Haṭha Yoga. Do it, please." Purījī, Purījī... They go round, make a circle. The universe is round, and whatever exists within the universe is round. Everything is round; even a drop of water is round. Everything is in the form of atoms. Everything is zero. Brahman is zero. So the energy which comes from the sun’s rays goes round and round. Part 2: The Path of the Nāḍīs and the Purification of Consciousness The nāḍīs that emanate from the Ājñā Cakra—Iḍā and Piṅgalā—begin their journey from here. They possess great force, as does the central nāḍī, Suṣumnā, whose powerful force pulls them back together. They converge and cross near our throat, at the thoracic gland. Thus, the left nāḍī, originating from the smaller brain, travels to the right side, and the right nāḍī travels to the left. This is what physiology describes: the right hemisphere controls the left part of the body, and the left hemisphere controls the right part. This is a very strong chakra. Regarding the Viśuddhi Cakra, that is what we call it. I will not elaborate on this chakra now, as it requires a full weekend to explain. At the Viśuddha, even poison can be purified. What you will read in the upcoming chakra book will come to you soon. Now, the Iḍā proceeds to the right and the Piṅgalā to the left. They are pulled together again and cross once more at the heart chakra. There is a great sensation in the heart, a powerful vibration, which is why this center is extremely sensitive. Everything is felt in this heart chakra. The right nāḍī, which went left, returns to the right and proceeds rightward. In this manner, they pass through, forming a circle. This serpentine movement is why, in Kuṇḍalinī Yoga, some refer to it as the serpent power. In reality, there is no literal serpent or snake; it is called so because the nāḍīs move in that coiling manner. When a road winds along a coast or hills, you caution that it is a serpentine road with many curves, requiring great care. Hence, it is likened to a snake, though it has no actual connection to snakes. It is simply because the pathway is like that. Where these crossings occur, there is a cakra—a psychic center with strong energy, akin to touching two wires together and blowing a fuse. The next junction is at the navel, then the Svādhiṣṭhāna, and finally they arrive at the Mūlādhāra, where they stop. All three nāḍīs are connected there like a small knot. According to human anatomy and medical science, beyond the navel region, this nerve disappears like a river vanishing in a desert. But the yogīs say no; these nāḍīs continue to the very end of the spinal column, to its last point. There resides the seat of the Śakti, the seat of the Kuṇḍalinī. When that ultimate point is touched, you feel it at the crown of the Sahasrāra. When we consider the human body at the level of the cakras, human consciousness has many strata. From our ankle joints downward, including the soles of the feet, belongs to the earth cakras. One should not concentrate excessively on one's own feet and soles, as this can induce depression due to their heaviness. If you feel depressed from this heaviness, you should take a foot bath, alternating warm and cold water. This will awaken your consciousness, impart new energy and lightness, and improve circulation. From there up to our knees, the centers belong to the vegetation. We remain connected to the earth and to the plant kingdom. From the knees to the hip joints, where the spine begins, belongs to the animal centers. We still retain qualities, behaviors, and many attributes from the animals. When the last chakra is active, humans can behave like animals. There is a border between animal consciousness and human consciousness at the Mūlādhāra Cakra. This is what we call Paśupati. When you visited Nepal, you saw the beautiful temple of Lord Śiva. It is called Paśupati Mahādeva, the greatest Lord Śiva, who is also the Lord of the animals. From there, human consciousness and human qualities begin, though you still carry some animal qualities with you. These persist up to our third eye, the Ājñā Cakra, which is the seat of human consciousness; human qualities remain there. Beyond this third eye, human qualities reside below, and the divine qualities, the qualities of God, begin here from the upper part. Here are the centers endowed with divine attributes. Now, consider the Prakṛti at the Mūlādhāra Cakra. All our karma, including past-life karmas, lies dormant there. And there resides the Śakti. This Śakti desires to dissolve into the Puruṣa. Thus, we have Prakṛti and Puruṣa. Puruṣa is pure consciousness, and Prakṛti is this nature. The pure consciousness resides in the Sahasrāra Cakra at the crown of the head. When this center awakens and the kuṇḍalinī śakti ascends to the sahasrāra cakra, then you attain samādhi, divine consciousness. Samādhi is the state where knowledge, the knower, and the object all merge into one. Here is an object. I am the knower. I wish to know what this is. Thus, I, with my knowledge, become one with that. It means either the object ceases to exist, and only I exist, or I cease to exist, and only the object exists. We spoke recently about qualities. There are two kinds: God's qualities, human qualities, and animal qualities—these constitute the nature of creatures. Then there is individual quality. My habits, my qualities, my behavior differ from hers. Her qualities differ from his, and his differ from another's. But God has only one quality. I have an example I shared last time and often repeat in Perth. Imagine a crystal-clear glass filled with clean water. Previously, someone put ten grams of solid sugar inside. Now the sugar has dissolved in the water. The person who brought the water thought, "Swamiji will not realize there is sugar inside," because the sugar has relinquished its physical form. Now I drink the water containing the sugar. Before, I did not see the sugar. You do not see the sugar. We spoke about the indriyas. When I discussed the mind, the jñāna indriyas: my tongue, my mouth, my tongue provided the information, "Careful, there is sugar inside." My eyes could not give this information because there was no solid form. This means the sugar changed its form but retained its intrinsic quality. It changed form but could not alter its quality. Similarly, we will die. We will change our physical form and assume a natural form. Yet, our quality, our karma, will remain with us. She will always be the sea. She will carry her karma, her destiny, and this destiny will bring her into the next life, like the example I gave of a leaf breaking from a tree and being carried by the wind—as long as the sugar retains its quality. Thus, there are two qualities: God's quality and individual quality. If the sugar were to relinquish its quality, I would not realize there is sugar inside. It would be gone; there would be no sugar. God will not give up His quality. We must give up our quality. God's quality is pure, while our quality is impure. Therefore, we must purify our qualities. We should strive to diminish our individual qualities and enhance the spiritual qualities, the Godly qualities, to become one with Him. One day we will be as pure as He is. When He was here, I was not. Now I am here, but He is not. Because the path of love is so narrow, two cannot traverse it together. There is duality; two cannot be as one. There will always be two. So you wish to become one with God. You cannot become one with God unless your consciousness attains those pure qualities. Therefore, purification—physical, mental, spiritual, and conscious purification—requires many days, months, years, and lifetimes of sustained spiritual sādhanā. This will awaken our kuṇḍalinī. There will be certain kriyās, programs, and techniques through which you can purify more swiftly. How are these cakras created in the body when the soul descends from the astral world into this physical form? Then, Mother Nature—or the cosmic mother—creates circumstances, or she looks after that soul, providing everything it needs. All necessary arrangements are made. You need not worry about anything. That mother takes care of everything for you. She bestows upon you everything—energy, cakras, all. Simultaneously, we have this divine science of yoga to purify ourselves and become one with the Supreme. This is encapsulated in the mantra So Ham: "I am that, and that I am." Thus, Kuṇḍalinī awakening signifies the purification of consciousness and the awakening of wisdom; you become wise. Wisdom means the absence of ignorance; that quality no longer exists. Then, whatever you do, nothing adheres to you. Observe the crystal mālā around my neck. I have worn it for four years. I have observed this mālā for four years. Since I received it, I have never cleaned it, yet there has never been a black spot or dirt on it. Never. In these four or five years, it perpetually shines, this living stone, crystal clear, always. You can place this crystal mālā on the floor or in dust; it will not collect dust. Similarly, when you have purified your consciousness and your qualities, no karmas will influence you anymore. You live in this world, yet you are above it. Like a lotus plant that survives and grows in water that is not clean, the lotus blossom emerges, beautiful. If you try to throw that dirty water on the blossom, it will not remain; it will flow down. That is who you are. When you are so pure, anyone can do anything to you, and everything will fall back upon them. As our Mahāprabhujī said, if someone has a handful of dust and, in anger at the sun, tries to throw the dust at the sun, it will fall upon themselves. It will not reach the sun. If someone speaks ill of you, criticizes you, or is angry with you, all of that will fall back on them, and you will remain eternally crystal clear. This is the miraculous, divine practice of sādhanā, of yoga and kuṇḍalinī. There are many beautiful aspects to this. Therefore, concentrate and meditate. It is not too late. You will still receive all information about where your yoga classes can be held. But if you are not yet advanced, be cautious. Do not imitate. Imitation is always dangerous. So we shall pray. We shall always pray and cultivate divine qualities. We do make mistakes, and we pray for them. But we have our sādhanā, and we persist in our practice. Yoga is a divine science, and I wish you all the best and God's blessing. May God protect you and your family, bring good harmony, understanding, mutual understanding, good health, and peace of mind. Wherever you are, may God take care of you. This is what I pray to Almighty God, to bless you with all these good things. Om Śānti. Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai.