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The science of pranayama

A morning satsang on the Yoga in Daily Life system, focusing on prāṇāyāma and holistic well-being.

"Prāṇāyāma, in the first place, is the science of prāṇa. Yogīs have counted and researched how to recharge this prāṇa and how to extend the breath in order to give us long life."

"Yoga class means to become one with thyself... That is called human medicine. Human medicine for humans. The best doctor for the human is a human."

Swami Maheshwarananda (Swamiji) addresses spiritual seekers, explaining the vital role of breath and the structured prāṇāyāma practices within the Yoga in Daily Life system. He shares an anecdote of a disciplined disciple's transformative experience with a dedicated prāṇāyāma course. Swamiji emphasizes the importance of a supportive, clean yoga class environment, regular guidance from a teacher, and the ultimate goal of purifying the five kośas (sheaths) to realize one's true, blissful nature.

Filming location: Nepal

We are all bound to one essence. That is called spirituality. That is called Sanātana Dharma. That is called the light. That is called wisdom. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "It does not matter through which path you go; finally you will find me." The path of Sanātana, the path of Guru Bhakti, the path of discipline, Jñāna, Vairāgya, Tapasyā, Tyāga, Dharma, Dayā, or Śraddhā—these are the qualities we should develop. These are the qualities through which yoga practitioners can achieve their highest goal. The scientific system of Yoga and Daily Life is designed for the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health and well-being of humans. It protects all creatures and maintains peace, harmony, love, understanding, and spirituality in human society. We now come to the topic of prāṇa and āsanas, which we have already spoken about: the three different kinds of exercises—warming, stretching, and postures. In the classical way, there are only three. These three prāṇāyāmas are known as Pūrak, Rechak, and Kumbhak. Pūrak means inhalation. Rechak means exhalation. Kumbhak means retention of the breath—to hold your breath. There are two kinds of Kumbhak: one is Bāhir Kumbhak and one is Antar Kumbhak. Bāhir Kumbhak means holding the breath outside. Antar Kumbhak means holding the breath inside. These are the classical names. These three kinds of prāṇāyāma maintain our life. They supply oxygen and exhale toxins from the body. It is said that for every creature, when one is born, a lifespan is given, meaning how many breaths one has. After using all the breaths, you have no more; that means it is finished. Like a battery charge: the duration of the battery is a certain number of hours and minutes. When you use the battery for that many hours, then the battery is finished. Similarly, the breath is that kind of battery which sustains our life. If you use the battery carefully, only in emergency—meaning you save the battery—it can help you for a longer time. Similarly, prāṇāyāma, in the first place, is the science of prāṇa. Yogīs have counted and researched how to recharge this prāṇa and how to extend the breath in order to give us long life. And so there are different prāṇāyāma techniques to exercise. The main aim of prāṇāyāma exercises, the breath exercises, is this: to purify the body of all toxins and supply oxygen to the body so that you can live long. Prāṇāyāma supplies the maximum quantity of oxygen to our muscles, tissues, brain, and so on. Therefore, the science of prāṇāyāma, or the science of prāṇa, is very, very important, and especially for yogīs to exercise. Breath is flowing day and night. It does not matter what we are doing. It is a very automatic motoring system. Breath will continue. Even when you run, sleep, swim, eat, or whatever you are doing, the breath constantly flows. The body knows that it needs more oxygen. If you run, if you do some activities like climbing up, then you are utilizing more oxygen and your breath rhythm goes quicker. Your heartbeat is quicker. It means, in this case, you are using your breath very much. It does not matter how you will use your battery. If you put more power in it and connect more instruments to it, the battery will finish quickly. If you are using it carefully, saving it, then it will last long. You can do all heavy exercises, but if you practice prāṇāyāms every day, then your body will have enough oxygen. Your respiration will be trained, and your diaphragm will have more capacity to get air into the lungs and also supply it to the body. These prāṇāyāms should be done very carefully and systematically. In the "Yoga and Daily Life" book, in the "Yoga and Daily Life" system, we have a one-and-a-half-year special course only for prāṇāyāma. It is beautiful. Out of my many, many disciples around the world, there are very few of them who manage to do this one-and-a-half-year course of prāṇāyāma. One of my disciples is a higher officer in India, and he is very busy. But I must tell you, since 1991, he has begun to do Yoga and Daily Life. He is so disciplined, doing it every day. And he did this two-year course, this one-and-a-half-year course. He said he would like to do it more precisely and slowly. And he did one year, one and a half years, two years. And he said that his meditation became so beautiful, his inner self became so calm. And since he practices yoga, he said he was never ill. And especially after this prāṇāyāma course, he had no headache, no flu, no muscle pain, no joint pain, no problems in breathing. And he said he was feeling like a light balloon. That was an example of the research work. And he is asking me again if he can continue this course again. But I said, "When you have begun, you did it, you developed your whole systems and the body. Now you should remain on a particular exercise." He is doing discipline every morning: Kapālbhāti, then he is doing his kriyā, then he is doing his prāṇāyāma with mantra, then he does the Bastrika and Kumbhak, Nāḍī Śodhana with the Kumbhaka. And he divided his time, minute to minute. And whenever I see him, whenever I come to India, I especially ask for a consultation. And every time, he asks about the same techniques again, if he is making some mistake or if he should add something. That means one has love for oneself. You love thyself. That means you love your ātmā, you love your jīvātmā, and you love your life, to live healthy and to achieve your goal. He tells Gurudev, "In my mind, since I have practiced Yoga in Daily Life, I never let in any negative thoughts." Though my position is not easy, because he has a very high position in government, he is an example. Likewise, I have many disciples around the world, but few of them are doing it very preciously. And you can feel that this person has some light of yoga, so the science of prāṇāyāma is very important. Prāṇāyāma is designed by yogīs to lead a happy, healthy, and long life. And he tells me, "Swāmījī, prāṇāyāma is designed really to enjoy human life, being a human." How I feel that I am a human, and what qualities are there? How I can help more people and unite in oneness. So then there is a technique in Yoga and Daily Life; there is a special course. Anyone can apply for that. Of course, you have to come at least once in three months to your Yoga and Daily Life teacher, or to me, to get further guidance. When you have one technique, it does not mean that you now have everything. It is like this: you buy a new car, a very nice, beautiful new car, and everything is in order. But after three months, you have to go for service. And after some months, again you have to go for service. You cannot say, "I bought an expensive car, and this will be forever." No. Similarly, when you learn all the exercises of yoga, it does not matter from which master you learn or which school of yoga you practice; all are very good. What is not good at all is that we are not good. This means a practitioner is not good. The problem is not in the school. The problem is not with your master. But the problem is with you. You create the problem within yourself. And then your techniques are not helping you anymore. You have the battery, but it is empty. Discharged. You have the bulb in the light, but you explode it in such anger; the bulb is fused. You can press the buttons many times, but there is no more power inside. So, we have to come, time to time, to renew our energy, renew our techniques. [Interruption for technical assistance] So recharge your exercises. And that is why it is also very, very important that we come to our yoga class. So that is why also, at least twice or once a week, you are going to your yoga school, you are going to your yoga center, you are going to your yoga class to recharge your energy, to check your exercises, kriyās, meditation—what you are doing, what new you can add to it or not. Your teacher knows. And the teacher of Yoga in Daily Life leads you very systematically. Unfortunately, in some places there are some teachers who talk too much. People do not like this. They talk, and they put all their whole family problems, or they put all their worldly problems, in front of the students. Twice, some students came to me and told me, "Swāmījī, this and that teacher, when we come, tells so many problems about his car, about his flat, heating systems, and this and that at work." So the students say, "These problems we also have. We come to Yoga and Daily Life class because this is so beautiful. We do not come to any courses; we do not want to listen to worldly problems, because we have enough of those." So the speciality of Yoga and Daily Life is this, my dear brothers and sisters. When you come first, you are welcomed like you come home, relaxed. Something is waiting for you. All is nice, tidy, clean. You are welcomed. So you feel the oneness. You come to the yoga classroom, everything is nicely prepared, nicely cleaned, and a very nice atmosphere. Your teacher is happy, smiles, talks to you, "How are you, my dear? Please come, sit, lie down, and relax." This is the first part of yoga, no? You feel the answer, yes or no? Yes. And then, your Yoga and Life teacher, is he kind to you or not? Yes. If not, then please send me a message. I will tell the teacher to come again for the new class course. Comes the relaxation. And when you are relaxing, you withdraw thyself from the external world and just become one with thyself. Like a fish, again, feels free in the water. Every direction is free for the fish. Fluttering, swimming in the water, so you are there, happy and fluttering on the waves of the beautiful energy—prāṇa. Your body is recharging the prāṇa. You inhale the cosmic light. You exhale all the tensions and all the toxins. That is the second beauty of the yogī's life. After your teacher instructs you, kindly, slowly sit up. And then come beautiful exercises of body warming, stretching, and postures. And most of our teachers, they are also practicing with you, demonstrating. And many teachers come and correct your postures, prāṇāyāms, and intervals. Everyone gets a cup of tea or water, or biscuits or nuts, you know. That is like at home; you feel in your own house. Yoga class is not only a gymnastic hall. Yoga class is not a gym where you just go and exercise, take the towel and dry your sweating, go in the bathroom, wash, and go. No. Yoga class means to become one with thyself. And then you see all your brothers and sisters who are sitting, everyone is with you. That is called human medicine. Human medicine for humans. The best doctor for the human is a human. With whom you live, the person should be like your doctor, who understands you, who loves you, who supports you, everything. When you come to your office, all your colleagues should be like real brothers and sisters, a good atmosphere. So a human is a doctor for the human. Then Yoga and Daily Life has another very beautiful, blessed chapter, and that is what we call satsaṅg. Satsaṅg: it is said, Satguru came from Satyaloka, brought the satsaṅg where all we are sitting in this boat, and this boat is proceeding towards the Brahmaloka. In Vedānta, it says, "Brahma-satya jagat mithyā." The truth, the real truth, is Brahman. This world is quarreling. This world is a world of challenges, competitions, tensions, māyā, money, criticism, hate, anger, love, and you like the person only whom you love. You do not like the person you do not love. What a kind of mess is going on in their brain. So yoga tells you to clean your way of thinking, your way of living, your way of life. And so Maharṣi Patañjali speaks in his Yoga Sūtra. First he said, "Atha yogānuśāsanam," now and now and now. Atha, now, not tomorrow, not afternoon, begins discipline. So yoga begins with discipline. Your work begins with it. Atha yogānuśāsana. Śāsana means discipline. Through this yoga, "chitta vṛtti nirodha." Through this practicing of your yoga, all your chitta vṛttis—nirodha means control, relax. Then you feel one with thyself. Oh, each breath becomes a blessing. When you relax and inhale, oh, you feel that I am life. The whole day, you are not aware that you are alive. Sitting on the computer, sitting there, running, cooking, eating, driving, stress, talking, screaming, this, that. You are not aware that you are alive. But as soon as you sit in meditation or relax in Yoga and Daily Life, the instructors have certain instructions for relaxation as well as self-inquiry meditation. There you feel that you are a human. You are life. You feel your body. You feel your prāṇa. You feel the world and how happy you are. This is the blessing to all of us that we have: Yoga and Daily Life. Yoga and Daily Life is not only just making exercise, this, this, that, okay. On the counter, come. You have to pay $20, please, for the class. And you, thank you. Bye-bye, see you tomorrow. That is not it; it is not money. Money is not everything. Though people are calling money everything, money is not everything. But I think that love which you give to the humans and other creatures, you cannot give through money. You can give from your heart and from your intellect, as understanding, kindness, humbleness, love. And for this, my dear brothers and sisters, we have to think: this soul, our individual soul, is existing in five kośas. Kośa means here quarters. Kośa means the layers, one after the other layer. Kośa means that phenomena cover one after another layer of the energies. And these five kośas, pañca kośa, this pañca kośa should be purified. When the yogī's pañca kośa is very beautifully cleaned, oh, whole day you will sing: "I am bliss, I am bliss, I am bliss, I am bliss, I am bliss. Now I know what the truth is. Eko brahma dvitīyanāsti. I am that Brahman. I am that Ātmā. Chit. That cosmic consciousness, pure, spotless, alakha niranjan. I am Alakha Niranjan, indescribable, spotless, the cosmic consciousness. I am not this garbage of this world. I am not this body. I am not this vikāra. All this I am not. I am pure consciousness. That is brahma-satya, satya-cit-ānanda. And that is the bliss. So I am the truth. I am that pure consciousness, and that is the parāmānanda." That you can experience when your pañcakośa is purified. Pañcakośa is layer after other layer over your jīvātmā. And this jīvātmā sometimes is happy and sometimes cannot breathe. Because we create such an impurity in the body, in the mind, in the intellect, that sometimes the jīvātmā cannot breathe. The jīvātmā said, "Oh human, God gave you a human body already to liberate me," meaning to liberate thyself. Why do you create this in you? The fire of anger, the hate of the dark clouds, the jealousy of the flames of volcanoes, and so on and so on. The Jīvātmā thinks, "If God has given me a human body, I will be happy." The Jīva, this individual soul, when God blessed this soul to come and enter a human body, the soul was so happy. "Now I will be safe. Now I will be happy. I will enjoy and sing the glory of the Supreme. I will do good." But this jīvātmā, when it came in the human body, and this human developed other qualities... we are very sorry. The person who was thinking and created the atom, the first atom, had good thoughts, good ideas. But when he created these atoms and said, "Now how will humans misuse it?" the person was unhappy, nearly made suicide, died. The good intention was developed into the negative. So Mother Nature, or the Creator, or God, had a good intention to give us this human body. And now, what we do, what we cause, not only for us but for all. This atom bomb that explodes around the whole world, millions and millions of people will suffer. Also, Mr. Tesla, who was the inventor of electricity, how to fight. And then he said, "Oh God, this is a magic power. It will catch the human, and the human will not be free from this. All humans will depend on this electricity." And now you know, without electricity, we cannot do anything. Even without electricity, the webcast, what I am doing, the computer will not function. But again, if used for good things, it is a blessing. If you misuse it, then it is a curse for us to destroy. So the five kośas are called Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and Ānandamaya Kośa. So, my dear brothers, sisters, my dear gurubhāī, aspirants, spiritual seekers, devotees of Bhagavān, Dṛpananda, Mahāprabhujī, Devapurījī, and Gurujī, in the name of our holy Siddha Pīṭha, I bless you, and tomorrow again, this time, I will be with you. Until then, I take my leave, and we will talk more about the kośas, the prāṇas, and the prāṇāyāmas. So welcome again. I wish you a very nice day, and for those who have other time, I wish you a very good evening. God bless you. With this mantra, you can chant with me: Namo Bhagavān Kī Dev Purīśa Mahādeva Kī Jai Sat Guru Swāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai Sat Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramaṁ Swāmī Maheśvarānandajī Guru Deva Kī Jai.

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:

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