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Om Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Haṁsabdaḥ Prabhuśaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Om Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Haṁsabdaḥ Prabhuśaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Haṁsabdaḥ Prabhuśaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Om Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Haṁsabdaḥ Prabhuśaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Om Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters, dear ones, spiritual seekers, blessed self, and blessing. The blessings of Bhagavān Śrī Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, of Bhagavān Śrī Deveśvara Mahādeva, and of our universally worshipped Satguru Dev Svāmī Madhavānandajī. Welcome to the subject of "Chakras and Kuṇḍalinī: The Hidden Powers in Humans." Many books have been written about Kuṇḍalinī; of course, they are very good. Every sādhaka or writer does their best to explain kuṇḍalinī and cakras according to their own experiences. Among all writers, there are two types we call vācārthī and lakṣārthī. A vācārthī is a writer who listens to lectures about Kuṇḍalinī and reads books. The library is a source of wisdom where you can find many ancient literatures; you collect information and write. But still, it is not practical experience. Tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice. Theories are good to inspire and motivate one to learn or practice something. There are two kinds of horses. One horse is in your farmhouse, in your field. The second horse is on a piece of paper as a picture. If you ask anyone, "What is this?" they will say it's a picture or a horse. You point to the horse in the field. What is that? It is a horse. Yes, both are truth. But when you want to ride a horse, you cannot ride the paper horse. You need the real horse. This is the difference between lakṣārthī and vācārthī. Therefore, some philosophers said tons of theory is nothing compared to a grain of practice. Lakṣārthī are those who make their lakṣya, their aim, and then decide to practice under the guidance of a master, guru, or teacher. A lakṣārthī is one who has been practicing. May the practical experiences lead us comfortably to our destination. So, about Kuṇḍalinī, this is a very serious subject. We have to do something with our consciousness. We have to do something with our emotion or intellect through the energy centers. Energy is very important. Without energy, nothing will move or function. But the energy needs a perfect steering master. A driver knows how to drive a car; it is not difficult. But in a difficult situation, that is where you can judge if it is a good driver or not. On a highway, a very straight road with no traffic and no crossing, you go off, okay? You feel like driving a little quicker. You have petrol, and your car is good. But suddenly, there comes an icy road, snow. You are at a speed of 150-160 kilometers per hour. A good driver will know what to do. A new driver will just turn the car clockwise, and it will park somewhere downside of the road, upside down. This is what yogic techniques are about. They should be learned from an experienced master. That will prepare our field. The field means antakaraṇa, the inner situations, the strength of your nerves, etc. Many people try to practice. Let's say some books write that you feel something moving up through the spinal column. I doubt if something is moving. Some vibration is going up. Then you have to seek a psychiatric doctor, because kuṇḍalinī is not physical; it is a play in the consciousness. It is the awakening of divine experiences in your consciousness, in your viveka, in your intellect; it is not physical. Chakras are not physical, but they are located near certain glands, certain centers along the spinal column. However, it is only the reflection of those energy centers. If the kuṇḍalinī is dormant at the mūlādhāra, about two and a half centimeters after the last disc or column... For example, someone said, "I will operate there and throw all my karmas away." You cannot operate; it is not physical. So we have to see that it is different. But still, it exists in our Vijñānamaya Kośa, it exists in our Prāṇamaya Kośa, and everything is included within consciousness and emotion. Once, a person was practicing yoga nidrā. Some teacher or student, a practitioner, bought a yoga nidrā cassette, and some instructions were on that cassette when played. Now imagine that you are somewhere in a park: beautiful flowers, trees, a lake. And now imagine that you are flying above the clouds, beautiful, very light. You feel very light. You see everything from above. You see the paraglider every day. If a beginner goes there, they can go twice: the first and the last time. But an experienced one can do it. A person was doing Yoga Nidrā in his sleeping room on the bed. It is not good to do Yoga Nidrā in your sleeping bed. Imagination is very powerful. That imagination is with your willpower. And suddenly he felt that his body was levitating. He sees near the ceiling, and he looks down and is moving like this. That was only imagination. In reality, the body was in the bed. Now fear came. Somehow, he managed to change the feelings and imaginations. This is a real story. At 3:30 in the night, my telephone was ringing, and he said, "Swāmījī, I can’t sleep." I said, "Well, but I can sleep. So you can call me tomorrow morning." He said, "No, no, please don’t put off the telephone. You must help me," and he told the whole story. Therefore, the practitioners, as well as the teacher or instructor, first must be lakṣārthī, not only listening from cassettes, not only reading from some articles or books. They are very good; they are not bad. But that is for our information. There is a picture on the wall with beautiful, delicious food. You are very hungry, and I show you with the indicator or pointer, saying, "Look, this is the halvā, and this is the purīs, and this is the kheer, and this is your samosas, and this is your pizza, and this and that." You are so hungry now; you become more and more hungry. You cannot eat the picture, but if I give you just a few nuts and you eat them, that will help you, something to satisfy your hunger. Therefore, it is not advisable that you go for a yoga teacher training for just 10 days or one week and come back with a yoga teacher certificate and declare yourself as a yoga teacher. Unfortunately, that is what is happening now in the world. It is years and years of long experiences. If you just imitate and try to practice like that, you will harm your body, and maybe illness will increase. There was one lazy disciple who tried to be very clever and just learn from hearing. He was living with one master. The master told him, "Practice, practice," but he said, "Yes, yes, I will practice, I will practice." And what the master used to speak and do, he tried to imitate. One day, a farmer came with a camel to the Master, who used to give some herbal medicine and different kinds of practices for certain physical problems. He came and said, "Gurudev, my camel, for the last two days, can’t eat, can’t drink, and has something here in the throat, like a knot." Gurujī came, tested the throat; something was moving up and down. So Gurujī said to the farmer, "Let your camel sit." It was sitting. The master was holding the camel’s nose; the camel looked a little up; he tried to make the throat straight. Very gently, with experience, with his fist, he was hitting here on the throat of the camel, and some dry pumpkin or something came out. It couldn’t swallow, so it was stuck inside. The disciple was sitting there, looking at what Gurudev was doing. The disciple said, "Yes, that is a good lesson. This is a good treatment for the throat if there is any problem." He learned. "Now I know how to treat the throat problem." After a few months, Gurujī had to go somewhere, and the disciple was alone in the ashram. A businessman came with his friend and asked, "Where is Gurujī?" The disciple said, "Yes, I am here. What can I do for you?" He said, "Well, where is Gurudev?" He said, "Well, he went to some other city. He will come in a few days. But if there is any problem..." He said, "My friend came from Calcutta, and he has throat problems. So Gurudev knew many remedies." He said, "Throat, okay, no problem. Gurujī just saw me a few days ago. I can solve the problem. I can heal the disease." They said, "Oh, that’s very nice of you, please." So he said, "Show me your throat." He looked and said, "Uh-huh, I see. It is about long here in the throat." He said, "Yes, it is long." He lay down on this wooden bench. He put one pillow behind, under his shoulders. He said, "Please look up." He was looking up. He closed his fist and, with force, he hit. He said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Moment, moment. Melanie is too long inside." He said, "There is no melon inside." He said, "The camel came once, so let me do from this side." They said, "No, no, thank you, thank you." Dekha deki sāje yog ghaṭāya kāyā, aṅg bade rog. Therefore, practice and experience yourself. So, before we learn anything, we have to overcome fear. The biggest disease, the strongest or most terrible pain we have, is fear. Fear of many, many things: fear from animals, fear from ghosts, fear from water, from fire, from people, many, many things. Anxiety means inwardly you are not strong enough. You have to master thyself, not to have fear. And that is how yoga teachers, yoga instructors, should have proper, long years of training. Especially when I give you instructions for meditation, instructions for yoga nidrā, instructions for astral traveling, you should know what happens, what it is. If you don’t know, then go into a swimming pool where sports swimmers are learning to jump from a few meters high, standing on the platform or wooden plate, and the tower is about 10 meters deep. Would you jump now? Even you will walk so carefully, you say, "No, thank you, tomorrow I will do." Fear is inside. Everyone loves their life. Everyone loves their soul. We are not afraid of death, perhaps, but we are afraid. We have fear of the process. How will we die? How much pain will we have to endure, or will we go through the pain? We don’t know at all. To overcome certain fears, and that is... Gurudev said in one bhajan: Practice, but have the observation of the Gurudev; let Gurudev guide. And disciples, bhaktas have to develop faith and confidence. It is not easy. One practical example: a big jumbo jet, where there are 200 people sitting inside, or more—a big airplane, double stories. Everyone has so much luggage: this, that, eating, and that—everything. Big inside, comfortable. You read about airplanes. You read the book "How to Fly." Now go and sit near the pilot, and the pilot will ask you to take off now on the runway. Will you do it? No. And if someone comes to know that there is a first-time trial, there is one co-pilot—my God, everyone will get out. But those pilots who learn and practice for years and years, then it is said that even that pilot who can land and fly blind—they cover the front window, and you have to fly only through instruments. You must have confidence. Then you can take off and take all your passengers and safely land on the destination’s airport runway. Hardly you can feel that you are there. Just gently landed. We will say, "What a master work, what a good pilot. Oh my God, it was so gently landed." That’s it. So this is lakṣārthī and vācārthī. Vācārthī is listening, reading theory. But lakṣārthī is one who practices. Practice, practice. Abhyāsa, abhyāsa, kuṇṭe abhyāsa. Oh Arjuna, practice, practice, practice. So, Gurudev, we need Guru Kṛpā. That is why Satguru Dev protects us. Okay, in this physical body, in this physical world, we are taking care of ourselves. But what is after? What is a real Gurudev? What is Guru Kṛpā? You will realize it only when you go out of your body. With your last breath, when you go out of the body—it means you have died, separated from the body—then we will see what is Guru Kṛpā, what is Guru Light, and how you are comfortably, safely guided to different lokas or into different forms of life. So, Kuṇḍalinī is not a physical process in the body. It is energy. It is very subtle. It is experienced. For example, the Mūlādhāra Cakra has four petals. Each unfoldment of the petal is the awakening of a certain quality: happiness, wisdom, love, light. And this is what we need for the further process to awaken the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. Energy is always moving round the circle, and that is why we call it kuṇḍalinī. Kundal is like a ring, like an earring. And the ring, in Sanskrit or in our language, the mudrikā or aṅguṭhī, is a feminine symbol. Therefore, kuṇḍalinī, the śakti, is also feminine. This energy is moving like this and circulates there three and a half times, or three and a half coils, around that Śiva Liṅga. The chakras on our foot soles, till the ankle joints, are called the earth chakra. Many people meditate, concentrating on their own feet. They get depression. They ask the question, then why should we meditate on the feet of Gurudev? That is different. You are meditating on others, Guru Nakamana Ghanjyoti. Tulsīdāsajī said in the Rāmāyaṇa, all the holy saints said, on the nail of the toes, there is a source of the divine light, a nectar. But many don’t understand. That is what we call the Caraṇāmṛta. Everywhere, in every tradition, in every religion, there is holy water. What is that? That’s called Caraṇāmṛta. Many different kinds of amṛta. Don’t think you will have a drop of Amṛta from the chemistry shop, and you take one drop and you are immortal. It’s not like that. Jñāna Amṛta, Vācana Amṛta, Pañca Amṛta, Caraṇa Amṛta—many different kinds of Amṛta. That means through this we get that knowledge, that energy, that protection, which leads us to immortality. Sanjīvanī bhūti, also Sanjīvanī bhūti, is that which can awake the person again to life. As you put some drops on dry wood, it begins to again become green. Yes, we are all searching for this, but sometimes even poison can affect our body as nectar. And the nectar also can kill us like a poison. To know how and what. There was one disciple who came to a master and asked, "Master, please, can you accept me as your disciple?" Master said, "Well, I give you one duty, and then come to me after that." Said, "Yes. Bring me one plant from anywhere which is not useful at all." "Okay, Master." So he went, took a copy with him, and went through the forest, asking the farmers and the shepherds, "What kind of plant is this, and what is it good for?" And he was drawing the picture and writing what it was good for. It took him a few years to work on this, but he didn’t find any plant which was not useful for something. He brought a book so big and came back to Gurudev and said, "Gurudev, I failed." He said, "Why?" "In so many years, I worked very hard, and the proof is this: look, I have the name of the plant, a picture I drew, and what it is good for. But I didn’t find anything which was not useful for anything." Gurudev said, "Now you pass the examination. Now you will become, I will give you mantra and disciple." And that disciple became the author of Āyurveda, the medicine. So everything on this earth is of nectar. Nectar is flowing. Here also, nectar is flowing. Even in stones, nectar is there. But we don’t know when, for what, and how. This is the knowledge of how the kuṇḍalinī śakti is working in the body, and how the cakras are working, and in whose entire body which kind of energy is flowing. Jīvanmukta, those masters, they who purify the body, not of physical toxins in the body, but of energy, that becomes the immortal blessings. Therefore it is said: mokṣa-mūlaṁ gurur kṛpā, that nectar, that vācana-amṛta. Guru-vākya, mantra-mūlam guru-vākya, the roots, the essence of the mantra. The best mantra for us all as disciples is to follow the guru-vākya. Mantra mūlam guru vākyam, mokṣa mūlam guru kṛpā, dhyāna mūlam guru mūrti, pūjā mūlam guru pādam. Mantra mūlam guru vākyam, mokṣa mūlam guru kṛpā. So, on our foot sole till the ankle joint is the earth chakra. From the ankle joints to the knees is for the vegetation, and from the knees till the hip joints, where the spinal column begins, is the animal chakras. Now, the border between earth and vegetation is the ankle joints. The border between the vegetation and animal consciousness is the knee. And from the knee to the hip joints, there is the border of the animals and human consciousness. And there is the Śiva Liṅgam. And that is again God Śiva. Śiva is the Lord of all. And that’s what we are sitting here in Nepal, where all adults, it’s called Paśupati Mahādeva. Paśupati Mahādeva, the Lord of the animals and humans. That is a symbol of the Śiva Liṅga in the Mūlādhāra Cakra. And there, where Śiva, where the consciousness is, there is also energy, the Śakti. And this one is coiled three and a half times, going downwards. Now, what we need is that this unfoldment of the energy moves upwards. Again, not physically. This is a methodological picture only. In reality, maybe you will see the difference. This is the border between the human and animal consciousness. And thereby, I told you the day before yesterday, I think in Mūlādhāra, there is an elephant with seven trunks. This is again a mythological picture, and that means that seven minerals, śabda dhātu, śabda bhūmikā, this is which brings us to seven upper lokas, fourteen different worlds, seven below and seven above. And these all are balanced and governed by Bhagavān Śiva. Shiva means consciousness, Shiva means liberation, and where there is Shiva, there is energy. But this energy has to be activated. The consciousness is ever there. And so, the first mastery is to overcome fear. There is one very good technique, which we spoke about the last two days, to know the changes of consciousness from jāgrat to suṣupti, from awakened to sleep. At which minute or second was your consciousness transferred from awakened to sleep? Not easy work, but Yoga Nidrā can make us. Now, the second: how did you separate your consciousness from sleep to dream, and in the morning remember the dream? Many people said, "Oh, I didn’t sleep, or I dreamt, or I don’t know." Hardly is there any sleep where there is no dream. But you were so deep, relaxed, so you can’t remember. Now, the first technique to master the dream means to master fear. When you dream, you should know that I am dreaming. Morning, you can tell that I had this and this dream. Second, during a dream, you should know my body is sleeping here at my home. But in the dream, I am in the park. So I am only dreaming; I am in the park. Another, third level: during the dream, open your eyes and close the eyes, and continue your dream. That’s a little more difficult. Does that make sense, okay? You open your eyes and close them. The dream will continue. Yes, you will see. But the difficulty is to open the eyes at that time. As soon as you open your eyes, again your astral body is in the physical body. The fifth or the next step of this is that while dreaming, you know you are dreaming. You wake up, go to the bathroom, come back, and dream again. Same dream. Try. It’s a beautiful experience. Yes, it will uplift your consciousness to higher levels after a few days, months, or years, depending on the individual. Now you dream, you wake up, take your clothes, your dress, and get up and go out of your house, around the house block, come and sleep, and continue the dream. There I had one very good experience or feedback. It was in ’76, one lady at that time in Czechoslovakia, a beautiful city called Ostrava—no, sorry, Olomouc. And she told me this story: "Swamiji, I was practicing about your lecture on the dream." And she was dreaming. The first evening, she noticed that one of the buttons of her coat was missing. And in the dream, she saw the button is somewhere in the park. It is near one wooden bench where she was sitting. She got up, went there, she found a button. Midnight, about 2 o’clock or 1 o’clock, she came home, and she put the button on her coat, and she slept. And morning, she wanted to know if it was reality or not. Yes, the button was on the coat. The next step is this: that evening, you make your saṅkalpa, saṅkalpa śakti, your regulation. That evening, "I will dream tonight the same dream I had yesterday." Now it means you become the master of your dreams. You can call things how you like to do it. The master of the dreams, any time. So the final level is that you unite your sleep, dream, and conscious. Jagrat, Suṣupti, and Svapna Avasthā, then you come to the Turīya Avasthā. Turīya, the three levels of consciousness, and this Turīya is Jagrat, Suṣupti, and Svapna: past, present, and future. That’s called Trikāla Darśī. Trikāla, kāla means time, Darśī means knower or one who can see. The past life begins, then knowledge begins to open in your consciousness from the past life. Otherwise, it is not easy. Ko’ham? Katham idaṁ jātam? Who am I? From where did I come? And where am I going? Past, present, and future. That is called Trikāl Darśī, Turīyāvasthā. And Turīyāvasthā begins when we cross the border between the human and the divine consciousness. The divine consciousness between human and divine or goddess is our Ājñā Cakra, from the bottom beginning of the spinal column till the end of the spinal column, or what they call the small of the brain here. Ājñā cakra is actually located here, not here. But the reflection is there because here is our inner visions, and that’s called cidākāśa. Cidākāśa. Citākāśa. Chetanā. Our cidākāśa. We will talk tomorrow about Ākāśa, Cidākāśa. So let’s come to understand first, theoretically. Then we will put it slowly into practice. And then one day you will see, my Kuṇḍalinī is already awakened. But those who think and tell you that Kuṇḍalinī is awakening something, you feel that along the spinal column some ends are crawling—then, there can be two things. Either you have something with the nervous system, or you didn’t change your dress for a few days, so change your dress. Some said, "Oh, it’s something falling like a waterfall within the spinal column." That’s better. You go to the doctor and check it. These are anubhava, that who can see the tattvas. Before five days, we spoke about. Nāḍī-śodhana and the function of the iḍā-piṅgalā, that you can see the color of your breath, your prāṇa. Śāmbhavī mudrā, through the Śāmbhavī mudrā in yoga, and Śāmbhavī mudrā means Śambhu, and Śambhu means Śiva. Śambhu means Swayambhu. No one gave him birth. He himself manifests in this Anant, Anantaha in the universe. Dark blue light, Śūnyakāśa. From that Śūnyakāśa, the consciousness is awakening through Nāda, Rūpa, Parabrahma. Jyotir Bindu, that is a Jyotir Bindu there. And so our beloved Satguru Dev, Swami Madhavānandajī said, about Bhagavān Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī. This experience can only come if the disciple has that practice, faith, and realization of the Gurudev. First, you have to realize thyself; it means thy devotion. Devotion. Gurujī used to say, "May the mighty Himālaya begin to shake, but a bhakta’s faith should never shake." That’s it. Therefore, then it is said: "Chand tale, Sūraj tale, Mahāpuruṣa kā bachan kabhī nahīṁ tale." It is said, the moon and sun may change their direction, but the words of the saints, the sādhus, will not change. It will come sooner or later, true. I heard the old story of the king of Nepal, from very past times some centuries ago, that some other king attacked the Nepal kingdom. So the enemy had more power, more soldiers, but the Nepal king had his Gurudev, it’s called Nātha, maybe Goraknāth or something, Goraknāth Gadi or something. So the king went to the Gurudev. In ancient times, actually it was the saints or the ṛṣis who were advising, guiding, and governing everything. What we call today politics, Rājanīti. This Rājanīti is created by ṛṣis. That’s called nīti, ethic, the nīti. They made these rules for human society to be protected, to live together in harmony, and to lead the spiritual life. The ṛṣis made this nīti and gave it to some person who was more capable to understand, and gave the title of the king, rājā. So the ṛṣi gave the nīti to the rājā, which became rājanīti. That’s rājanīti. And Rājanīti is not bad. Ātma Kathā, the book of Mahātmā Gandhījī, in the last chapter he is writing, if one thinks that religion or dharma and Rājanīti cannot go together, it means the person doesn’t know what is religion or doesn’t know what is politics. Without dharma, politics cannot be successful. And without politics, you can also not be successful in this, because there will be many, many vikṣepas. Well, the king went to Gurudev and said, "Gurudev, I have this and this problem, this situation. I will lose my kingdom." His Gurujī said, "Take my, this wooden sandal and put it on your chair, the throne of the king." He said, "Gurudev, not only on my chair, I will put it on my head." So he took it and put it on his head. Gurudev said, "As long as this is on your head, your kingdom will be safe." So it is said that the king had a very beautiful symbol of the Gurudev’s sandals. But in the last king’s dynasties, they said, "Well, it doesn’t look nice. It is a modern time, and this and that," and the shoes on the head they removed. They removed it, and that was very clearly the kingdom being removed. So, how far is this? Some old Mahatma was telling his experiences, or he read somewhere, I don’t know, like that. So, Guru Vachan, Guru Vakya, immortal hai. Therefore, it is said in one bhajan, Mahāprabhujī said, "Bhagavān Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, and our dear sister Hemavatī will sing now. Vachan valā lagesā mehī jāṇū, vachan pyārā lagesā. I only know, I only know, where else can I go? I only know, I only know how to save my beloved. I only know, Jagā mithyā sapane kī māyā, Jagā mithyā sapane kī māyā, Morā kaisāṁ varamā bulāyā, Morā kaisāṁ varamā bulāyā." God bless you. Pya sa mehi janu Nara nariyo nara kajulana. Nara nariyo nara kajulana. Sachi baata bachana wala lagesa mehi jano. Bachana pyaare sa mehi jano. Māyā hī jā bhajan pyāsā, hī jā āchānā pyāsā, māyā jhāṇū bhajan chorā kohveṇī tīrāṇo, bhajan chorā kohveṇī tīrāṇo. Lakha yuga vachana vachana pyaara saame jhanu anasa jhanu vachana pyaara saame. Sata-guru-saya-badeva-purishya para-brahma-purushottama-ishya Svāmī diyā kahe, vachana vāvsa, vachana pyārā samijā, mehī jā, vachana vāvsa, vachana pyārā samijā. All the best, and see you tomorrow again.