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Part 1: The Foundation of Practice: Preparation, Pūjā, and Progression Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam... Haṁsa Badas Prabhu Śaraṇ Parāyaṇam, Haṁsa Śaraṇ Parāyaṇam, Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam, Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam, Haṁsabhādas Prabhu Śaraṇ Parāyaṇam... Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇ. Haṁsabhādas Prabhu Śaraṇ Parāyaṇam... Namas Parāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam. Namaḥ Śrī Prabodhi Paṇārāyaṇam. Blessed self, dear spiritual seekers, sisters and brothers. Good evening and welcome to our satsaṅg. The subject is "Hidden Powers in Humans, Chakras and Kuṇḍalinī." Today I received some questions by phone from a far country, I think it was Mexico. They asked, "How to begin the practice and sādhanās? What to do?" That was a very good question. If you are born in India, Nepal, or somewhere with a population of Indian origin, it is easier. Thank you for asking. It is very interesting, and for every bhakta or practitioner, there is a preparation. There is a preparation for everything. Let us take a very simple example. You ask your mother, "Mother, I am hungry. Will you cook something?" That is enough for her. She knows what to do. She knows what she will cook; she knows your taste, which vegetables you like—rice, chapatis, roti, bread, and so on. She knows what to do. She will go to the kitchen, wash her hands, clean the kitchen, and see which vegetables and parts are there. This is a preparation. But there are some persons who do not know at all how to cook. They have no knowledge about the kitchen: where the cooking pot is, where the vegetables are, which spices should be used, and so on. Thank you for asking. Patañjali ṛṣi said in the very beginning of his Yoga Sūtra, "Atha yoga anuśāsanam." Everything, and especially your yoga practice, begins with anuśāsanam. "Atha" means now—not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow, just now, begin. "Anuśāsanam" means the discipline. Now, for new practitioners, or those who have never had these kinds of experiences, I think what I am telling you is very useful. It begins in the morning when you get up. First, what you should do is go to the bathroom, to the toilet, and finish. Then you come to your room, or if you have space enough, you come to your practicing room, sitting room, balcony, or terrace. It depends on the climate. Everywhere in the world does not have the same climate. So, according to the temperature and climate, you choose a clean, peaceful place. Many who are coming to the spiritual path have their mentor, their idol. We call it Iṣṭa Devatā, whom we spiritually adore. It does not matter which belief you have, which God you believe in, which Satguru you believe in, which Devī or Devtā you believe in; all is very good. We need one symbol, or we need one object, to which we can dedicate our love. It is not that someone will love me. We are all searching for someone whom we can love, someone who will never refuse, who will never disappoint, who will never be angry, and who will always accept my devotion. Love means my devotion. Some people have only a statue. A statue will not answer you, but it is you who will speak through the statue. It is you who will decorate it, you will give the flowers and fruits. It is good to have an agarbatī, incense, which smells good. So you light incense, agarbatī, put it there, some fresh flowers if you have, some fruits. This is called mānasik pūjā. There are different kinds of pūjās, but the mānasik pūjā is very, very powerful. Through the mānasik pūjā, our antahkaraṇa—which I have spoken of many times: manas, buddhi, chitta, ahaṅkāra—will be purified. Those sins will be deleted or removed which are active in three ways. Tapa means the fire. Here, fire means troubles, and that is called Ādhibhautik, Ādidaivik, Ādhyātmik: the physical, different problems, what we call the impersonal problems, illnesses, or from some invisible creatures, souls, or spirits, whatever you call it. Through Mānasik Pūjā, you can purify that. Now, Pūjā—many Indians know, many people who are yoga practicing know, and many do not know. In many, many countries, yoga is taken as a sport. You run, you go, take your yoga mat, do the exercises, and go. There are no lessons about eating, no lessons about way of life, and so on. Just practice postures, breathing, relaxation, and off you go. Pooja is that love. Pooja is that feeling. Pooja is that devotion. Pooja is that pure, pure feeling from the heart. You offer as a flower of your devotion. It is not important that you have a flower. Many people are against flowers. Many have allergies. Many cannot bring fresh flowers every day. So, Prem Kā Puṣpa. Prem Kā Puṣpa means the flower of love, the flower of dedication that you surrender. It is not a flower, but you have feelings that are accepted, and you receive back blessings. In which way? Contentment. You did it. Through this, you create in the whole room, terrace, or house a positive vibration. Secondly, there are prayers in different languages, for different goddesses, with different words and different kinds of prayers. Prayer is prayer; it does not matter in which language you tell it. Love is love; it does not matter in which language you tell it. Jnana is jnana, the knowledge; it does not matter in which language you tell it. Respect is respect; it does not matter in which language you tell it. So even if we cannot sing properly, cannot pronounce some words properly, or cannot sing with a good melody, it does not matter. When a small child first begins to speak, maybe that child cannot pronounce "father," "mother," or "brother" properly. Whatever the child says, we are so happy. "Now begin to speak." So it does not matter with which feelings you surrender your love to God; God is happy. That God which you choose has a link to the Supreme, and that Supreme connection is to that one which you have chosen, and that one is within you. Now the signal to activate that is within thyself and the Supreme One. That is like a station, a receiver, a transformer, a screen. The projector, the film, is somewhere. We are looking only at the pictures on the screen. You cannot do anything with that, but everyone is looking. "Oh, how beautiful." Even your own picture, when you see the slides, you say, "Oh, I look beautiful, it is nice." Now you have forgotten yourself here, your body, and you are admiring your photo. The same feeling we have to have toward our guide, our mental guide, to whom we can always turn, even if it is only a stone. In every country there are holy stones. In many, many places you will see, "This is a holy stone, this is a holy cave, or a water fountain, holy water." From where does the holiness come? In the past, definitely some holy person has touched that place and made it holy. All around the whole world, when you go on pilgrimages, any place you see, there was some holy saint who lived there, or some miracles happened, and we all adore that. When you go there—in the mountains, maybe high up in the Himalaya, in the Annapurna—it is not easy to go. It takes a few days; you walk, stay overnight in a tent, it is cold, no hot shower, no comfortable bed, no heater. But you have feelings to go there. Constantly in your mind, you are thinking, "I want to go to that holy place." While thinking, that energy, that beauty, that aura we call ābhā, is developing in us. Each step we go up in the mountain, we are thinking, we are aware why we are going. When we reach that place, there is no difference between that holy place and yourself. You become that. You become that. In many, we make a pradakṣiṇā because the radiance, the ābhā of that place is there, and we are swimming in that. Yes, the touch of that stone which has been touched or placed by some holy soul. It does not matter, ladies or men or women; there is no duality. It is the biggest ignorance and discrimination to think that women cannot realize. That is not true. Spirituality is not tied to the physical body. So when you come there... For example, I have in my hand here a magnet, and there is another piece of iron, a needle. This magnet, if I touch somewhere, it will remain stuck or attract, but the needle will not. This needle is only a piece of iron. But as soon as I bring this needle closer, some centimeters closer to this magnet, it attracts, it pulls. Now the whole needle has become magnetized. Now we take a second needle and touch it to this needle; that is also getting the magnet, like a chain work. That is pūjā, mānasik pūjā. But the principle or the rule is this: you should not change. When you change your feelings here and there, then you are nowhere. You think you love, but you do not love. Once you find that, there is nothing which can change anything. Easy to kneel down, but hard to surrender the heart. So, this is that you come in. This means your pūjā can be one minute only. It can be five minutes. Or you open the windows, take the fresh air, and look at the beautiful nature and birds. And now you repeat your mantra, if you have a mantra. My dear ones, if you do not have mantras, you can repeat if you want. This is: Oṁ Prabhudeep Nirañjan Śabdūk Bhañjan. "Prabhu" is that who came from Brahmaloka to Bhūma and is here, divine incarnation. "Deep" is that light, pure cosmic light. "O Lord, remove all my troubles." Śabdūk Bhañjan. Oṁ Prabhudeep Nirañjan Śabdūk Bhañjan. Or Śiva Bhakta. Many are Śiva Bhaktas. You can repeat this mantra: Oṁ Śrī Deveśvara Mahādevāya Namaḥ. Oṁ Śrī Deveśvara Mahādevāya Namaḥ.... Some people advise only Oṁ, Oṁ, Oṁ. Yes, Oṁ is everything. But still, in front of the Aum, you need something, or after the Aum, you need something. Just you call God, and God comes and says, "Yes, please," and you do not know. So after the Aum, we have to say Aum Shoham. That is also a good mantra. So best is... Aum Śrī Deveśvara Mahādevāya Namaḥ. Aum Prabhudeep Nirañjan Śabdūk Bhañjan. Aum is a beginning, Aum is the middle, and Aum is forever. Past, present, and future, everlasting, always—that is Oṁ. After that, you take your yoga mat and do your postures. There are three kinds of exercises: body warming, stretching, and postures, or āsanas. This should also always include contrary postures for the prāṇamaya kośa. During the āsana practices, before which you have purified your body, cleaned, made the mānasik pūjā, you are still doing. So when you practice āsanas, that is called a cosmic dance. You feel yourself in Brahmaloka, in Śivaloka. There is no competition in yoga and no challenges. Yoga is yoga, that is all. Then we call this yoga, that yoga, but yoga is yoga. God is God. Then we say Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Śiva, Viṣṇu, and so on. During the practice of your āsanas, all the gland systems, nerve systems, muscles, ligaments, and everything begin to work in the proper way, and now the prāṇamaya kośa begins to improve. At that time we do the prāṇāyāma. After prāṇāyāma, we go to our manomaya kośa concentration. When in the manomaya kośa many vṛttis are coming, thoughts, then ask yourself. There is a question in the self-enquiry meditation of "Yoga and Death." You can order the cassette if you want from yoganddeallife.org. For example, one question is there that you ask. You ask yourself: "What did I think? Why did I think? What should I think? What am I thinking?" This is the way slowly, slowly the citta-vṛtti-nirodha begins. At that time, we are entering from our manomaya kośa into the vijñānamaya kośa. So: annamaya kośa, prāṇamaya kośa. Annamaya kośa through āsanas; prāṇamaya kośa through prāṇāyāma; manomaya kośa through concentration—"What I am thinking, what did I think, why I think, why should I think." To get the correct answer, we come to the vijñānamaya kośa, our intellect. Then we say, "Should I think now this during my beautiful exercises and peaceful hour and divine? No, I do not want to have all these worldly tensions. This time, I want to, would like to be one with myself." Then, "What should I do now?" That comes then to our kāraṇa śarīra, ānandamaya kośa, and this is how you prepare yourself for exercise. This is how we begin. Now, for the chakras, before you begin to do, you should read. There are many, many beautiful books written by very great yogīs, personalities, philosophers—books about yoga and kuṇḍalinī and chakras. One of the books you can see is this: Hidden Powers in Humans, the Chakras and Kuṇḍalinī. It is very simple, very detailed, very practical, guided. This book you should have in your library, room, or practicing room. Also, do not think that I am advertising, but you will ask where we can buy this book. Secondly, the Yoga and Daily Life book, the Āsana book, is a handbook for the teachers and a guidebook for the practitioners. That book can guide you like your guru is guiding. But again I tell you, you have to search for a living master. You have to come to the master. In the world, there are many, many, many. It must not be that you come to me. I wish you all the best, and I have all my good wishes and divine blessings that you find a good spiritual master. Guru is guru. That is all. "Guru" means darkness, "ru" means light, which leads us from the darkness to the light. After that, we have to learn the language. Now, here language means not the language Sanskrit, Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, and so on. There are many, many languages, no. Part 2: The Language of Yoga and the Four Pillars of Practice You have to learn the language of yoga. This language is one of humility and great kindness; it is the language of love, prema, the flower of love, prema-puṣpa. Often, we are filled with doubts and cannot offer this prema-puṣpa. There is a bhajan that Gurujī once recorded for me. I have been searching for that cassette for years and have not found it, but I will find it somewhere. I believe it is from one of the great personalities of India who has inspired millions: Āśram Bāpū. His compositions are very beautiful. In one of his bhajan collections, a devotee sings: Phool jo chādhane ko āyā, wo phool na dūṇḍan payā. "O Lord, I came to offer you a flower, but I could not find that flower." Wo pushpa nahī milā mujhe. "I searched the entire world—on riverbanks, beaches, fields, and forests. That flower I wish to offer you, Lord, I have still not found." Why could you not find it? Because you have not yet found your own confidence. You try to give, but you hold back a little. This flower symbolizes your own dedication to yourself, to your Ātmā, which your Ātmā then offers to your path. Maharishi Patañjali writes that a sādhaka, a practitioner, must have devotion to their techniques and exercises, just as one has devotion to God. Though the techniques are merely tools, even the best surgeon cannot operate without them. Similarly, humans may be the best surgeons of their own lives, but without proper guidance and exercises, they cannot proceed. It does not matter from what metal the tool is made, how it looks, or where it is stored; the surgeon only cares that the instruments are accurate and clean. So it is with our yoga practices: they are concentrated, carefully designed, and thoughtful. They are for everyone, and everyone can practice. This is how you begin. Yesterday, I mentioned three things essential for a yoga practitioner, a spiritual seeker, or anyone searching for peace in the heart, mind, life, or family. Actually, there are four: āhār, vihār, ācār, and vicār. Nārāyaṇa added one more point, making it four. First, āhāra: what we eat. It is not just about eating, but about the source of our food. Whether we eat vegetables, rice, fruit, milk, or anything else, we must consider: is there any pain embedded in this food? Did we take it from someone unjustly? Even sāttvik food can sometimes be negative for us if we do not know its origin. Therefore, in almost every religion and belief, there are prayers before eating. Indian mothers begin their prayers before they start to cook. The food cooked by a mother, no one else in the world can cook for you. The love a mother puts into the food is present even if she is angry. As the Upaniṣads say: "Mātā bhavati na kumātā." A mother can never be a bad mother, except in cases of mental illness. Lekin vah kuputra ho saktā hai, mātā nahīṁ ho saktī hai. Children can be bad, but a mother cannot. So, who cooks for you? For whom are you cooking? Do not cook as an obligation or a mere duty. Put your devotion, love, and prayers into cooking. Have spiritual songs and thoughts. This will influence your health very positively, and negative vibrations from the food will disappear. Finally, before eating, every religion and culture has prayers. We pray with thanks to Mother Annapūrṇā, a form of Pārvatī with Lord Śiva in the holy Himalayas. Why is the Himalaya divine? There are many peaks, but it is sacred. Some philosophers say, "We eat to live; we do not live to eat." Therefore, alpāhāra—eating little—is advised. But it is not easy to practice. We say, "Eat little," but after washing our hands, we might go to the kitchen for an apple or a banana, thinking we should eat more. Second, vihār: where to go and where not to go. We must consider both deśa (place) and kāla (time and situation). Tulsīdāsa said: do not go where there is no welcome or respect for you. He said, even if gold is raining, do not go there. Aav hain, aadar hain, aur hain nainan mein nahin. There is welcome, there is respect, but there is no love in the eyes. When you visit someone, you can see how people look at you. Āv, ādar aur prem—welcome, respect, and love. Aav hain, aadar hain, aur hain nainan mein nahin. Tulsi taha jaiye chai pathar varse mein. Tulsīdāsa said, "Go where there is welcome, respect, and love, even if stones are raining." Third, ācār: behavior. How you are to me, I will be to you. That is simple. A great saint said centuries ago, and it is also in the Bible: do not do to others what you do not want done to you. This is ācār—our conduct. Fourth, vicāra: thinking, positive thinking. Humans have a tendency to quickly think negatively. If I wear an orange dress of one color, and suddenly there is a white or black spot on it, you will not see the beautiful dress; your eyes will go straight to the spot. Or, a person like me with a big beard eats spaghetti, and a strand hangs from my beard. You look at my face and beard, but your eyes are drawn to that strand, and you cannot bear it until you tell me. So, a person first thinks negatively. A yogī's work is to turn the negative into the positive. Wherever there is a human, there is yoga, and wherever there is yoga, there is a human. All yoga teachers and yogīs are very good people with positive thinking. They have great love for our health and well-being and give instructions for leading a positive, simple, and good life. Thus, āhār, vihār, ācār, and vicār are very important for a yogī. Consider where one should go. If you walk at 2:30 or 3:00 AM and encounter drunk people or get attacked, it is not their mistake but yours. Why were you out at that hour? That is the time to be in your room, in the dream loka. Be mindful of when and where to go. Also, drink sāttvic liquids like water, milk, or juice. When you return home, first go to your prayer room, meditation room, altar, or practice space. See how beautiful everything is. Wash yourself, wash your hands, sit down, and meditate. A yogī, a positive person, sits and performs mānasik pūjā: with folded hands, pray, "My Lord, O Prabhu, through my body, words, mind, social position, and senses (indriyas), whatever I have done, good or bad, forgive me if it was bad. I surrender all my deeds at your holy lotus feet. Lord, give me the blessing I deserve, and thank you for your divine protection that brought me home safely and happily." This is the daily routine for a yogī who wishes to achieve something. Then we come to meditation and higher techniques. Every master or guru provides direction. We spoke of two types: Lakṣāratī and Vācāratī. Vācaratī is one who only reads books and speaks from them. Lakṣartīs are those who speak from experience. Every master gives direction to their students. You might ask, "Swāmījī, you speak of Kuṇḍalinī in a certain way, but another Gurujī speaks a little differently, and others differently still. Who is right?" All are right. I am right, he is right, and the other is right too. Consider someone traveling to Pokhara: one comes from Kathmandu, another from the Tibetan side, another from the Indian border. Each sees different landscapes, hills, and rivers, and has different experiences, but all paths lead to Pokhara. Similarly, every master has different experiences gained through practice. There are certain things you cannot explain at all. Take ghee, not butter. When you melt butter, the pure essence that remains is ghee. You may eat ghee daily, but you cannot express its exact taste. You can say it smells nice, is refreshing and tasty, but what is the taste of ghee? It is indescribable. Similarly, there are individual experiences in Kuṇḍalinī practice. Yoga is individual. Learning yoga from books or television is good for information and motivation; it inspires us to practice. But ultimately, you need a guide, a teacher, an experienced one. This is why Sanātana Dharma, Hindu Dharma, is known as a living Dharma. What does "living Dharma" mean? It means the tradition, the system of guru and disciple, continues from the Satya Loka until now and will continue. Especially in this modern, technological, and civilized world, we cannot function for half a second without a guru. In every field and profession, you have experts with diplomas. That diploma must bear the stamp of a university, college, or teacher—your guru. Even after studying medicine, you must learn from a surgeon in the operating theater. Even learning to ride a bicycle requires a teacher. In many countries, handling electrical cables is strictly controlled; without a certificate, you cannot touch or install wires. Everything passes from master to disciple. This is Sanātana Dharma; this is the guru. It is a living religion, and we all need this living guidance. When you are ill, you go to a doctor. The doctor becomes your guru, treating your disease and granting mokṣa from it. Mokṣa Mūlam Guru Kṛpā. Doctor Sāhab kī kṛpā honī chāhiye. How nicely we address the doctor, "Please, doctor," "Dear doctor," with humility, placing all confidence in them. The doctor says they cannot treat you alone; you must help by following instructions and discipline. So, my dear ones, this is a brief glimpse into the preparation: how to begin yoga practice, how to begin with your Kuṇḍalinī. I hope that in one or two webcasts, we will have a meditation session. We will lead meditation through the webcast, and you can all enjoy it. I wish you all the best. If you have questions, please write to our webcast message, and I will answer. For today, that is enough. I wish you great success. I give you a choice: it is not necessary to have an Indian, Nepali, Chinese, or Japanese guru. No dualities. The line of duality exists only in people's minds. The guru should be sāttvic. That is all. Ahiṃsā paramo dharma. Non-violence is the highest principle—physical, mental, intellectual, and emotional. We need that discipline. Therefore, it is said: Gurur Brahmā, Gurur Viṣṇu, Gurur Devo Maheśvara, Gurur Sākṣāt Param Brahma, Tasmai Śrī Guruve Namaḥ. Dhyāna mūlaṁ gurur mūrtiṁ, Pūjā mūlaṁ gurur padam, Mantra mūlaṁ gurur vākyaṁ, Mokṣa mūlaṁ gurur kṛpā. Oṁ, na’haṁ kartā, prabhudeep kartā, mahā prabhudeep kartā, hi kevalam. Oṁ śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. Śrī Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī, Deveśvara Mahādeva kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandjī Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī. Dear sisters and brothers, tomorrow I will speak a little more about Mānasik Pūjā. Many wish to know how to perform it when life situations offer no opportunity for a temple, altar, or separate room. Tomorrow we will discuss this and something about meditation. Naturally, we will also continue with Kuṇḍalinī. For the last eight days, I have had Yoga Nidrā in hand but have not completed translating it. To understand bhajans, we must learn their language—the symbols, what they mean, and when to use them. This is very important. A simple example: there is rock salt, red salt, Himalayan salt, called sendhā salt. In Sanskrit, a horse is also called sendhā. If, during a meal, you ask someone to bring the senda and they bring a horse, they did not understand. Or if, when going somewhere, you ask for the senda and they bring salt, they misunderstood. We must know how to use words correctly in context. That is very important—the logic of words. Thank you all. All the best, and God bless you. Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Wa-niki.