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Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Amṛtsāgar Yoga and Daily Life Center in Oakland, California. It’s a beautiful name and a beautiful day. According to the authors, the first teacher of yogic postures is God Śiva. Shiva gave the science, the science teachers, the love teachers. In this creation, on this planet, 3.4 million species are divided into three categories: Jalachara, Thalachara, and Nabhachara. Jalachara are creatures in water. Thalachara are creatures of earth. Nābhachara—Nābha is Ākāśa—means the creatures who are born, live, and die in space. Life is very cruel. Mahāprabhujī kī Karatā... They also created one system. It comes from Vedic religion, philosophy, Sanātana Dharma, and that’s called, what we call now, Nāvya. Similarly, they created mantras for protection and peace. Mantra from Vedas: peace in the water, peace on the earth, peace in the space, peace in the herbs, peace in the nature, peace in the space, peace in the God, in the Brahman, the Supreme, and peace within. Mudrās means certain postures. These postures awaken certain energies in the body, influencing the chakras, the energy centers. It is said that 8.4 million makes one cycle, light again, then the door is... this earth is connected with death, with the pain. Satyam Satyam... But Venus, who is living, is not human. That’s observing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a human. So, there are 8.4 million different creatures through which the soul is going. We are blessed by the one who gave us this beautiful soul. The soul may be in a tiny creature or in a human. It’s not a quantity, it’s a quality. One thing: elephants have a big soul. They have something like this, and ants have a big soul. Fire is fire. Fire is. Out of these 8.4 million teachers, the classical main yoga postures are 84. They represent those teachers who realize and awaken the human qualities and potential which are within the human. Awake postures, which are imitations from nature, like the cat pose. Why did the cat pose? It was sitting for a long time. Cobra, generally, cobra doesn’t go like that. Kobra is angry, and that reflects energy on his Mūlādhāra Chakra. When you are angry, nervous, frightened, or scared, the Mūlādhāra Chakra is energy. Postures are taken from trees, from grass, from the flowers, from the bull, from the fish, from many, many things. So there are two kinds of thinking. First is to learn how to manage our health according to this. Second, it is said that when you practice this, this posture is performed. In the next life, you will not go to the snake or cat. So there are many theories. So after God Śiva, the many great saints or the ṛṣis, as I mentioned yesterday in the lecture, that there are more than different techniques: Śiva Saṁhitā, Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā, Patañjali’s, and many others. And those are authentic literature. Now, yoga slowly, slowly became more of a physiotherapy. Develop some kind of postures. Part of yoga we lost. He said when the snake comes, the people take bamboo to kill the snake or beat it. But the snake is gone. Now people are beating only that trap of the snake, how he went. So, real yoga is very little to be found. Many people are creating what they like, kind of yoga—this yoga, that yoga. It is not a yoga. So it means it became commercial or just became a fashion, and they have no idea. So every posture has an effect. So we have here one series of exercises called Khāṭū. This I give the name. Khatu is a holy place where Bhagavān Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī, our Grand Master, lived 135 years. And Praṇām means salutation, like a salutation to the sun, Sūrya Namaskār, Guru Praṇām. So, there are many different people creating many praṇāms now. So this Khaṭṭū Praṇām, the postures are taken from all the postures which are in this book of Indian Yoga. They put it together and very close to this book, which has hidden powers. This book, what you read and what you would like to gain benefit from, many things are put into practice in this book. You have practice and theory, both, both theories. And from the Hidden Powers in Humans book, the theory is put into practice. In this book, yoga is there in a harmony for the body. So this book is not only a yoga book, but it is a book for the teachers, a handbook for the teachers. Mahāprabhujī kī Karatā... The name Vajra. Vajra means very strong. You will say, "Oh, the iron man, the iron lady," okay? So strong, the strength. In the body, in yogic anatomy, there are 72,000 nerves, very fine. Each branch of the nerve is counted. Where the branch comes out, their energy changes, and their function changes. Imagine the letter Y. Mahāprabhujīp Karatā... Nāḍī, Nāḍī means nerve, and that is located between... it begins from between the big toe and the second toe. You wear the shoes, the sandals, when you step like this in, there touches this middle part between the big toe and the second toe, and there is this point, what we call the energy point. Acupuncture, electric acupuncture, you find the needle on the right point, then on the monitor the needle is moving. If you don’t find it, it will not be. So, that’s called the reflex zone. That is a zone of that energy, that field of that energy, which belongs to certain functions: health, body, mind, spirituality. Vajra means the strong, to make your entire being the strong willpower, the strong decisions, clear thinking, the strong good health, and many things. So this is why the Vajrāsana is put here. There is one very practical thing you may know, or you may have been doing also. The people who are running in the morning, what you call jogging. From yoga comes jogging. The word is taken from yoga. Oh, he is doing it. That’s it. So when they run to the park and they feel tired, what happens? One comes to one. You put one hand on the trunk of the tree. With the other hand, you bend your knee and you hold your foot and you pull a little bit so that your shin muscles are stretched. These shin muscles are connected to the Vajranāḍī and to our body to release the stress, and you feel relaxed. After a long walk, when you sit in Vajrāsana, you will feel relaxed and it will be a great help. So, this is very, very good also for the swimmers and for learning what you call ballet. Come to, if you feel discomfort, you change your posture. Please don’t suffer. Make yourself comfortable. Then, in our foot soles, there are a lot of chakras, energy centers, and these muscles which also get exercised and you stretch them. Now, what happens when we stretch? The blood goes away. After, when we relax, it becomes all red. With more stretch, you see the white point. So, this is where the blood flow comes, a lot of energy. It removes the dead cells of the body and gives. The new energy, same like this, when we rub the hand, rub your palms, it becomes hot. Purījī... With the left hand and right hand, the hand is more relaxed and lighter. This is still sleepy, so let’s see in the awake also. Now you see more carefully: this is the energy, the cakras, removing the tiredness that develops in the body. Our immunity system will develop. If you do this, your immunity will be very strong. It means that automatically you will have little energy attacks. And especially now, in this kind of pollution. Now, we come further, only that our shin muscles and hamstrings are stretched, also the thigh muscles. But if you have had an operation or a difficulty with your ankle joints, and a ligament is broken, then please don’t do it, because you can harm your meniscus. In certain cases, we should not. Kamṛti Siddhi, here, so you come a little to the front, Kamṛti, and look at me, a little bit. See Siddhi, automatically her body is straight, and when her body is straight, then the stomach is complete. Then you will see the stomach is a little bigger, because this is the only one posture which one can practice, and one should practice five minutes at least. It is said that five minutes sitting in Vajrāsana after your meal replaces it like meditation. You are sitting, then your spine is straight. That’s why the entire time is intense. Second, automatically, your shoulders are dropped. It means the tension from the shoulder muscles. Those are not relaxed, then the tension is here. Some people make it like this, that’s very wrong, only for the picture. This is very important. People who are working on the computer all the time with the mouse, previously you had tennis elbow, now you have mouse elbow. Always you are going like this, like this, all the time. So you have pain here, you have pain here, tension here. It’s one-sided, again one-sided. So, who is working on the computer with the mouse? It’s a one-sided problem. A tennis player has a one-sided problem. A dentist has a one-sided problem. The doctor, the surgeon, has one-sided problems. The driver has one-sided problems. Many people have such a profession where they have one-sided problems. For them, yoga and life, the shoulder is relaxed, the nose is automatically relaxed, the center is relaxed, the eyelids are relaxed. The face must have capacity. Vajrāsana, one posture. So many good qualities affect our body. So, this is first what we begin with the second. Please sit in Vajrāsana, those who are not sitting. First, just begin with inhalation. Now, slowly from the front side, stretch first in the front like this. Observe if your hands are going like this or like this. That is a training for our hemisphere, if both are coordinated. So now, try to go to the same level up. You feel yourself in your shoulder muscles and side muscles. Turn the palms toward each other. Slowly fold your palms and look a little, slightly up. Now, yourself, check which muscles are affected by this, both straight. Muscles are straight. Muscles which are going parallel to the spinal cord. They are stretched nicely. Keep your body straight. Arms facing in front. While exhaling, bring your hands to your knees. Feel when you are in this posture. Little look up, then your psoas muscle is pulled. It means it opens the sinuses. If you have sinus problems, the nose is blocked, and this. Also, the thyroid gland. Those who have problems with thyroid disharmony in the thyroid function. This is a very good balance for the thyroid and the heart. Especially, it is very, very good when women are coming of age, as they then have heart. This posture, Ghaṭopanāma, from the Vajrāsana, beginning till the second posture, and then we’ll come to the third, fourth, and fifth. They are all concentrated, especially on the hormones, glands, and pancreas, with the glands coming out. Inhaling, stretch, facing each other, fingers together, and palms come together. Look to the ceiling. Normal breath. Concentrate on your breath. Your nostrils are very clean, open. Freely, breath goes. Again, open the palms. While exhaling, bend forward, slowly, slowly, and drop your palms. If it’s difficult, you may put your... Eyes, put your knees apart, separated, a little bit knees apart, chest rest, one, stretching your back muscles, which in the second, in postures, you were giving pressure on your back muscles, and the front muscles were stretched. Front muscles are relaxed and pressed together, and back muscles are stretched. Now, both influence your thyroid gland. Close motion is also very good for people who have mental problems, depression, or anxiety. This all is because of the lack of circulation towards the head. These postures have been practiced and researched; they are very, very good for the physical and mental. It’s not important that you have to practice or perform 20 or 30 postures, no. May one or two is enough, very correctly and slowly. Come to the second posture and fold your arms, remaining there. And open the palms and hands and the knees. The vegetarian diet is the best one because strength is not physical. Strength is mental. Energy is not physical; it is subtle. And so vegetarians have concentration, mental and physical energy that is very strong. This is Arman Purī. He’s a bodybuilder from Croatia. He’s now from Slovenia, Slovakia. Many. Vegetarian is the best. All the best students in the USA are vegetarians. When examination comes, and then in university, it is said, "Oh, this Indian." Oh, President Bush, he says, in one of the universities, was giving lectures, he said, "If I... better you should study, otherwise Indians will take over the USA." So vegetarianism is the strength. Vegetarian restaurant, how many people were waiting, waiting in the vegetarian restaurant outside to get a place. So, I wish you a very good appetite and a very good lunchtime. In the afternoon and evening, we will have some singing, bhajan, and satsaṅg here, and I will translate some bhajans. Nice. Yeah, about 7:00 or 7:30, we will sing. It depends on when you give me free.