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Every human being, every individual creature, has its own phenomenon, and everything exists within that phenomenon. This individual soul carries its entire universe like a rucksack, a backpack, with all destinies—good and bad—traveling with it throughout existence. Chandan hai is deś kī māṭī, tapo bhūmi har grām hai, Har Bālā Devī kī pratimā, bachchā bachchā Rām hai, bachchā bachchā Rām. Yah śarīra mandira sa pāvana har mānava upakārī hai, Jaha siṅgha bana gahe khilone, gāye jahāṁ mā pyārī hai. Jahāṁ saverā śaṅkha bajātā, lorī gātī śām hai. Har Bālā Devī pratimā, bachchā bachchā Rām hai. Bachchā bachchā Rām, jiske sainika samara bhūmi meṁ gayā kartī Gītā hai. Jahāṁ kheta meṁ halkī nīche, khela karatī Sītā hai, Jīvana kā ādarśa jahāṁ para, Parameśvara kā dhāma hai, Har balā devī kī pratimā, bachchā bachchā Rām hai, bachchā bachchā Rām, Jahāṁ karma se bhāja badalate, śrama niṣṭhā kalyāṇī hai, Tyāga aura tapa kī gāthā hai. Gati kavi kī vāṇī hai, jñāna jahāṁ kā Gaṅgā jalasa, nirmala hai, abhirāma hai, Har Bālā Devī Kī Pratīmā Bacchā Bacchā Rām Hai, Bacchā Bacchā Rām Chandan Hai, Is Deśa Kī Māṭī Tapo Bhūmi Har Grām Hai, Har Bālā Devī Kī Pratīmā Bacchā Bacchā Rām. This body is very special. What is within is not merely skin, flesh, bones, and blood. There is something more. Within this body are 72,000 nāḍīs. The term "nāḍī" is often translated as "nerve," but there is no exact translation from Sanskrit. In reality, nāḍīs are not nerves, arteries, or veins; they are distinct. These 72,000 nāḍīs are the channels through which the physical being constantly receives cosmic energy, prāṇa. Prāṇa is not oxygen; it is the cosmic energy streaming throughout the entire body. The soul is a cosmic child, and the cosmic mother constantly nourishes and feeds that divine soul. Every soul is holy. Every creature is a holy creation that represents God itself. Qualities differ, like different ornaments, but the underlying reality is one—the gold. The nāḍīs are channels that spread energy throughout the body. They exist on the surface of the nerves, not directly inside, akin to the body's aura, covering our nerve systems. Thus, there are 72,000 energy centers (chakras) in our body. Among the 72,000 nāḍīs, three are particularly important: Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā. The Iḍā nāḍī is connected to the left nostril. The Piṅgalā is connected to the right nostril. The Suṣumṇā is connected to the central nervous system. These three nāḍīs begin at the small of the brain behind the head, directly reflecting to the eyebrow center—the site of the third eye, the Ājñā Chakra. This is why many Indians, including myself, mark the forehead to keep that center active, as energy constantly flows there. The nāḍī connected to the left nostril is the moon principle. The right one is the sun principle. The moon signifies constant change—waxing, full, and waning. The moon represents emotion. It is a water element that awakens emotion; the ocean's waves are influenced by the moon. The moon is the principle of our mind, and the mind is constantly changing, with different thoughts and opinions each minute. The moon never rises the same way twice; similarly, our mind is never the same each day. We are connected to emotion, which means "in motion." This motion can become so strong we cannot master it. Emotions have different forms: anger, hate, jealousy, complexes, fear, restlessness. All are connected to the mind. But what is the mind? We speak of it often, but what is it actually? Should we control the mind, or live mind-free? To understand the mind, we must return to the body. This body has ten senses: five senses of knowledge (jñānendriyas) and five senses of action (karmendriyas), through which we act and receive. All knowledge in your life, from birth until now, has been learned through only four keys to input information into your brain's computer: sight, sound, smell, and touch. The five senses of knowledge are the eyes, nose, ears, mouth (for taste), and skin (for touch). All knowledge we receive through our eyes—colors and objects in various forms—makes us want to see again: videos, films, nice views. We receive knowledge through sound and smell. If I bring a nice pineapple but hide it, you will say, "There is a nice fruit, a pineapple." How do you know it's hidden? Your nose tells you. You know because you have seen and smelled it before. If it were your first time, you would not identify it as a pineapple, only as some fruit, because that picture is not inside your mental screen. Similarly, with taste, you know the taste of a mango, kiwi, banana, or pineapple. With touch, you immediately feel what something is. These five senses are alert and connected to the intellect (buddhi). Whatever information the five senses receive is immediately given to the intellect, which transfers it to the subconscious. We have three levels of consciousness: unconscious, subconscious, and conscious—nidrā (deep sleep), svapna (dream), and jāgrata (waking). The waking state is conscious, the dream state is subconscious, and deep sleep is unconscious. All information from the five senses is received by the consciousness, like a video film constantly recording. What is recorded is stored, rolled back. All information goes to the subconscious, a storeroom of past experiences. This level of subconscious begins from the first minute of life in the mother's womb. Your subconscious influences your life even as an embryo. Everything that happened—situations involving mother, father, etc.—is recorded in the subconscious until now. The information transferred to the subconscious loses its form; what we experience are called impressions, saṃskāras. When it goes into the subconscious, it becomes vāsanā—desires, good or bad. These vāsanās must rise again from the subconscious to the conscious. Consciousness is connected to the intellect, whose principle is to give judgment: "What is this? A flower, a microphone, a book, a water glass." The intellect gives judgment. The function that brings information from the five senses and consciousness down into the subconscious as tendencies, and brings up information as desires (vāsanās) from the subconscious to the conscious, is called the mind. The mind is that function between subconscious and conscious, constantly bringing information to the intellect. Once the mind delivers its message to the intellect, its responsibility ends. The mind goes away. Then it is your intellect's problem to decide whether to act or not. Often, desires come with the mind, you want to act, the mind takes no responsibility, consciousness cannot control, and an accident happens. Many who practice yoga or meditation say you must control the mind. You cannot control the mind, and you should not. The mind is like the flow of a river. You cannot block a river; if you do, it will flood. But you can direct the river. Similarly, we should not stop or control the mind but give it direction toward a particular aim or achievement. Concentrate and direct your mental power toward a target that is acceptable, and your mind will accept it. So now we know the mind is mighty, bringing these forces in and out. But mightier than the mind is the intellect. If the intellect becomes selfish due to weakness or greed, it becomes very weak—what we call human weakness. Then we make mistakes, sometimes irreparable ones we regret for life. The cream of the intellect is called Vivekā. Vivekā decides properly, discriminating—not in a negative way, but giving exact information. It shows you the fruits of your actions, and then you should decide. The unconscious level is where our destiny lies dormant. Do you believe in good and bad luck? You must believe something. Where does good luck exist for you? Every individual creature has its own phenomenon, and everything is in that phenomenon. This individual soul carries all its destinies, good and bad, like a backpack throughout the whole universe. Destiny is the product, the fruit, of our karma (deeds). Karma is in your hands, but destiny is not. I have a stone in my hand. I can decide to keep it or throw it. When I throw it, it leaves my hand. I cannot run to catch it. It will hit its target, whatever is there. The decision to act is in your hands. But once you have acted, the result—the fruit—is not in your hands. Every action has a reaction, and every reaction has an action. We do not know if we are in this world as a reaction or an action. Our destiny leads us. You are like a boat in the ocean, and the waves or wind of destiny take you here and there. Destiny lies dormant at our unconscious level. That power at the unconscious level is the most powerful, the hidden power in humans, because it influences all our other tendencies. So we have unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. The seat of the unconscious is at the Mūlādhāra Cakra. The seat of the subconscious is at the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. The seat of consciousness is at the Sahasrāra Cakra. The seat of the intellect is at the Ājñā Cakra. The seat of emotion is at the Anāhata Cakra. The seat of energies, power, and talents is at the Maṇipūra Cakra. Everything is coordinated through the Viśuddhi Cakra. The moon is a most powerful principle that moves our entire being. We are emotion. As long as emotions are gentle, it is okay. But when emotion gains strong, dominating power, it becomes a problem: anger, disappointment, jealousy. When these three come together, you should stand aside and only say, "Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am." At such times, do not give your opinion, even to your spouse. Wait until the waves subside. As my grandmaster, Mahāprabhujī, said: "Do not dive to search for pearls when the waves are too high." Now, the right nostril and right nāḍī are connected to the sun principle: our intellect, creativity, temperament, and clarity. That consciousness can be filtered into any color you like. Do you know color therapy? I will tell a true story. About seventy years ago, a Mahārājā of India brought an Australian cow that gave 30-40 liters of milk. People came to see this cow. It grazed freely but eventually stopped eating, grew weaker, thinner, and its milk decreased. The Mahārājā called veterinarians and animal psychologists, but nothing helped. A Swāmī, a yogī living nearby in a small hut, who had never seen Australia, also came to see the cow. He asked about Australia and was told it had beautiful green grass all year. He said, "It is clear she is not happy here and does not eat." He had an idea: "Put green glasses on her eyes." They brought dark green glasses, put them on her eyes, and she began to eat and eat. That was color therapy. Color affects the psyche of animals and humans. You can color your consciousness as you like. How you look, how you see—that is how you will see the world. Mano mātra jagataḥ: the world is created out of the mind. Your world, whether you are happy or unhappy, is created from your mind's function, which is connected to your senses. Therefore, do not control the mind, but control the senses. Limit your desires and needs, and your mind will be peaceful. Otherwise, you will have too many thoughts, as in modern civilization. One word for this is stress. What is stress? It is when the mind has to operate at too high a speed between subconscious and conscious levels, and the intellect cannot digest everything peacefully. It has no time to give proper results, so one suffers. Humans have become workaholics. When I review my daily talks and travels, I think, "I did not become a swami for such big activities. I thought I would sit under a tree and meditate, waiting for an apple or pear to fall." Our way of life has changed, so we need something to manage our stress level: meditation. Yoga Nidrā (relaxation), āsanas, and prāṇāyāma are very good. If you truly wish to practice, you should dedicate two hours per day in the morning before breakfast. Then you will feel happy and relaxed all day. Never say you have no time. An alcoholic will always find time to drink. Time is there. You must become conscious of your time. The three nāḍīs—Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā—begin at the eyebrow center and penetrate through the spinal column to different body parts. There are thousands of centers, but the most powerful are at the joints: wrist, elbow, shoulder, throat, ankle, knee, hip, etc. In electro-acupuncture, when researching reflex zones, the needle moves on a monitor when it finds an energy center. If the center is blocked or has little energy, the needle does not move fully. Acupuncture tries to activate these centers so energy flows freely. Similarly, dormant chakras in the body can be activated through concentration, prāṇāyāma, meditation, mantras, kriyās, and other practices detailed in our book, Yoga, the Hidden Power in Humans: Chakras and Kuṇḍalinī. Of the 72,000 nāḍīs, the Suṣumṇā runs straight and balances all energy, power, and awakening. If Suṣumṇā is not purified or under control, energy flows through Iḍā and Piṅgalā. Iḍā, beginning on the left, goes immediately to the right. Piṅgalā, beginning on the right, goes to the left. These two nāḍīs first meet when they come down to the Viśuddhi Cakra. "Viṣ" means poison; "śuddhi" means purification. The poison refers to the circumstances and situations of life that you swallow, which become blocked in the Viśuddhi Cakra. The astral body exits from this point during dreams. Piṅgalā then goes to the right, and Suṣumṇā and Iḍā come to the left, meeting at the Anāhata Cakra—"without border," the seat of emotion, bhakti (devotion), and the soul. Piṅgalā goes to the left, Iḍā to the right, and so on, until they meet again at the Mūlādhāra Cakra. This serpentine movement is why it is called serpent power, Kuṇḍalinī. There is no physical snake in the body. When awakening occurs, you will not feel a snake moving up your body—that would be terrible. It is called serpent power because of this coiling energy. Kuṇḍalinī is the dormant energy in the Mūlādhāra Cakra. Destiny awakens here, and emotion resides in both the Anāhata and other chakras. Each chakra is very useful and important. When these chakras function properly and are awakened, your feelings and energy in the body are different. All chakras are located near the spinal column. When functioning properly, each chakra rotates clockwise (when viewed from the back). From the front, it also rotates clockwise. Energy always moves clockwise. Each chakra is connected to specific organs. The most powerful chakra is the Maṇipūra Cakra. The awakening of Kuṇḍalinī, purification of consciousness, and entry into the superconscious state occur here. This superconscious level is crucial in prāṇāyāma technique: prāṇa and apāna (inhalation and exhalation) come to the Maṇipūra Cakra, circulate, and then rise to superconscious realization. At that time, the third eye, the Ājñā Chakra—the intellect and clear vision—is vital. "Ājñā" means commanding. This chakra constantly observes your development and activities, commanding all actions. But if this chakra fails or becomes weak due to desires—whether for the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, or touch—complications begin in life. These are the chakras. I will speak more on Kuṇḍalinī later. Now, I give you ten minutes to rest.