TV Channel

So, once more, good evening to everybody. Welcome to our center, our ashram, in San Francisco, Oakland. Yesterday, we were speaking about the niyamas, and today we discuss a classical part of Yoga practice. "Classical" is different from "authentic," and "authentic" is different from "ancient." I would say first comes the ancient. I always say: ancient wisdom for modern times. Many systems have come into this world, and many have disappeared. As I said yesterday, yoga is one of the first or oldest knowledges, which we define as the science of body, mind, and consciousness. That science of body, mind, and consciousness is dwelling within and external. We are inside and outside. When you meditate and go to the cidākāśa, your inner space, and you imagine a sunrise or anything—depending on which master, what kind of instructions he gives you for meditation—or it says to imagine a beautiful park with many different flowers, and you are sitting and meditating, and you smell the beautiful fragrance of the flowers... our imagination is so strong that suddenly we see ourselves sitting in that space. Now the question is: you were imagining in your inner space. So you said, "your inner space," and then you tell that you are sitting inside there. So you are again in the space. The question is, are you in the space, or is the space in you? Understand? Similarly, we have five tattvas, elements, and out of five, one is called space, ether. Ether is not declared merely as a space, but ether is that where there are some other elements involved. We would not say empty space, though we say ākāśa-tattva. Ākāśa is what we see, but it is endless, beyond. Now, is ākāśa, the space, within us, or are we within the ākāśa? Who is in and who is out? Search within yourself. Which tattva is out of you, and which tattva is within you? With tattva, you don't have the oneness. Therefore, it is not only the inner science. When we say science of the body, mind, and consciousness, mastering that is developing the knowledge to first understand what we call the science. Literally, science means that which has some sense. In yoga, we say: where there is nothing, there is something, and where there is something, there is nothing. And the same thing, science says: where there is matter, there is nothing, and where there is nothing, there is something. Again, it comes close to the Vedānta. Therefore, we said "research." After the word "science" comes "research." It is there. It has been declared by great seers, the ṛṣis or mahātmas or self-realized persons. But we are not happy with that. We would like to know again, better. Then find yourself. That means you research that which has been declared, which was known, but you don't accept it. So, for your inner contentment, you say, "I will check again." So, re-check. Sometimes trust is good, but control is better. So that is research and the science. Therefore, if you said "inner science," there is no inner science. If you go inside completely and only search inside, sooner or later you will have problems like schizophrenia. You will be, what you call, without any direction. Therefore, though this world is changeable, a changing world or mortal world, it is not permanent. Though it is changing and not permanent, the reality is this: that at the same time, we exist here, and we have to accept this as it is. We depend on it because we are a part of this system of the earth, Prakṛti. We can't survive without this, what we call the śarīra, the body, the physical body; it means the annamaya kośa. This annamaya kośa, this mortal body, cannot survive or exist anymore without this mortal world. Therefore, śarīra, the body, is changing too. Prakṛti is changing too. The Earth is changing, and besides this, the Earth is working, nature is working, the seasons are working, the elements are working, the planets are working, and even space is working. So if you say, "No, I will only meditate and sit, and I will walk very little," then you are doing the opposite; you will not have that success which you would like to get. So inner science and outer science have no sense unless you research and understand both outside and inside. It is so difficult; you don't know if you are outside or you are inside. Therefore, join the completeness, join the oneness with this world. So, yoga is that ancient, and then there were great people. They had authority. They proved it. They researched. They found it. And therefore, we said "authentic." After that, authentic comes, then classical. Classical is there, then it is put together and put into a system. And so we can say classical different parts of yoga: karma-yoga, bhakti-yoga, rāja-yoga, jñāna-yoga, haṭha-yoga, Brahma-yoga, etc. And it has been designed or redesigned or put together for a particular purpose. Now, there is a guideline, and if you follow this guideline, then it's okay. Today I was driving with someone and had a beautiful navigator. When the car started, it said, "Wish you a safe journey. Follow the rules, or what do you call them, of the roads. Do not violate the rules of the road." So, just for driving, it is said that you should follow the rules of the road, the traffic rules. Similarly, in this yoga practice, spiritual practice, and mental practices, there are rules. And these rules mean principles. So, dynamical movement comes into the classical yoga. Dynamical movement means not quickly, but if you bend forward, the next posture should be that you have to bend backward. If you bend left, the neck should come to the right. That becomes dynamic movements. So, classical yoga, after practicing, certain rules are given: āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. This, if we follow, we can. Nowadays, people do not understand yoga properly, and they do not know. How should they know? Because they never heard about yoga. They never read the books about it. They have never been with the yogīs. They listen to something, "Oh, yoga is very good for this, something, this and that." And then anyone can twist you in any direction. And you say, "Yes, I am practicing yoga." So, which kind of yoga are you practicing? Then you say, "Yes, I am practicing this yoga." If you explain that it is not that yoga, how they are doing, then there is no success. Therefore, ancient, authentic, and classical should be there to practice; then there will be success. Patañjali has given exactly the instructions, the rules, or the guidelines. If you follow these guidelines of the Patañjali Yogasūtra, or what you have in your Yoga in Daily Life book, that is written very, very clearly in every phase, for every posture. The rules of every posture are written according to the authentic ancient yoga practices. And in this is the name of the posture. The name has its deep meanings. And now, this name, you have to understand in a better way. Otherwise, it can be very much misunderstood. We have one posture called the relaxation posture. So, someone who designed it, called it classical yoga or something like this, they put the name they want. So, it's called Śavāsana. Now, everyone calls it Śavāsana. Śavāsana means relaxation. You lie down on your back with your hands beside your body, close your eyes, and just relax. In 1976-77, one elderly man came to me. He was a professor at the Vienna University, and he was nearly 75 years old or more. He married a young woman, and he had a conflict with her. Someone told him that yoga practice makes you young, so he was searching for the real yoga. Secondly, he had a fear of death. He had a lot of fear of death because he didn't want to become old, and he didn't want to die because he wanted to live with his wife long. He came, and he telephoned, and he said, "I am a professor, and I would like to have a private lesson, if you..." So I said, "No problem, come." And I taught him some postures. He came the first day, and I gave him the relaxation. I said, "Lie down. This is called Śavāsana." Being a professor, after he asked me which posture I taught him, what was the name of it, I said Śavāsana. He went to the market and bought yoga books. He searched for the śavāsana. And there is written śavāsana. Very good. Now, "śava" means dead body. So just lie down, feel like you are a dead body. Just let it fall, everything. He read. He read this book before going to sleep. And he couldn't sleep. He was so nervous. He got up, and he was sweating. And this and that, and the next day he phoned me and he said, "You put fear in my subconsciousness." I said, "Why?" "Because I came to get rid of the fear, or overcome the fear of death, and you teach me that I am looking like a dead body. This was my biggest problem, that's why I came to solve it." I told him, "Okay, come, I will explain to you." I said this: someone gave the name, who called themselves classical refining or remodeling some systems of yoga, and they gave the Śavāsana. But originally, its name is called Ānanda Āsana. So he said, "What is this?" He doesn't know the Sanskrit or Hindi. "What is Ānanda? Is it something like dying? That was a death, and this is dying?" I said, "No, sir, it's not like this. Ānanda means bliss. So you just lie down and feel the bliss and happiness that you are immortal and blissful." "That I am searching. Thank you." So he said, "I will correct the name." I said, "Yes, please, you correct it." So every posture has a name, but we should know in which culture how it sounds, or explain exactly why. A second time, one person came, and she was living for a few years in Australia, also in India. And she had a great fear of snakes. She came to overcome the fear, and she went to the yoga practices. Her teacher taught her Bhujaṅgāsana, the cobra pose. And she was frightened. He said, "Bhujaṅgāsana practice," she did not know. But when she read, it's a cobra. Oh God, the whole night she was dreaming of the cobra. And then she felt herself incarnated as a cobra. So in our Hidden Powers in Human book about Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra, we have written about the cobra. Normally, the cobra, the snake, will not stand like that. The cobra or the snake only raises its head up if it's frightened, angry, or searching for something that it didn't see or didn't smell. So angry, jealous, or feeling frightened, scared. These three qualities of the Svādhiṣṭhāna chakra. When it stands up like this, they also have a chakra, not only humans. Every creature has some energy centers, and more energy centers are had by those who have a spinal column. And the science said in the Vedas, from the reptile here, from reptile, slowly, slowly, the creature begins raising up and up and up, coming to the four legs, and then again going up, and then straight. That is the human. Every incarnation is a different development. So you see also that there are sometimes pictures where the monkey, and then one man was walking like a monkey, and comes in straight. So this is declared in the ancient literatures or Vedas and other Purāṇas in India by the great Ṛṣis, which was thousands of years before. Before Rāma, whom we call Hanumānjī's incarnation, was 950,000 years. At that time, I was already practicing this yoga and meditating. So when this creature, the snake, angry or this, stands like this, and then it affects that particular energy chakra, it calms down and goes away. So when a person is aggressive or has anxiety or cannot relax, they should slowly go to the cobra posture, and then the Svādhiṣṭhāna chakra will be neutralized or balanced, harmonized. Now, we do the cobra? Wrong. And they call it classical. That cannot be classical. Cobra posture. Ninety-nine, all books, including this book also, because I had to put, people said, "No, it is like that, Swāmījī," so I said, "Okay." And the cobra does not have hands. Does it have hands? Snake have the hands? So then, how can you do the cobra, which is called having the hands? When you do it with the hands, then you can harm your spine. So, cobra posture we should do without the support of the hands. In the beginning, when you have practiced for one year, two years, and you strengthen your back muscles, then you can go a little higher. Otherwise, that person, you know, for example, this one you see here, the Dhanurāsana. In our book also, this Dhanurāsana person. Now, this person who demonstrated this āsana was a decade ago, 15-20 years. But now she has a problem with her back. So, people who have so much force, and it looks nice, beautiful. You may make a picture outside, and everybody says, "Wow, look!" Unfortunately, people begin to do competition and challenges in the yoga practices. All these yoga magazines that you have, it doesn't matter from which country, they show such postures. So generally, people just put it away because they don't understand what it is and why it's like that. Yeah, some 0.01%, many people are searching for such things and exercising. Now, the result is this, that many, many people and many yoga centers, they have only a few people coming, practicing, and you are wondering why they don't come. You have to advertise and give for general, for all people, and not that someone who does a hand standing or this. Or this, because the yoga, especially the now, you are the system which is accepted very much around the world, yoga in daily life, which is for everyone, not only for young people. So there is a first, the name is written and translated. Then, basic posture, then the breath: how to breathe, how you breathe while inhaling and exhaling, or you are holding the breath, inner or outer. So, this is called Pūraka, Kumbhaka, and Rechaka. These are the three breaths. Kumbhaka is of two kinds: retention of the breath outside or inside. And why? In which posture to do this, and why not to do this? So, in one month of yoga classes you cannot, or in ten days you cannot become a yoga teacher. And unfortunately, they invite you somewhere in a five-star hotel, holidays, and morning and evening yoga lessons, and you get a yoga teacher certificate. You come, and the next corner you begin with the yoga. And when someone breaks their neck or leg or this, you are not responsible. So yoga is not something for torturing the body, but the body needs gentle care. The body needs gentle care. That's called wellness. From awareness, in your awareness, you feel the well-being of your life in this world, for your well-being. So that they call it wellness. Before 20 or 30 years, there was no world's well-being. Oh, I'm sorry, the wellness. And now everywhere there's wellness, wellness, wellness. Because yoga, since this book appeared, called the Harmony of Body, Mind and Soul, many are now taking these sentences, "Harmony of Body, Mind and Soul," and there is writing about the well-being of thyself. So they put it as a wellness awareness. It's good, why not? Very good. So the body needs gentle care. Advertise the yoga for elderly people. Yoga against this problem, this problem, back problem, that many, many, many people are suffering. Then you will have so many people coming and will benefit out of that. But when you show such postures outside, then young people may be attracted, out of a thousand, two. And if you design some for people who have particular problems, then many, many people will come. Less medical money because medical treatment is very expensive here. So you have to design something to save your medical expenditures, for example. Talk to the insurance companies. They will advertise for you, but you should have scientific proof for those yoga techniques. Now, a few weeks ago, we had a scientific conference in Czechoslovakia, in the Czech Republic, in Brno. There were 35 scientists, doctors, physiotherapists, and psychologists, and they declared everyone had a different subject. They researched yoga in their life, and they gave such a beautiful, positive, and successful research work, and they declared it is a scientific system, a scientific movement. So this system is not mine. This system is not yours or your yoga teachers. This is what the yogīs have been doing for millions of years. And so it puts exactly what we need: the name of the posture, the basic posture, then breathing, and then the sequences. How many times and how you should move. Then comes who should not do. And in many cases, they're writing at the end who should not do. But I put it first, because when you have problems, and then you see, "Why do I have problems?" There's a look. Footnotes are written: this should not be done. And it is written in such a way that you need not reading glasses, but you need magnified glasses to read that. So first you have to know who should not do it. And then, what is the benefit of it? So this book, Yoga in Daily Life, which you have in your hand, is a teacher's Bible. The Bible of the Yoga in Daily Life teacher, or yoga teachers. Many people have this book, and according to this book, around the world, even we don't know where they are practicing, teaching, and doing this. So classical means authentic, ancient, and from the first hand. You got the knowledge, and not three weeks, one month, or two months of training, and you are a yoga teacher. To become a yoga teacher is a lifelong journey. Then you will say, "Yes, perhaps you are a yoga teacher." So, for this practicing, body training, breath training, and relaxation training, okay, in a few months or a few years, you can do it. Otherwise, to become a good yoga teacher, you need as much time as for a medical study. That you become a doctor after three years, or five years, six years, and then you have three years' practice, and then you can open your own clinic. So after this, five, six, seven years, then you can open the yoga center and you teach, and you will be successful. So classical yoga is very important to understand. Classical yoga is a shadow of the authentic, and the authentic is the blessing of the ancient, the original thoughts and teachings of the masters, okay? Not only classical, okay? That, okay? I practice every day these few positions. It's not very classical. Class is always changing. You cannot remain your whole life in the first class or second class, or you have some different opinion. I can learn from you, like Teśa. Have you other opinion? And so, when we come to the classical point again, then yesterday we had this yama and niyama. Now, yama means many, many meanings. When I speak against yama, then this Japanese water company, which made this Yamaha, they will sue me for speaking against them. And Yamaha means the messenger or the lord of death. So when you are sitting on it, then you are sitting on the messenger of death. Which is a very perfect name, but it means, it means now you have to be careful. You have to follow the rules and regulations of that motor and road. Then there will be no dangers, but you have it, you don't follow, and just like you are doing, enjoying, it's not for your fun. If you enjoy the fun, then you can do, of course, twice: first time and second time, not anymore third time. So in the Japanese language, "yama" means maybe something different. I don't know that language. Then again here, yama is a principle of life to follow. If you don't do it, you will be punished, and that punishment is death. Death means it goes wrong, destroys, no success, no completing. So it means the end. Now, when people read these principles of the yoga, first yama and niyama, then people say, "No, this we don't want. That's why we left the church." Many people don't go to the church because, "These ten commandments drive me crazy." I say, "How does it drive you crazy? There is not a car." Nor your driver, but these are the instructions by the course: "I don't go to the church, and why did you come to yoga?" Yeah, the same thing. I came into yoga, and I read again the same thing. I said, "My God, from which church is this yoga?" The church is not wrong. This is also not wrong. Wrong is our understanding, and wrong is that we do not have willpower, and we do not want to obey or follow the disciplines and rules. And when we talk about the rules, they say, "No, rules are only for fools." Where there is argument, there is a question always. And where the question is, the answer is argument, and then say no. So recently, an American president said, "No, I will not argue with them, because argument brings only questions." And the question brings again the arguments. I trust and believe in action. That's it. So yama and niyama are the principles which we have, or rāja yoga's. Yama is self-control, niyama is discipline, asana is physical exercise, pranayama is breath technique, Pratyāhāra is controlling our senses from external, dhāraṇā is concentration, dhyāna is meditation, and samādhi is the highest consciousness to achieve. So these are the aims given for the practice of yoga. And in these aims, how to achieve them is through these eight levels that you go through systematically, step by step. Now, not that you practice ten years of āsanas, and then five years of prāṇāyāma, and then you practice dhāraṇā, dhyāna, pratyāhāra. And then you are nowhere. So this is for every day. Morning you get up, you wash yourself, you drink something, you eat something, you walk, you work. So you cannot say, "One year I will only eat, and then one year only drink." It doesn't function. It has to go all together. That's why it's called yoga in daily life. In everyday life, what we have to do. Therefore, anywhere you practice, it's good, and you should know that you have to search for a good yoga teacher who has been learning and had training under a good yogī or yoga master who has knowledge of the yoga philosophy, Vedānta philosophy, Advaita philosophy, and understand, and then you can become a nice yoga teacher, and you can help others. Even if you become a physiotherapist, you have to study three years, four years, so that you can become a good therapist. Everything needs time, and why not in yoga? Thanks to your government, it's compromising, tolerating that anyone can teach yoga. But I should write to the American government a letter that anyone who is teaching yoga, they should go and control the diploma. Otherwise, seal the center. Can anyone here open the medical store? Anyone can sell the medicine? Even you can't work there if you have not studied, okay? Tomorrow, right here, you are a doctor. You are a dentist, and you are a doctor, and this and have injection and everything. You have to blast to pull teeth out. What will happen? They will come and seal these things, and you will be in trouble. You are not a doctor. So just in one paper, that you attend ten days of yoga class, and now you got a certificate and you can teach yoga. That is not allowed by anyone. But what to do? Many people, they just wanted to do it, and the government takes it. Unless they don't pull out the teeth and injections. So, follow a diet, follow discipline, practice regularly, and lead your life very normally. Don't think that you are now somewhere levitating above the clouds. And you can levitate above the clouds within no time. Just buy an airplane ticket. Yes, then you will experience how you come above the clouds. No? That's it. And the second thing is that you will levitate when you die. Then you will see the body is here in the mortal world, and your astral body is living up, and your consciousness, you are observing everything, and you go to the endless. All planets, the sun system, they are all under you, and you become an observer of everything. So therefore, search for that school of yoga which has trained good yoga teachers. That's my suggestion. And one of them, they are yoga in daily life teachers. They are years and years working, and they are trained, and they are training. So around the world, you have yoga in daily life. You can look anywhere in the books, and you will find yoga in daily life centers. So for today, that's all. I wish you all the best, and good luck. Deep Narbhagwanakī, say, Om Śānti, Śānti. Yoga teacher, yoga master, yoga instructor, when it comes to the yoga class, one thinks that I am not the doer. All my knowledge and all my abilities are given to me by some supreme powers. I only act as an instrument in their hands. Like the holy friends from Assisi said, "Lord, make me the instrument of your love and light. Let me be the instrument so that I can serve your holy creation." Nāma karta, Prabhudeepa karta, Mahāprabhudeepa karta hi kevalam. Second, loudly or mentally, mantra: "Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ." All should be happy who are here. "Asato mā sad gamaya." Lead us—also himself, including, not them—lead us from unreality to reality. "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya," lead us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom. Because you are teaching this, yoga is a light of wisdom. And "mṛtyor mā amṛtam gamaya," lead us from mortality to immortality. I am not a doer, O Lord. This is my prayer. I am an instrument in your hands. Bless all students. And then you give beautiful exercises. People will feel that. When you say, "I do," and "I will do it," and we don't need all this spiritual and this and that, okay? Then you are like a blacksmith, putting iron in the fire and out, and hammering, and putting it in the molding, this and that. That's all. Putting people in the heat, and then peat, or aage nahī kyā na cāhiye. Therefore, gentleness: the body needs gentle care. Therefore, mantra, every yoga teacher who comes from India masters this. You will see, before giving a lecture, they will pray or something. Or at least they will say, "Om Śānti, Śānti," peace. As soon as we say peace, there is some energy changing in the peace. Thank you.