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Your Guided Life Society is the organizer of this lecture. We would like to welcome all our dear guests. I am very happy—very happy—that in the name of all of you, I can welcome here His Holiness Paramahaṁsvāmī Maheśvarānanda for a lecture on the topic of the Anāhata Chakra. I would just like to remind you once more that it has been 35 years since Swāmījī brought yoga to the Czech Republic. All the practitioners of yoga in their life, and our disciples, they know what they are gaining through this system, and still what more they can gain, they can get. I wish you a very good evening, and I just want to meet you. Swamiji, please, your voice is the word. Can you pull a little nearer? Thank you. How are you, Mr. Sir? With your mic on, time. Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In his divine presence, good evening, dear brothers and sisters, Your Excellency, Ambassador of India, and all other dignitaries. I am very happy to be again here with you in this beautiful hall. This hall represents the beauty of human thought. In this hall, we have had a number of talks, but always on the same subject: yoga. Many of us know what yoga is, and many may not know what yoga is. Every third person in the world practices yoga in some different way. It is great, but they have different opinions and different information. Every yoga teacher or master has their own experience. But when some Indian master comes here, then it is first-hand information. Well, so many years I have been in this country—more time in this country than in India. But still, I do have the information that is from India about yoga. Yoga is not only physical and breath exercises. It is something more. Yoga is that principle which balances, harmonizes, and unites space and consciousness. When yoga begins to develop in terms of techniques or philosophy, who is the author of yoga? It is said the author of yoga is Lord Śiva. According to Hindu mythology, the Vedic dharma, there is a trinity: Brahmā as the creator, Viṣṇu as the protector, and Śiva as the liberator. In this endless universe, the first was Śiva, the manifestation of the Śiva principle. That’s called Swayambhū. No one has created him. It is He who manifested Himself. His manifestation came through the sound. That first sound, or the cosmic sound, is called Oṁ. And through that resonance, Swayambhū appears. Of course, there were many times incarnations, but the first one is Śiva. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, all other creatures came after. Long ago, in the Himalayan hills, at the peak of the Kailāśa mountain, Śiva and Śakti were residing. And the Śakti put the question to Śiva, "Lord, what is the purpose of this life? What is the purpose of this human life?" How many photos will you do? Thank you, enough. So it was that Śiva who brought the wisdom or the science of yoga. We call it yoga vidyā. Vidyā means knowledge, and out of that, all different kinds of knowledge—science, mantras, yantras, tantras, languages—everything came out of this one yoga vidyā. When Śiva was delivering or bestowing the knowledge of divine science to Pārvatī—sorry, to Śakti—at that time it is said there was a beautiful waterfall and a small lake. And there were no creatures when God spoke to Śakti, but in the pond there was a fish, and the fish looked to Śiva and got this resonance, the sound. Śiva spoke. Śakti gave blessings. But the fish, too. After this, when Śiva looked at the lake or the pond, the fish was smiling, and Śiva looked through his third eye. "I liberate you from this body," and the fish died. That fish then incarnated in the great yogī, known as Matsya Ṛṣi. And the Matsya Ṛṣi then again brought the knowledge, the science of yoga. Śiva asked the Śakti, "My dear, did you understand?" "This is so complicated, too much. You are so complicated always, Lord. Tell me something very simple." Then Śiva said to Śakti, "I tell you my own experience. After all this, the name of God, meditation on God, is the only truth. This world is a dream. What was yesterday for us is just like a dream. What was this morning, noon, afternoon, before a few minutes, it’s gone. It’s a dream. Constantly, conscious space is changing. But to come to the reality, Hari Vājan, God’s name, that you may call spirituality, you may call it devotion, and so on. Yes, that is the truth." Therefore, if you practice yoga without spirituality, then it’s an apple made out of plastic. And that’s what the western people make a mistake. That is, we only want to practice yoga, no spirituality. No vegetarian life, and so-called, we don’t want guru. Okay? Then jump here and there without a guru, just like a kangaroo. We need spirituality, and that’s within us and within ourselves. So the author of yoga is Lord Śiva, the what is called wisdom, vidyās, the knowledge, you may call science, mantras, meditations, devotions, languages. Everything is a creation of Śiva. He is the first one, and so since that time, this divine science—body, mind, consciousness, and soul—is preserved till now. And it is given from master to disciple. That’s why it’s called living spirituality, living religion. Living tradition, master to disciple. The day when there will be no master, then you have only theory, and what will you do with the theory? Tons of theory is nothing compared to a grain of practice. Therefore, practice. Practice according to your abilities and those techniques which you know, but with love. Today we have a beautiful subject, chakra. It represents the light of God. Sabī prāṇī merī ātmā he. All creatures are myself. Ātmā sohi pramātmā. That self is the supreme one. God gave this human body. Out of 8.4 million, one is the human. There is no racism. Only one that’s called human. Doesn’t matter which skin color you have, which height you have, which language you have. You are all made out of five elements. We all have the same elements in our body. This life began here with three things: resonance, energy, and light. This is the subject of kuṇḍalinī yoga, as well as what we call nāda yoga. Energy, that śakti, which unites and balances space and consciousness, that resonance which comes out of that Śakti. And consciousness as the knowledge. Every creature is connected to that cosmic energy, cosmic Śakti. Let’s have an example. Everyone, we have got mobile telephones, but automatically connected to that tower. You don’t see, but it is connected there. Similarly, all we are connected to the one consciousness, one energy, and the range that is resonance. The human body has got immense energy, which has immense talents, but it needs education. Humans can also be very narrow-minded. We need an education which is full of tolerance, respect, understanding, love, and non-violence. But there is an education which is one-sided: my religion, my country, my culture. The human mind can be manipulated very easily. Lucky are they who have wide thinking, free thinking. And this is especially, I would say, in Hinduism, tolerance. It’s not that I am born as a Hindu, but it is true. No religion has the tolerance that Hinduism has. And that understanding, every religion is growing and has a home in India. Unfortunately, there are different elements, you may call politics, or different, which create the conflict between two beliefs. Humans were not born with conflicts. And humans were not born with this stamp on their shoulder or arm somewhere that you are Hindu, you are Muslim, you are Jewish, or you are Christian. We are human, and we need that education. Anyhow, in our body there are numerous functions, and they are what we call the nāḍī system, nerves. The nāḍīs, which are connected with the cosmic energy, the life force, bring and let flow the cosmic energy through the body. What we call prāṇa. Prāṇa is not oxygen. Prāṇa has no translation in the English language, and nāḍīs also have no translation in the English language. Nāḍīs are different than the nerves, but they are very closely connected to the nerves. Therefore, we have to use the word "nerve": 72,000 nerves. So it means there are 72,000 cosmic channels through which the cosmic energy is directed to this one human. And each channel or radiance, when it enters our body, becomes an energy center. So there are 72,000 chakras. Now, if you see yourself, you are only the light. On the day when you get enlightenment, self-realization, and you look at your body from above with your astral body, you will see only prakāśapuṇya, only light. This material body you will not see anymore; it disappears. Because in reality, there is nothing existing. Eko brahma dvitīya nāsti—only one is the reality, that is the Brahman. Self-realized masters say this all is nothing existing. And we said, "Yes, Master. Yes, Master." But I am hungry, can I go and eat, Master? So we are still very deeply connected to our body. So please, be one with your body, okay? From these, the main channels are three. Which represent sound, resonance, and energy. And these three channels, they are the main or governing channels in the whole body. So all the nāḍīs are concentrated to these three principles: Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumṇā, three nāḍīs. And they begin from our Ājñā Chakra. Ājñā Chakra begins from the small of the brain, or it’s called Bhrūkūṭī, or the eyebrow center. It’s called Trikuṭī; there are many, many names. Trikuṭī means where the three forces meet together. When you go to Prayāgrāj, you see the Saṅgam: Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Triveṇī Saṅgam. And for the yogī, this is the Trivenī Saṅgam. We have still two lectures more: Viśuddhi and then Ājñā. Therefore, I will not speak about this, and also not about Viśuddhi, coming to the heart. This Suṣumṇā goes straight and then creates one energy center. We call it the Mūlādhāra Chakra. The Mūlādhāra’s main principle is the main foundation, the root on which the entire tree exists. The other sympathetic and parasympathetic, Iḍā and Piṅgalā, they are moving like this because they are attracted by Suṣumṇā, and so they go like that, and where the crossways, that yogī says that the most powerful center in the body, our body is divided. In many parts, I come to another point. Whenever we speak about India, then one speaks about the caste system. Mostly, this kind of caste system, what you call untouchability, began when the Englishmen entered the Indian territory. According to the Hinduism and Vedic culture, this forecast is divided in this body: the head, where the jñānendriyas are there. The senses of knowledge are smelling, tasting, seeing, and hearing. So this part is called Brahmin. Brahmin means, who is the Brahmin? Who knows the Brahmin? And how to know the Brahmin? Through this part, through the centers of the brain. Not a human caste. Then comes the Vajra, Vajrapāṇi. This is called Vajrapāṇi. Pāṇi means the hands. Vajra means the power. Your arms are protecting you. What you call my right hand, he is my left hand. Your helper. So these arms are known as Kṣatriya. Helper, protector, then the trunk of the body. That’s called Vaiśya. Means farmer, who is supplying the food, and so this part, the trunk of the body, which supplies the nourishment to the whole body. When you are eating, where does food go? Down or up? You swallow, it goes here. Thanks to God, not here. So this is the Vaiśya. And then the legs, that’s called Śūdra, which means servant. Your legs, your feet will never tell you, "I will not walk here." Ever ready for you. Anywhere you want to go, they will take you. So Brahmin, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, and Śūdra, all four castes are in your body. So now, whom do you say is untouchable? So in Vedic religion, it was not divided like this. Unfortunately, when the scriptures began to be written, the selfish people, so-called Brahmins, made these changes and created conflict in the people, and that conflict which they created, until today India is suffering. There were no Muslims at all. Why did the Muslims begin to become Muslims? Because of the conflict that the Brahmins created with the caste system. I will stop the subject here. So in our body, everything is there. On the foot soles till the ankle joints, the chakras which belong to the earth; from the ankle joints till the knees, they belong to the vegetation; from the knees to the hip joints, they belong to the animal kingdom. And from the hip joints to the end of the neck and spine belongs to the human consciousness, and above this belongs to the divine consciousness. All in one, in human. Each chakra represents certain qualities. We spoke about this, and you can read in the books. Now we come to the Anāhata chakra. Anahad, it means without borders. Where there is a border, there is a limitation. But where there is no border, that is called love. Love is without boundaries. That love is universal love. Not individual love. Ātmā is the universal one. And the soul is individual, so the seed of the ātmā is in the Anāhata Cakra. Anāhata Nāda, the endless resonance—in our body, there are many different kinds of sounds. Without Nāḍī Yoga practice, your kuṇḍalinī cannot awaken. If something awakes, you cannot master it. It can become destructive. Therefore, we have to understand the nāda. Nāda rūpa para brahma, the form of the supreme, is the resonance. Śabda brahma, that sound, the word which you speak, that sound, that is brahma. And the seat of the sound, seat of the light, and seat of the Śakti, is in our Maṇipūra Cakra, Nābhi Kamala, the navel. Kamala means lotus, and Nabhi is the navel. When the consciousness is a beautiful feeling, never an unpleasant feeling, and not a physical feeling, it is inner feelings: happiness, contentment, love, and, you know, well, this morning I spoke on the same subject. What the wise people gave us are very beautiful words, like pearls or jewels on the ground. Which words have no title? No, not doctor and professor. Not only humans, every living being, each and every entity, day and night, is searching for love. So, they did not mean only for humans; the entire creation needs love. This microphone needs love. Love is love. Only one. No title before or after. That love is God’s love. Universal love, and that one, the creator. Placed in our heart, then happiness. Happiness has also no subtitles. Everyone, no matter who is who, would like to be happy. And that also God placed in our heart. Love, happiness, contentment, mercy, or compassion—all these beautiful qualities He put in our Anāhata Chakra. But, at the same time, there are other negative words, which he also put in our body. Hate, jealousy, greediness, complexes. All these negative qualities, he put in the lower chakra, Svādhiṣṭhāna. Now, when you go towards the material love for money or some person, your horse, any material love, automatically your consciousness is plugged into the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra. Because that kind of love is a limited, human, selfish love. And when some kind of disturbance comes between your love and you, then Svādhiṣṭhāna explodes. Jealousy, greediness, anger. Don’t enter. Dog on guard. Harm response. Where does this feeling come from? From that kind of love, which is a temporary love, which is only the lower level of love. When the divine love awakes, then you are in the heart. In the heart, that love is anahad, without boundary. And I always used to make, I always do one experiment, and maybe someone doesn’t know it yet, so why wouldn’t we repeat it? Let’s assume I ask, "Whose book is this, for example?" The answer is, "It is my book," or, "Yes, my book," or you indicate with your hand. Somewhere on the body, I need the last answer. Not raising your hand up, not speaking to your body and saying it means indication is mine, but we are all very clever imitation. First, raise your index finger up. It’s not an election. And now, close your eyes, because we are very clever at imitation. To whom does this book belong? Do not open your eyes. Touch your finger to that part of your body and leave it there. It’s my book. I say it. It’s me. Now, please, it is. And now, look to the neighbors. Where is their hand? I manipulate you. Automatically, it went to our heart. I am here. It’s mine, I say. We write greetings, "I bless you from my heart," the hearted greetings. Did you ever get a letter or greetings, "I bless you from my brain"? And the day when you get a brain greeting, the war begins. So Anāhata is here. And here are the beautiful qualities of a human. Now, when the energy begins to rise from Mūlādhāra, it is a border between animal consciousness and human consciousness. It brings up the Mūlaprakṛti. What does that mean? That is your past reality. What does that mean? That is your destiny. What does that mean? Fruits of your past deeds, karma. Whatever you do, it will not get lost, good or bad. Everything you are carrying through the entire universe, like a bag, a rucksack. Back back. You are flying endless universe with your destiny. God doesn’t have a big book writing in everyone’s destiny. He made it self-sustainable, and that sustainable system, that circle, is coming and going through the sin. So, each unfoldment of the petals of the mūlādhāra, because of the human consciousness, awakens happiness, love, wisdom, and resonance. But with this, it opens your destiny, enters into the second layer, Svādhiṣṭhāna, where there is also contentment, happiness, but mostly the negative desires are there too. This body also needs negative desires. You need ego. Otherwise, you can’t live. You need a little anger. Otherwise, you will have a very difficult life. We need a certain tendency, but when it goes beyond. Over borders, when it becomes problematic. So the energy which comes from Mūlādhāra, it colors in the quality of the Svādhiṣṭhāna. It can be good. It can be bad. So your destiny is now becoming intensive. Intensivnější. Oheň. Všechno pročistí v Maṇipūre. And you proceed further as light. Beautiful. Or you are not capable of purifying the Maṇipūra, because there is again the fire of anger, the fire of jealousy again. Which color you take up, then you come to the Anāhata. There, according to your Maṇipūra Chakra, either you have limited knowledge, limited feelings, your heart has no more mercy, and what we call Ahiṃsā feeling is gone. If you manage to purify in Mūlādhāra, your heart chakra will be very happy. Now, what happens? Your consciousness becomes brighter. Your negative destiny gets lost, and you come to the Viśuddhi chakra. They face where the nectar is; you receive the nectar from Bindu Chakra. But the Viśuddhi Chakra is mostly involved in our past life, this past life. Where psychic problems are stuck in the Viśuddhi Chakra. But when the anāhata is pure, automatically, your psychic problems disappear. You enter into Ājñā Chakra light. Now what happens? This energy, the awakening of the kuṇḍalinī, takes three different forms. Energy, resonance, and light. The Iḍā Nāḍī takes the part of the energy. Piṅgalā Nāḍī takes the part of the light. And Suṣumṇā takes the resonance, because the reality, the beginning, the middle point, is the resonance. So resonance from Mūlādhāra touches the Sahasrāra Chakra. Now, the energy which leads your consciousness, the light which develops your wisdom. And the resonance goes through the Suṣumṇā Nāḍī. The Maṇipūra Chakra is the door where Prāṇa and Apāna, where Prāṇa and Apāna, both Śaktis, come together and open the navel. I mean, not this one physically. But the suṣumṇā nāḍī, then the prāṇa goes up, you come to samādhi, where knowledge, knower, and object, three, merge into oneness. Energy, resonance, and light into oneness, cosmic consciousness. In order to realize this, there is Kriya Yoga, many different kinds of kriyās, every master has their own techniques. Finally, it is said, "Mokṣamūlaṁ Gurukṛpā." Only the blessing of the Gurudev will lead you to liberation. But the kriyās, first of all, to master the Mūla Bandha, means the contraction of the anus muscle. When you will contract the anus muscle, you will feel a very pleasant sensation go up through the spine till the head. You can try now: contract, contract, and relax your anus muscles. When you contract, sensation goes up, and when you relax, again, sensation goes up. But this you cannot hold longer than half a second. If you can hold this for 10-15 minutes, it would be great. Yes, you can hold the muscles, but not that awakening. So mastery over the mūla bandha means you contract this perineum muscle. How should you know your yoga teacher? Yoga and death life teacher definitely will bring you to this. I can tell you how it is, but exactly, the teacher will explain. Pressing the chin towards the chest, but if you do it wrong, it is self-murder. Do not do this. When Mūlabandha and Jālandharabandha take place, at that time, if you do with exhalation and do the Uḍḍīyānabandha, that time there is like a vacuum. Apāna from Mūlādhāra, Prāṇa from the Viśuddhi, and it opens the door of the Suṣumṇā in the navel. Result? The consciousness begins to flow through the Suṣumṇā Nāḍī, entering into the heart and colored in the universal love, forgiveness, mercy, ahiṃsā, no fear, oneness. That consciousness comes to Sahasrāra Cakra, and now your kuṇḍalinī is awakened. Without doing these kriyās, your chakras cannot be opened. So the kriyā which I told you now is not complete. Because there is again the mantra, the light, the sound. Mantra means the sound resonance, light, and energy that your teacher will tell you. And so, Kuṇḍalinī science, which will make you healthy, which will make your life happy, which will create harmony within you and outside of you, then what we call the peace begins from our own heart. Happiness begins from our own heart. And when you are happy, you can make others happy. And when you can make others happy, your inner happiness multiplies. And this way we can create a happy family, a happy society. So the science of Kuṇḍalinī Yoga and chakras is the real yoga, which can introduce you to real yoga, and you will come to your real destination. Aim that’s called self-realization, pure consciousness, from unconscious to subconscious, conscious, higher consciousness, and cosmic consciousness. Our aim is to enter into the cosmic consciousness, this consciousness. Stejní, intuitions and full of wisdom. So, the way is the meditation. Āsanas, prāṇāyāmas are good for health, but yoga is different. And we should practice yoga. Yoga in daily life means 24 hours. Lead your life positively. Lead your life full of ahiṃsā, full of tolerance. Full of forgiveness and respect, your love should be the love of all creatures. Your happiness should be the happiness of all. And your wisdom should be the wisdom of all. Then you are a real yogī. Otherwise, I told and you heard, that’s all. And I pray to the Almighty that you will get this consciousness. Keep on practicing yoga in daily life, not only asanas and pranayama. But put your life in positive thinking. I can’t promise about others, but I can tell about myself. I will not hate anyone. I will not be jealous. I will not be angry, even if my wife shouts at me. Thanks to your wife, she saw anger in you to empty your anger out. But when you will not be angry, she will be sorry and her anger will disappear. I will not be angry, I will not be greedy, I will not be jealous. Let me be full of love. You become a saintly soul, you become a holy person, and you will come to the liberation; you will come out of the cycle of rebirth and death. Anāhata Chakra has many different qualities, but that I need not tell you. You will find out what is there. Colors, and there are different colors and different goddesses. All these mantras are the resonance of each petal and opening of the chakra. This information you can have in this book, but you know the hidden powers in humans. The main points I told you, so let’s speak from our heart. So for one minute, close your eyes, speak to yourself from your heart, whatever you want to speak. That’s a matter of your heart. Go to your heart and speak with your heart. Deep inhale and exhale. And if you like, then chant with me three times Oṁ and Śānti. Three times deep inhale. Open your eyes. And for this evening, that is enough. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Tomorrow we are planting a peace tree. What do you say about this? If you can’t come, then be with us mentally. We know, so, in the whole world, there are many, many problems. So, I decided to plant, wherever I go, a peace tree. In one country, we planted a peace tree with the permission of the mayor of the city and the park authority. And someone didn’t like it, so in the night they came and they took a tree away. The next day, the news came on the television and in the news that the peace tree walked away. And the media had such great feelings towards the tree. And the person who took it away felt so sorry and brought the peach tree back. And there it is, the peace tree came back again. So I have planted many, many peace trees in many countries. In this country, also in some other cities, but Prague is the first. But at least your touch will remain long, long, till the tree will exist, and whenever you will come there and walk by, go and touch. Peace. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Thank you. Do you have some news? In the name of all of you, thank you, Swāmījī. So, for those of you who are not able to read, the letters are there.