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Realize the value of practice

A discourse for yoga teachers on prāṇa, mind management, and Guru Bhakti.

"If you think that through meditation your citta-vṛtti will become calm, it is a wrong conception." "Never teach yoga because of the money. Because, Master, the Guru doesn't give the knowledge with money."

Swami Maheshwarananda addresses a gathering of instructors, explaining the role of prāṇāyāma in energizing the brain and the challenges of understanding and guiding mental patterns (vṛttis). He critiques common teaching mistakes, like excessive relaxation or inattentiveness, and emphasizes systematic, loving instruction rooted in personal discipline. He shares personal anecdotes about his Guru to illustrate the supreme importance of unwavering devotion (Guru Bhakti) and concludes by advocating for regular satsang.

Filming location: Prague, Czech Republic

Hari Om. That is prāṇa. Bhastrika-prāṇāyāma specifically serves to revitalize the true prāṇa. In particular, the prāṇāyāmas of Bhastrikā and Kapālabhāti support immense prāṇic energy to recharge our brain. The quality of tamas guṇa greatly influences our brain activities. According to medical science, all control centers are located in the brain. Especially the two glands—the pineal and pituitary glands—are responsible for controlling the waves or the energy connecting center to center. Like Iḍā and Piṅgalā balancing, and then Suṣumnā begins to send forth its radiance, or the five vibrations—a very fine vibration. Then all functions in the body become alive. Many signals are sent from the brain: our feelings, our emotions, our anger. What we call chitta vṛtti nirodha—it is not easy to understand what is citta vṛtti and what is the cause of those vṛttis. A vṛtti can change the entire way of our life. Vṛttis can change our many relationships in this life. Vṛttis can misguide us, or vṛttis can help us. Yesterday we spoke about the indriyas, the jñānendriyas, which give information to our brain center. The brain center is the major or main station. Nowadays, in computer terminology, you would call it the server. Before that, we used the word 'main power station'. All powers are in the powerhouse. The buttons are in the powerhouse. So our brain is the powerhouse. Now, when the question comes: where is the soul? In the heart or in the brain? Brain injury causes death. Heart injury causes death. So these are two junctions. The emotional feelings—emotion must not be negative—are located in the heart, and the intellectual center is in the brain. Both are very important, and therefore we have to balance both. The Piṅgalā nāḍī is responsible for the brain, and the Iḍā nāḍī is responsible for the heart. The emotional reaction is very quick. And intellectual reaction, if it is connected with anger, hate, or jealousy, then it also acts very quickly. Both have to be balanced. So chitta-vṛtti is not easy to understand and control. If you think that through meditation your citta-vṛtti will become calm, it is a wrong conception. And so many yoga teachers make this mistake. They think more relaxation, more meditation. It doesn't change your vṛtti. Your vṛttis will become more wild. Because during the time of relaxation, meditation, or sleep, that citta-vṛtti is feeding strength to the mind. So citta is our consciousness. Citta means Chetan, awareness—alert, awakened. Chitta Vṛtti is active in sleep also, active in the dream state, and also active in the awakened state. So if you practice—let's say I am practicing Chitta Vṛtti—it is a very, very serious point. If you give wrong instructions, you will damage the functions of those centers in the brain. So teaching yoga, if we take it as a science, then, my dear, we have to go very carefully, systematically, and from the beginning. That we call the grassroots. Why do we use the word "grassroots"? The root of a particular grass, if you take just one centimeter, half a centimeter, and put it in the soil, it will grow. Slowly, slowly, it will grow and spread everywhere. So it is with yoga: we begin slowly with, for example, Sarvāṅgāsana, until we come to advanced exercises. In yoga and life especially, we have many techniques—not only physical exercises and prāṇāyāmas. There are some subtle powers, subtle techniques which are guiding us to grow, to progress like that grassroots. So you know that more benefit is in your exercises. Many teachers make mistakes, and I always get complaints. They give, during a yoga āsana class, too much relaxation. That is for me a sign of the laziness of the teacher. "Let them lie down. Close your eyes and relax." During the practice of āsanas, teachers should stand, slowly move around, demonstrate, and then let the students practice. And you observe. If you have to make a correction for someone, ask first: "May I make a correction, and may I touch you?" Don't go and say, "Push back down, stomach up." Some people don't like that. And some people don't like to be corrected in front of everyone. If you go and say, "Okay, Marjorie, a little more down," and then you stop, press the stomach up a little, and practice that—"No, don't touch me!" So this is an automatic signal that he or she doesn't want to be corrected in front of all. Some don't like that you touch their body. And many yoga teachers don't do this. Now you will say, "Swamiji came from the brain waves to now to the Marjari. Where is that prāṇa signal?" In Maṇipūra. So, because mostly you are here as instructors, and we organize this only for the teachers, organizers, and instructors, one must have a love for yoga. Just as I arrived, forty people were standing outside and gossiping. For me, it's very clear that they don't have this love for practice. They came only for me, to welcome me. Oh, I feel proud, so many are waiting for me? I'm not proud, I'm sad. After so many years, they didn't realize what the practice means. And your coming and going in and out disturbs all practitioners. This is a mistake of the organizers. Please go in and practice, or go home. But love is missing here. It is missing. The vṛttis are too restless. You can't get that. So, during the yoga class, teachers should stand, walk, look, open the window for fresh air, close the window, and look at everything to see if everything is okay. When they meditate on prāṇāyāma, don't close your eyes. The people should close their eyes, but you, the teacher, should not close your eyes. Now, practice with Piṅgalā, and after some time, yes, change your nostril, because he did not know if the Piṅgalā or Suṣumnā should change your nostril. Therefore, the teacher must have open eyes, observing from behind. Maybe suddenly someone has a heart attack and falls down, and nobody knows. And after 20 minutes of prāṇāyāma, you look—why do you lie down and stand up? He's not here. He's gone far. He said, "Yes, my dear teacher, but I am very far. I can't come back." So, a yoga teacher should not close their eyes during prāṇāyāma. You are the observer, so you have to observe if someone is comfortable, if someone is not comfortable. In meditation, you should especially remain with open eyes. And give... Teacher, yes, you should remain with closed eyes? She is right? A teacher should have open eyes, because when a teacher closes their eyes, now I come to that point of vṛttis: 90% of the instruction of the teacher is his or her vṛtti. And that they put into your brain, your vṛttis. So during meditations, the students should keep their eyes closed and sit straight, relaxed. Someone has severe back pain, and you always say, "Sit straight." But that person is sitting like this, both hands on the knees. You should understand the pain and discomfort of the student. And you should give the instruction: "Please, if you feel discomfort, you may lie down. Or take that posture which is comfortable for you." You will tell them, "Concentrate, you are somewhere in the stars." But that person is focused on his hip joints, his lumbar spine. There are no stars. And if you still force a person to sit straight, then we'll see the stars out of the pain. This means a lack of knowledge and capacity of the teacher. Therefore, the teacher should be alert for one and a half hours, with open eyes, walking, and seeing that all feel relaxed and comfortable. If the teacher is closing his eyes, then his brain centers are down and only in the heart center, and he is getting lazier and lazier. Patañjali says it first: "Atha yogānuśāsanam." Now, yoga begins with discipline. Now, not tomorrow. Just now. So when you are just hanging outside and inside is a yoga class, why did you come here? And now we need someone on the gates to take care; nobody is there. Then stay outside. Love is missing. That love is missing. So in this way, Yoga in Daily Life is designed in such a way that it's a benefit for the teacher as well as for the practitioners. Never will we feel perfect; no one is perfect. If you are perfect or not, that will be decided in the last seconds of your life. So practice, practice. A great example we have from Gurujī: even if he had a fever or he had a back pain in his knee—he had a big pain in the knee; once he fell down in Ahmedabad on a banana skin, it was in 1955 in Ahmedabad, and he had very big pain till the last month of his life—but when he sat in meditation, he didn't show his pain. Hours and hours he was sitting, repeating his mantra, in Guru Bhakti. On the 11th of September, Gurujī's birthday, some bhaktas were speaking in the Vienna ashram who lived with Gurujī for a few months or a few years. So one of our students, his name is Gaṅgāpurī, is a very honest, very spiritual person, very serious, very disciplined—like all of you. Now, you must decide if you are or not. So he was also saying that because he was sleeping in Gurujī's room, whenever he woke up, Gurujī said, "Sing bhajan." To divert your vṛtti in another direction. So, bhajan singing is something in which our vṛttis are on the good way. And Gurujī was making his mālā all the time. When he saw that Gurujī lay down and was sleeping, but he could see that his fingers were still moving. It means in sleep, in his subconscious, he is still repeating the mantra of Mahāprabhujī. That means, that is called ajapa-japa: likhit, upāṃśu, mānasik, and ajapa. These are the states of the mantras, and this mantra practicing is not something you learn in one week and next week you learn that. Okay, intellectually we can have everything; in theory, we can have everything. And when you sleep, it comes to another theory. Where are you in the dreams? Your main problem, your main desires, your main longing, that manifests in the dream. So it's not that you have one seminar to know everything. That doesn't help. There is a beautiful book about an orthopedic doctor who is replacing knees, shoulders, hips, etc., and wrote exactly how to do it, what it is, where it is, and so nicely with pictures. You learned, you know, but now if you have to replace the one hip of your father, you can tell father, "Lie down on the dining table. We have knives in the kitchen. We will turn on the gas, we will make it hot, so there are no infections in the kitchen. And you have also seen." Will you do that? And if you do, the father will die out of the pain, and the police will take you away. So the problem with the people is this: they learn a little bit of yoga, and then they teach themselves yoga. Do you feel that you are a yoga teacher? I hesitate myself. I am practicing yoga for 54 years or more—more, yes, from my age of 5 years—but still I am learning. From whom? From you. To just hang outside. So, my dear, first Patañjali said "anuśāsanam," discipline, self-discipline, that goes parallel to Rāja Yoga: yama, niyama, and especially these two points that are called śayam and niyam, śayam and niyam. You know this very well. If you do not master this, then you cannot control chitta-vṛttis, yours or instruct others. Small children in the kindergarten, they get lunch at 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and then they put all in sleeping. For an afternoon sleep, yoga dinner. Some children don't want to. And they come in, "You must sleep." Little children close their eyes. And when the adult leaves, they will open their eyes again. Aggressive. But these children have vṛttis inside. It becomes aggressive inside, but they can't tell. If your mother and father tell you to sleep, you will say no. So this is the difference. The father and mother are perfect teachers, and the teacher who is taking care of the kindergarten is a learning teacher. So you have to treat your students as you would be treated yourself. Otherwise, we misguide the people again on different thoughts of yoga. Never teach yoga because of the money. Because, Master, the Guru doesn't give the knowledge with money. It is only from the heart they give it; we call it bhed or dakṣiṇā. If you charge, then you sell your knowledge. And when you sell your knowledge, then your knowledge stops there. Only you have this reserve. There is no more source. This is what I am telling you: to control our chitta-vṛttis, understand our chitta-vṛttis, and to be able to give further. Not spontaneous thoughts. So after the Atha Yoga Anuśāsanam comes the Cittavṛtti. Immediately after that, Patañjali says in the Yoga Sūtra, "Kliṣṭa and Akliṣṭa vṛtti." Now, there you are. Kliṣṭa means those vṛttis which create sorrows, problems, pain, sadness, etc. And akliṣṭa vṛtti is that one which is free of any troubles. Kliṣṭa vṛttis—kliṣṭa means troubles, outer troubles or inner troubles, both. And that is nowadays a lot of sorrows, what we call the stress. So how are you going to solve the kliṣṭa vṛttis and then develop the akliṣṭa vṛttis? This is the work of the master. So therefore, it's not so easy that chitta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. So again, the Yoga in Daily Life, it is practiced, researched, experienced. It went through many, many people's hands: all the spiritual people, some different professional people, the medical people, and also many other people. Recently, someone came to some conference—I was not there. This was a conference for the people, so-called the richest people of the world. We have no access there, because if we have access there, they expect that we will ask for a donation for rainwater harvesting. Then their richness goes down, they think. Anyhow, so one of the persons said he was fasting; it was Monday. And he was eating only fruits. Another one from the ministry was sitting there. He asked, "Why do you eat only fruits today?" He said, "Today is Monday, and I am fasting, always eating fruit." The other one said, "I am fasting on Thursday because I am a guru and I am vegetarian." He said, "I am vegetarian too." Then this man stood up, some businessman, rich man, and he emphasized or introduced one yoga book. It inspired him, and he practiced every day according to that book. He bought that book somewhere, and he said that he would suggest it to everyone, as it is the best book. And can you imagine, or can you tell, which book was it? Yoga in Daily Life. So these techniques, if you practice exactly and you understand, it is our life guide in a material way, a social way, a spiritual way, and for our health. So every teacher, please teach systematically with love. We know that without money we can't live, and we have to have something at least for the hall, renting, and this and that. I'm not talking about that money. I'm talking about teachers, how to develop themselves, how to keep that quality, and that remains as long as you have Guru Bhakti. Now, that person whom I told you about Holī Gurujī, you will think that I have forgotten. I will never forget, especially with Gurujī. So one day our Gaṅgāpurī was thinking that Gurujī is a little bit restless or sad. Because Gurujī was making mālā and always looking to Mahāprabhujī, and making mālās, and then again he was thinking like this. So he asked Gurujī, "Is there any problem? You are a little bit restless." Gurujī looked at him. He said, "No, no, I think only." After five minutes, Gurujī said, "Yes, you are right. Because I had in meditation visions of some divine God, something, maybe Vishnu or Śiva or Brahmā or something." So he said, "Oh, how great." He said, "No, I am sad because of Mahāprabhujī. Why did he allow someone to come between him and me? I don't want even the whole universe. It is there. I always ask Mahāprabhujī, 'There should not come even a very thin, transparent layer between you and me.'" That was Guru Bhakti. Doesn't matter who or what comes into my thoughts, who speaks between me—there is no question, only Mahāprabhujī. And when something happens—something always happens in life—so Holī Gurujī smiled and said, "He is Mahāprabhujī's māyā. He wants to teach us to not do this mistake or something. It's his māyā. And he will take care of his māyā." Similarly, we all teachers, Yoga in Daily Life teachers, we should have such a devotion, confidence; then our teachings and our students will enjoy. That's very important. So this practicing of Yoga in Daily Life, which has not only physical exercises and breath exercises and haṭha yoga kriyās, but there are gently guided meditations, explanations about prāṇāyāmas, and also yoga nidrās and the thoughts—what to do and what not—and the satsaṅg. The best technique, the highest technique, the best Kriyā Yoga is the satsaṅg. On the 11th of September, the video was replayed about Gurujī's satsaṅgs. Maybe you saw it, Swamiji TV? Gurujī spoke in Hindi; there were Indian people. He said—and that was the last satsaṅg in his physical life—he said, "All your tapasyā, all your sādhanās, all your renunciations, have a limitation. One time, it will be finished. But what is immortal will ever be with you? It is satsaṅg." These are the words of Gurudeva. So wherever you have possibilities, you should go to the satsaṅg—in our Czech Republic, Slovakia, and all in this part of Europe. Wherever a Yoga in Daily Life Center is, there is a satsaṅg. So please, out of eight days, one day you can dedicate for satsaṅg, because that's for you. And in satsaṅg, we read our holy book, Līlā Amṛt; some lectures or videos; you sing bhajans; you speak; everybody, you know. Satsaṅg developed here already in 1974. You people, many don't know, because you were somewhere in Śivaloka. So Devpurījī sent you back to the company of Maheśvarānanda. So we had three different kinds of satsaṅgs. This only knows, like, Yāna Prokhaskova, Muktānand Milena, Omkāranand—he is not here today. So, those people at that time—he is here. Oh, come here, young boy. So we had three different satsaṅgs: for very beginners, and for those who were born to prepare for mantras, and then for those who had mantras. So this was also a system, systematic. Pravda? Nepravda? Pojď tady, tam hore. Yes, yes, yes. This is a young boy who has been accompanying me since 1974, '75. We had many good times together. Yes, and we both were experts, having midnight service. Services. We celebrated the sandwich, and we were saying today's Silvester also. So you see how he realized the relation of the master and disciple. Many things came between, but his faith, his devotion, his decision, his Guru Bhakti was never shaken. So many are there, but this young generation, not all are not here. Many went back to Mahāprabhujī. Here, sitting like our Gaṅgā and many. So, what I want to tell you is that prāṇic energy goes towards our brain. Finally, we always have to come to the brain because there is that, it's called endless space. I remember one story; should I tell you? This is very personal between Gurujī and me. So I came to Gurujī three, four times within a few days. Gurujī said, "I have a headache." I said, "It's something new, Gurujī." He said, "No, but when I sit and meditate, I have a headache afterwards." And I said, "How do you meditate, Gurujī?" You see, an ignorant person asks the knowledgeable one. Gurujī said, "On the nail of the big toe of Mahāprabhujī." Where immense light is coming—Guru Charanandak Man Ghan Jyoti—in the holy book of Rāmāyaṇa, writes about Tulasīdāsa. And of course, then Mahāprabhujī is there. With my ignorance, I said to Gurujī, "Gurujī, you are putting too much concentration, too much tension. You are trying very hard." He said, "Yes, my whole life I am doing. Because I don't let Mahāprabhujī go here or there." Well, next, I said, "Okay." Next day again I came to Gurujī. And Gurujī said—maybe he wanted to test me—and Gurujī said, "Maybe today I have a little headache again." So I asked him, "Maybe you didn't drink tea today." Gurujī said, "Tea was not my subject. I asked you about headache." I said, "Sorry." Who dared to argue with him? Again, after two days, Gurujī said, "You are right, perhaps you bring me chai. But answer me, why do I have a headache?" How should I answer him? I am not a doctor. Whatever I tell him, he says, "That's not like that." Again, I dared to say something. I said, "Gurujī, where do you imagine Mahāprabhujī's?" He said, "Of course, in Ājñā Cakra, in Cidākāśa." I said, "Gurujī, try to meditate in the heart." "How? As here, there? Is it okay? I like this. Not medicine or something?" After ten days, Gurujī said, "Maheshī, you created a problem." I was so inside, sweating. "What, Gurujī?" "Now you transport Mahāprabhujī from here to here. And he again goes there, but you told me to be here. So, can you transport him again there?" I said, "You can do, Mahāprabhujī. Who am I to do?" Gurujī said, "You are Yogīrāj. Just tell me that again. Go there." So I said, "Yes, Gurudeva. Again, in your chidākāśa." Gurujī said, "Thank you." I'm released. Ten days was a hard time. So this was the līlā of Gurudeva. So, similarly, everyone has a different part of what we are doing. So that very fine prāṇa which comes towards our brain is more developed through Guru Bhakti, through satsaṅg—to make clarity between two, nothing should come, even if it is dear to you. There is one story from the Mahābhārata. The Pāṇḍavas had to go somewhere for twelve years, meaning they had to be somewhere in the forest where nobody knew. Duryodhana was searching for where the Pāṇḍavas were because he wanted to kill them. Someone told him where they were. So Duryodhana went with his soldiers, and it was about ten kilometers away, where the Pāṇḍavas were. And those people, the ethnic people who were living in the forest, like the Abhijans, they were protecting the Pāṇḍavas. So when they saw that Duryodhana was coming, they caught him and they arrested him. They wanted to kill him. Yudhiṣṭhira came to know that Duryodhana is coming, but these people from the forest arrested him and they want to kill him. He came to kill the Pāṇḍavas. Duryodhana came. But Yudhiṣṭhira, the Pāṇḍava, tells his brothers Bhīma and Arjuna, "Go and protect and free our brother Duryodhana." The Pāṇḍavas, Arjuna and Bhīma, were so angry. "Brother, do you know he is coming to kill us? And why do you want to protect him?" Yudhiṣṭhira said, "My brothers, he is also our brother. The fight is between brother and brother, between both of us. If the third one will mix inside, we will root it out, that one. This fight is between us, brother and brother. Therefore, go." So that is that. Between Guru Bhakti, if some doubt comes in you, then your sādhanā and whatever you will do is hopeless. So this was also written by Swāmī Śivānanda Ṛṣikeśa. There is a very nice book called Sādhanā and Bhakti, also written by Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa. Also written by the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā, many, many holy saints. What they said I am telling, and that's my path too. Always, I said to Mahāprabhujī and Gurujī, "The whole world can be against me. But my Lord, my faith should not move." And that's it. So then that pure vṛtti comes to the brain. And that will lead us to the Brahmaloka. Then we will realize what is the citta, vṛtti, nirodha. Otherwise, just sitting and observing your thoughts, and sitting, observing your thoughts, you will get schizophrenia. Then it's something like a car driving without a driver now. That's all for today. So please learn something and practice something. And keep your Yoga in Daily Life science. And any kind of folders, papers, flyers you make, or any program, even for one day, you should inform me. May I collect some titles, some letters? And our dear Omkār Ānand is here, so I think he would like to say something. Give him the microphone. Say good things, yes?

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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