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Chakras, a topic that could take days to explore, fundamentally mean "circle." Because these circles rotate, energy circulates through them. Energy does not travel in straight lines; like sunlight, it arrives in a rounded form. The energy entering the body also moves in a circular pattern. Everything originates from a form like a zero. These chakras are a methodological representation. You will not see this exact picture if you look within your own body, so do not try to see it literally. You may imagine it, which is fine, but these are symbols. They represent the major energy centers in the body. Previously, we saw the picture of the nāḍīs, the nerve systems that form the body's entire network. At every endpoint and beginning of these nāḍīs, there is a chakra. Therefore, there are thousands of chakras. Consider an Indian wedding. In Indian Vedic culture, tradition is connected with nature, as it may be in other cultures when performed correctly for a happy future, good children, and many other blessings. Among all the elements, the most powerful is the fire element, Agni. Agni is light. Wherever there is a holy place, we mostly find a candle, an oil or ghee lamp, or a kerosene or wax light. For birthdays or celebrations, we light candles because fire is a living element. In our homes, all five elements should be alive: water, fire, earth (like flower vases), air (fresh air should be there), and space (the room we live in). These five elements combine to form the body. Fire is a straightforward element that burns everything into purity. We call it Agni Dev, the fire god, just as we speak of the water god. We do not have specific names for the gods of other elements. This element keeps us alive; water is life, and life is water. If the fire within the body diminishes, we die quickly as the temperature drops. Doctors then sound the alarm, using ice to try and raise the temperature, or if it is too high, they try to lower it to achieve balance. When you make a promise, you do so in front of fire, which is why the fire ceremony is performed. There are many beautiful mantras for this. Now, to the main point—I am not discussing marriage, or many might decide to marry again. The wife wears a sari, and the husband wears a fine suit. Their garments are tied together. Then, they walk slowly seven times around the fire while reciting mantras. For the first three rounds, the wife leads and the husband follows, their clothes tied. Then, the husband takes the lead for the remaining rounds, with the wife following. These seven circles around the fire are for speaking vows of faithfulness, a lifelong healthy, happy, harmonious life, and for the growth of their lineage. Why is a knot tied, and what does this have to do with chakras? Consider any plant: where there is a knot, a leaf or branch emerges. Where there is no knot, no leaves or branches will grow. At that junction, growth occurs. This is what we call Ghaṭbandhan. "Ghaṭ" also means granthi, and granthi means gland. The growing plant reaches a certain level and must have a granthi there, as it is the point from which flowers, leaves, branches, or fruit may emerge. Symbolically, this granthi represents the husband and wife coming together, from which a healthy, happy generation will grow, continuing our dynasty. Similarly, in the body, the nerve systems we saw exist for the well-being of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health—meaning balance. For all of this, we have yoga exercises, meditations, prāṇāyāmas, physical exercises, bandhas, mudrās, kriyās, etc. Out of the seventy-two thousand nāḍīs that branch and begin, it is like a generator producing energy. This energy, drawn from the universe, serves a specific purpose. It travels further through the nerves, from one junction to another, in a beautifully harmonious network. Yesterday, an expert mentioned the cloud computing system. First, there were radiances, then something like electric smoke, and now it is called the cloud. This comes from telephone companies like Nokia. It is so dense now; perhaps our ozone layer will be better where that radiance is, not here where it may cause more disturbance. Similarly, this network exists in our body, all functioning for one entity: you. Who are you? At present, it is your soul. To protect this soul, imagine it as a large balloon. All these systems exist to make you happy, healthy, and comfortable. The workers serving you should not act against you. These workers are our senses: ten senses of action and ten of knowledge. There are ten prāṇas: five prāṇas and five upa-prāṇas, which you can read about in the book Hidden Powers in Humans. A chart lists them: prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna, vyāna, etc. All this exists for the soul, which descended from the astral world into this material body to develop further. The soul is on a journey. Life is a journey, not a destination. The destination will come when the physical body ceases or dies, but we still have other bodies that protect us and accompany us everywhere. There are five layers, or kośas, of our bodies: Annamaya Kośa (the sheath of nourishment), Prāṇamaya Kośa (the sheath of vital energy), Manomaya Kośa (the sheath of mind and emotion), Vijñānamaya Kośa (the sheath of knowledge and intellect), and Ānandamaya Kośa (the sheath of bliss). The Ānandamaya Kośa, the feeling of joy, happiness, or desire, is called the causal body—the cause of all our good or bad future. These countless nāḍīs converge into three major channels, which correspond to the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and central nervous systems. The left nāḍī in the body begins from the medulla oblongata, at the Ājñā Chakra. Ājñā means command or instruction. Only one who knows can give a command. Here lies the seed of knowledge—not merely intellect, but knowledge that is light. That light is called Guru. "Gu" means darkness, and "Ru" means light. The Guru is one who leads us from the darkness of ignorance and suffering to the light of knowledge and liberation. These two syllables, "gu" and "ru," translate as "master" or "teacher"—the person who brings us to a certain knowledge or ability. We have music gurus, painting gurus, singing gurus, driving gurus, and many others. The problem is with language; when you say "guru," some react with "My God, guru," but it is simply a word for teacher. That knowledge itself is the guru, the light, at the Ājñā Chakra. The left nāḍī connects to our left nostril and is called the Moon Nāḍī (Iḍā Nāḍī). This nāḍī controls and belongs to our mind. The principle of the mind we call the Goddess. The mind's principle is the moon, and the moon is never constant; it continuously changes from full moon to dark moon, to new moon, and back to full moon. Similarly, our mind is never steady. You should never try to control your mind. If you try to control your mind or stop your thoughts, that person will likely develop schizophrenia, phobias, or other problems. The mind is a river; we should not block it. If we block a dam, we must provide an outlet. Without an outlet, the dam will break and cause greater harm, washing away fertile earth and destroying forests. If we block the mind, we are in trouble. We cannot block the river, but we can give it direction. The mind needs direction. The mind comes and goes. The moon represents water. Water has waves, which represent emotion. The mind is part of emotion. "Emotion" implies motion; we are in motion and cannot control the waves. That is why one says, "I can't control my emotion." When the waves are high, a Grand Master advised not to dive to search for pearls. Let the waves calm down. When waves are high, do not negotiate, make promises, or decisions. Take time. This is the work of the mind. The mind is connected to our senses—both the karma indriyas (organs of action) and the jñāna indriyas (organs of knowledge). Each sensory feeling is immediately informed to the mind. The mind acts as a messenger between the unconscious, subconscious, and conscious levels. It brings messages to the subconscious and, when bringing them out, delivers them to the intellect. For example, if you see a cherry tree, your eyes show you the cherries. The eyes do not eat; they give the information to the mind. The mind takes the thought down and brings it up to the intellect. The intellect decides this desire belongs to the tongue, which wants to taste the cherry. This is how it circulates. If you cannot get the cherries—they are too high, you must leave quickly, or you arrive somewhere with no cherries—you may dream at night of eating cherries, only to wake and find none. The desire goes down again. This is how psychic problems begin when things are not clarified peacefully. The mind is only a messenger. It brings messages to the subconscious and back to the intellect. What the intellect cannot solve goes back again. The intellect can become selfish and give wrong judgments. Therefore, above the intellect is intelligence, Viveka, which can decide properly what is exactly clear: what we need and what we do. This is a very small glimpse of the mind and the left nostril, the Iḍā Nāḍī, the Moon Nāḍī, which flows downward in a blue current. The Sun Nāḍī (Piṅgalā Nāḍī) belongs to our activities, decisions, temperament, and creativity. When emotion runs too high here, anger emerges, and we can do many bad things: anger, hate, jealousy, revenge, greed, selfishness, and ego are its companions. Alternatively, clarity, light, humbleness, purity, and wisdom are also its subjects. Between them runs the white cord, the Suṣumnā Nāḍī, the central channel responsible for everything. The Suṣumnā Nāḍī comes through the center. The Iḍā and Piṅgalā nāḍīs begin from the left and right sides, respectively, and immediately turn in a circle. The left goes to the right, and the right goes to the left. Where they cross, a very strong energy is created. The Suṣumnā provides balance between them. At the points where they crash or come together, a circle of strong energy is formed. We call this the second chakra at the throat, the Viśuddhi Chakra. "Viṣ" means poison, and "śuddha" means purification. If a person cannot purify certain emotions—anger, hearing bad words, facing bad situations, or many tensions—we swallow them down or hold them here. This can affect our ability to speak clearly and may impact the thyroid gland. Mostly, thyroid problems arise because the Viśuddhi Cakra is not properly relaxed, or energy does not flow well. Many problems can be solved when this throat chakra, crucial for thyroid hormones, is cared for. The left nāḍī, having gone to the right, and the right to the left, cross again. The left returns to the left side, and the right to the right, which is why emotion is more centered in the heart, at the Anāhata Cakra. Likewise, it proceeds, with the Suṣumnā Nāḍī again going to the left and this side coming to cross at our solar plexus, then going down through the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna. In many books, you read of the Kuṇḍalinī serpent power. Indeed, it is not a literal serpent, but the movement of these nāḍīs is serpentine, curving like a snake. When all three finally come together, there is a seat at the level of unconsciousness that holds all our dormant or stored karma, our destiny. There is no separate storeroom somewhere; in space, everything is with us—heaven or hell, happiness or sorrow. We carry it all on our back, like a rucksack or backpack. This individual soul has its own phenomena and journeys into the universe. When, where, and how it will return, we do not know. A saint expressed this beautifully: "Paṭā ṭūṭa ḍāla se legāyī, pavan uḍāyī. Ab bichhṛe kab milenge? Dūra paḍenge jāyī." It is autumn. The wind comes, and a leaf falls, separated and broken from the branch. The leaf falls, and a strong wind carries it behind other hills. The leaf thinks, "I am now separated from this branch. The wind has blown me far away. This separation—when will we meet again? I do not know, for I will fall somewhere else." This symbolizes the destiny of every soul after this life. We are not sure if we will get another life or in what form. We may return as humans, but only if we have human karma. We should have a human mantra upon waking, thanking God and affirming, "I am human." Only if we become aware that we are human will we refrain from many bad deeds. Cruelty persists, but a human cannot be cruel. A second thought: What makes me human? Not merely two legs and two hands. There must be human qualities. How do we awaken those human qualities that make us aware and act with human love and kindness? This science of the chakras is located along the spinal column, with the central nerve being responsible. Therefore, what happens to the spinal column is critical; if an operation is needed, it is very fragile. If even a small part of these nerves is damaged, we can be paralyzed. Prāṇāyāma, which I practice and teach, sends prāṇa to keep these nerves functioning beautifully. Now, to the central picture. Here, the spinal column is shown, and how the chakras reflect upon it. Among these, the most powerful are the Ājñā Chakra and the Maṇipūra Chakra at the navel. Our life begins here and ends here in the mother's body. From here, we were connected to our mother, who nourished us for nine months. This is the seat, the center of our life. The middle point of our life is the Maṇipūra Cakra at the navel. There are many exercises for this area. According to a person's weaknesses, mentality, or qualities, various difficulties arise. Of course, everyone has problems; they are the best school. A life with no problems at all is boring. Problems keep us awake. We should not run from problems but solve them. However, sometimes we can neither run nor solve them. Subconsciously, we store them in some part of the body. When angry, nervous, or fearful, some people get diarrhea, others constipation, and some sweat. Many different issues manifest. We may see a disease develop in a particular organ. Perhaps cancer or another illness affects that organ because we consumed so much energy from the chakras, blocking it to the point of disease. It could be thyroid issues, headaches, neck pain, heart problems, and many others. There are various reasons for headaches or neck pain, but yogic science suggests you should search for which problem you have and what you have been suppressing. You should speak it out to yourself or, if the problem involves someone else, speak to that person. Problems are not solely between people; they can be with your dog, your car, a tree you dislike, or many other things. Do not concentrate only on humans as the source of your problems. Problems come from many sides: allergies, cold energy, spring energy, snow energy. Many factors relate to immunity, but why is our immunity low? Because we overuse our energy on certain problems, weakening our immunity. Prāṇāyāma and the science of kuṇḍalinī and chakras, at the first level, are for our physical, mental, spiritual, and social health. Then we progress to further development. These chakras, meaning "circles," include the Mūlādhāra Chakra at the base of the spine. This chakra marks the border between animal consciousness and human consciousness. Kuṇḍalinī has certain meanings. "Kund" can mean a swimming pool or a deep place where everything falls—leaves and such. Or "kundal" means cycle, like the beautiful circle around the full moon. Kundal also refers to earrings or bracelets—again, energy circulating. This energy often lies dormant, directed downward with no power to rise. When it awakens, people repeatedly say, "Snake!" They warn, "Don't disturb the sleeping cobra. Don't make the cobra aggressive." You do not know if it is good or bad energy inside. It is like finding a bomb from the Second World War in your garden. Would you dig it out, bring it into your house, and say, "Look at this bomb"? Please do not do that. You call the police or authorities; they will come, identify it as a live bomb, and neutralize it. Similarly, some yoga teachers make mistakes. It is not good to attend a ten-day yoga retreat and receive a yoga teacher certificate. I have been practicing yoga for nearly 56 years and teaching for 50, yet I still do not feel I am a perfect teacher. Mastering these subtle things is not easy. Yoga is not merely postures and instructions; we can cause harm instead of good. It is a science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul.