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Oṁ Brahmānandam Parama Sukhadam Kevalaṁ Jñānam Anantam Ānandam Acyutam Dvandvātītaṁ Gagana Sadṛśaṁ Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ Ekaṁ Nityaṁ Vimalam Acalaṁ Sarvadhī Sākṣi Bhūtaṁ Bhāvātītaṁ Trigṇarahitaṁ Sadguruṁ Tvaṁ Namāmy Aham. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Dīpānāṁ Bhagavān kī jai. Salutations to the cosmic light, the Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent, and to His divine presence. Good evening, dear sisters and brothers in this hall and elsewhere in the world with us through the webcast. Blessings from Yoga and Life Ashram, New York. Our subject is the chakra. In the last lecture on the chakras, we discussed how the chakra manifests in the body: from the Śūnyakāśa, through the sound—Nādarūpa Parabrahma—the Jyoti, Śivajyoti, and the Svayambhū, the creation, an immense manifestation of light and energy. We came to this earth, where creation comprises 8.4 million life forms, of which one is the human. All the different creatures are divided into three categories: jalchar (aquatic), thalchar (terrestrial), and nabchar (aerial). The human birth and human body possess very special abilities and a most powerful tool: the intellect. Through our intellect, we can discover all our hidden powers, which are given to the human body. We spoke a lot about this and came to the point that our body has 72,000 nerves. Among them, four are very important. One is called Vajranāḍī, which maintains our health, controlling all the organs, hormones, glands, and the immunity in the body. The other three, the Tridaṇḍīs, control our emotion, activities, and consciousness: Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā. The soul flutters on the waves of time through endless space, through light and darkness, experiencing happiness and sorrows, miseries, pain, and suffering. The soul descends to this earth, and we are the fortunate ones who have received a human body. Among 8.4 million different kinds of creatures in one cycle of coming and going, birth and death are recycled. The last milestone is human life. If we manage to achieve our goal through different kinds of techniques, practices, and ways of living, then we will be able to enter what is called Brahmaloka, Brahmajñāna, or liberation. If we go to Svargaloka, what they call heaven, or to other realms, these are but little quarters in the universe. We should not aim merely for Svargaloka, but for Brahmaloka—the one without a second, where there is no joy of karma or punishment of karma, beyond dharma and pāpa, pāpa and puṇya. Though we have all kinds of divine energies dormant within us, there are good things and some things not good. From the very beginning, two kinds of forces develop: āsurī-śakti and daivī-śakti. Āsurī-śakti means the devil's or negative energy, and daivī-śakti means the divine, Godly energy. We are struggling between these two kinds of energies hidden in our body. We cannot get rid of this āsurī-śakti, nor can we say that only daivī-śakti is within us. It depends on the deśa and the kāla. Deśa means the place where we are, the situation. Kāla means the time, the environment, which country we are in, the laws of that country, how to live there, etc. All we have to do is follow according to deśa and kāla. The chakras we spoke about have different places. From our foothold till the ankle joints are the earth chakras; from ankle joints to the knees, the vegetation chakras; and from knees till the hips, the animal kingdom chakras. Above from the hips is the whole spinal column. There are five major chakras, and above that are the divine chakras. These five chakras are human. The development of human consciousness begins at the border of the animal kingdom and the human. There is a very important chakra that is the foundation, the roots, the cause: the Mūlādhāra Cakra. Here resides the consciousness we call the level of the unconscious. The Lord Śiva, Bhagavān Śiva, Svayambhū, is the Lord of both the animal kingdom and the humans. Therefore, there is the Śiva Liṅga, called Paśupati Mahādeva. Paśu is the animals; Pati is the lord. Mahādeva means the lord of humans. So, both consciousnesses are there. He is managing, directing, and liberating. There are many, many different kinds of energies, which we will come to afterwards. The human body, human consciousness, human emotion, and mind have different feelings. The mind is that tendency which governs our whole being, and we do not know where the mind sits in the body. The mind functions between the subconscious and the conscious. When we are awakened, we see with our jñāna-indriyas—the senses of knowledge: vision, sound, smell, touch, and taste. These five jñāna-indriyas are the five keys through which we have learned everything from birth till today. They record everything in the computer of the brain. The other five are the senses of action, through which we work. Both cause karma. Karma is our deeds. Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad. So, it is not an easy life for humans because humans are more aware, more conscious, and it is very difficult to avoid certain things in life, though we may not want to do them. But our indriyas, our senses, our desires are so intense that suddenly we make a mistake. Actions can be done through different ways: man, tan, dhan, bachan—through the mind, through the body, through wealth, and through words. Through our social position, wealth, money, etc. These four we have to check carefully and keep under control. We can do good or bad. Now, through this, there are three negative points to address before we awake or open the chapter of the chakra. These are called mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa. Mala is impurity: physical, mental, emotional, social, intellectual—purities or impurities. What is our food? Is it very pure or not? Sāttvik, balanced food gives more energy to your body. Mental purity or impurity: all that is happening in this world, in this Kali Yuga, is mental pollution. First comes mental pollution: desire, greed. That is the seat of the Mūlādhāra Cakra. So, mental pollution is very difficult to remove. Intellectual pollution, or negative intellect, creates pollution; positive intellect creates purity. So, mala is impurities. As long as we do not clean, we cannot dive deep to discover the qualities or the dwarfs or the negative from the chakras to bring up. Physical impurities are very easy to purify through Haṭha Yoga kriyās: netī, dhautī, bastī, naulī, tratāk, kapālabhātī. These are the six kriyās in Yoga. This part of yoga is called Haṭha Yoga. Not the postures you are doing—āsanas, prāṇāyāma—that belongs to Rāja Yoga: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi. Haṭha Yoga is neti (cleaning of the nose), dhauti, basti, nauli, trataka, kapālabhāti. Your teacher will show you that next time. So, the Haṭha Yoga name begins. The left nāḍī, Iḍā, which we spoke of, is connected with the left hemisphere and to our left nostril. Yesterday we did prāṇāyāma and practiced meditation with that. The Piṅgalā nāḍī is connected with the right nostril and the right hemisphere. These two nāḍīs—the left is emotion, and emotion is created by the moon. The Moon is water. Water is calamāna, is movement, the waves. Emotion means we are in motion. When we purify through prāṇāyāma, chandra bhedana prāṇāyāma, we control the left nostril. The right one is for our activities. Also, our anger is rajas guṇa; this is balancing. When the two nāḍīs, left and right—the left is called ha, and the right is called ṭha—the bīja mantra of the Ājñā Cakra is ha and ṭha. When ha and ṭha come together, it becomes haṭha. The union of this balance is called yoga. So, Haṭha Yoga means the perfect balance of emotion and intellect together, and that happens through Haṭha Yoga techniques. Through Haṭha Yoga, you can attain the best qualities of health. The healthiest person is the Haṭha Yogī because of purification; all this mala is removed. Otherwise, it is said: "Aneka janma dhoe mana ko citta ho to aisā ho. Fataade, man viṣayāo se khatai ho to aisī ho. Amar ho jisko khāne se mitāī ho to aisī ho." (For many lives we purify our mind, but still there are some spots very hard to remove. But a Haṭha Yogī can.) These spots are the karmic spots. So, through Haṭha Yoga practice, mantras, and wearing the Rudrākṣa—which I spoke about yesterday—that will help us very, very much. The Rudrākṣa, you see, I have here today a big, beautiful Rudrākṣa Mālā. It is not only an ornament; it is not merely for beauty. It is very beautiful, but it has immense purifying power. Okay, well. So, mala. Next, vikṣepa. Vikṣepa is like the waves on the water. If we want to see something clearly at the bottom, we cannot see because there are many, many waves, restless water. So, we put a glass pane on the water; the waves are broken, and we can see very clearly. So, vikṣepa means the disturbances: physical, mental, emotional, social, intellectual. These are also many problems which are a vikṣepa—personal problems or impersonal problems. Patañjali, a great yogī, is the father of psychology. He lived two centuries before Christ. His book, the Patañjali Yoga Sūtra, is so beautiful, so good to read. He speaks of vṛttis. Vṛttis means our thoughts. Our thoughts begin with a certain cause; they have some cause. So, there are kliṣṭa and akliṣṭa-vṛtti. Kliṣṭa means troublesome. Akliṣṭa means pure. With pure thoughts, we can overcome all these vṛttis. As long as you do not accept, you think you are right, and you do this. This is not that. Finally, what is the truth? Brahma-satya jagat-mithyā. The Brahman, the supreme God, which has no form, no name, but still He is there. He is omniscient and omnipresent. That is the final truth. Brahma-satya, jagat-mithyā. This world is an illusion. Today it is here, tomorrow it is not. We are all sitting here, beautiful people. God gives you long, long life, to you and to me too. But it can happen: tomorrow, this person is not here. Died. And already the body has been in the fire, only ash, dust blowing. So, do not think that we are human and we can do everything and we will rule this world forever. No, no, no. So, these vṛttis, inner vṛttis, are difficult to overcome. And we do not accept certain things. Though we are guilty, we say no. Another problem is the impersonal problems: our families, neighbors, other people, other animals, the forest. All this, what is happening with them when there is trouble? Of course, we are also very sad. So, vṛttis are the waves which do not let us meditate. You meditate, and your thoughts are somewhere else. Then you are not here. You are meditating sitting here, but you are not here. There is a story. One man sat every day meditating. One day he went to his room upstairs to meditate. He told his daughter-in-law, "In about half an hour, someone will come to meet me. I gave him an appointment. So please, when he comes, welcome him and be a good host, and give chai, fruits, or something. Tell him that I am meditating and I will come soon." Well, he went and was meditating, and the bell rang. She opened the door, and the visitor came. He had an appointment. She said, "Yes, I know. My father-in-law told me, 'Please take a seat.' And he will come." The visitor asked, "Where is he?" She said, "He went to the market to buy shoes." The father-in-law was listening. He thought, "How is it possible that my daughter-in-law is lying? I told her I'm meditating here." Anyhow, the man waited. After half an hour, the father came and had a meeting. When that man was gone, he asked her, "My daughter, I told you that I'm meditating. Why did you lie, saying I went shoe shopping?" She said, "Father, excuse me. Exactly at that time, you were thinking, 'Where can I buy my shoes best?'" He said, "Yes, that's true." Then he asked her, "How do you know?" She said simply, "Yoga and daily life." So, we cannot catch our mind. We cannot control the mind. And if you try to control the mind, you will have depression, you cannot sleep, many problems. So, the mind itself must come and remain on one point. But as soon as we try to catch the mind, it will not. The mind is a function between consciousness and unconsciousness. So, meditation is the key to the self, to success, but discipline is also necessary. So, vṛttis. There are two kinds of vṛttis: kleśa or kleśa vṛttis. Kleśas are the problems: sorrows, anger, hate, greed, etc. These are kleśas. Kleśa means they create more and more troubles. From one thought to the second thought to the third thought, it is becoming more and more. Akliṣṭa vṛtti is with knowledge, very calm, peaceful, no problem. Then, the third step is called āvaraṇa, and āvaraṇa is the curtain. When we close the curtain, then we do not see anything outside the window. This curtain is a curtain of ignorance. It is a curtain of ignorance, an āvaraṇa over our intellect, our consciousness, so that we have no far visions. This curtain of ignorance can be removed through attending satsaṅgs. Satsaṅg means where there is spiritual talk, very spiritual. Not where you stand up and dance; that is a modern way of thinking, talking. Satsaṅg is meant to be in pin-drop silence. Neither you dance, nor I dance. Just listen. Like we have in one of the parables: a thirsty bird opens its mouth and waits till the drop comes and falls in its mouth because it is thirsty. So, each word of the master or the preacher who is giving a satsaṅg, each word is like a pearl. Each word is like a drop of nectar. Hard. So, these three—mala (impurities), vikṣepa (disturbances), and āvaraṇa (ignorance)—we have to clean first. When we clean this, then we see inside what is called antaḥkaraṇa. Antaḥkaraṇa is the inner instrument, which also forces us to do good or bad, or to be calm. Antaḥkaraṇa consists of manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), citta (memory/subconscious), and ahaṅkāra (ego). This is from Vedānta philosophy, which speaks about this. Vedānta says, finally, "Brahma Satya and Jagat Mithyā." There were many people who thought, "I can change the whole world, I can do this." Where are they? Mighty people were there, but where are they? No one can play their theater on the stage of this earth forever. We all have a limitation: to come and go. So: manas, buddhi, citta, ahaṅkāra. Manas, again the mind. The mind is involved in many, many things. The mind is not guilty. The mind is, for example—as I have explained many times—the consciousness has three levels: the unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. When we do something, then we are conscious. So, the consciousness is like a film in a camera. Every second, every quarter second, it takes pictures. Everything is rolled back, ever ready, the camera to take the pictures. And the camera is so truthful. What is in the frame of vision? Everything will come very clearly. That film is rolling in the subconsciousness. So, the mind takes the information from the present time and brings it to the subconsciousness. There, everything is recorded. And it brings from the subconscious the old messages and brings them to the intellect. So, the intellect judges what kind of information or desire this is. According to that, our intellect will put everything in order. Like, this file is for your cooking, kitchen. This file is for your buildings, to build. This file is about this, that, everything. So, intellect is that which gives the judgment. So, the old file is brought up, and new information is taken, so again the mind is involved. So, the mind is a function between the subconscious and the unconscious. After many years, many times, when a desire we have could not be fulfilled, after a certain time this file has gone back under many, many other files. You go to the court, and they say, "Well, time is over." It is too long. They are lying, so they cannot find it. But to whom does this file belong, and what is the problem? One knows there is something. But even the intellect has lost that file. Yet the effect is there. Who is suffering is there. Pain is there. Like yesterday, one gentleman, Sudesh Mehta, told a very good story. A husband and wife went for a walk. They saw a nice window where there was ice cream to eat. The husband said to the wife, "Let's go and have ice cream." She said, "Okay, but you know, Dr. Troll, you should not eat ice cream. You have had some throat problem for a few weeks. You should not drink and eat cold things." He said, "Okay." But the desire was there to eat ice cream. It was a very good ice cream shop and very famous.