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Prana and Apana

Prāṇa is the eternal life force and source of all existence. The soul is a composite of the five elements—space, air, fire, water, earth—which never die but only recycle. Therefore, there is no true birth or death, only transformation. Prāṇa is this animating principle, present as fire in all things, from snow to emotion. It is the divine consciousness that expands to contain all of creation. Our health and clarity depend on the flow of prāṇa, which can be clouded by impurities. Purification practices like sun sādhanā strengthen prāṇa, burning away these obscurations. Ultimately, the seeker is reminded that what is sought is already present within one's own breath.

"Fire never dies. In the cold air is also fire."

"Where are you searching for me? I am with you."

Filming location: Czech Republic

Prāṇa is the life force within us and throughout the entire universe. It is what is often called the soul. However, the soul is different from the Ātmā. The soul is born and passes away. Yet, there is no death, for it is a collection of elements—the tattvas: space (ākāśa), fire (agni), air (vāyu), water (jala), and earth (pṛthvī). Fire never dies. There is a physical fire and an astral fire. The astral fire is in everything, and it awakens the fire from different elements. In water, there is fire. The jīvā, the soul, and the life of the soul can be likened to the Ātmā. The life of the body is called the soul, and the creation of the body is the elements. It is said the Viṣṇu Tattva exists in the water. That is a fire. In every seed is the fire of life. That is the Viṣṇu Tattva. Fire is in snow. When you hold snow, you feel cold, but after a while, that cold is so intense you feel your hand burning. In the cold air is also fire. Anger is a fire, hate is a fire, emotion is a fire, desire is a fire, devotion is a fire. Viraha Agni. Viraha is love, the love which is longing for God, longing for someone, like the love of a small child longing for its mother. Mīrābāī said that with this viraha agni, with this viraha longing, she searched everywhere, even in the forest. So fire is in everything, everywhere, and it will never die. Water is everywhere and will not finish. Earth, the solid material, is everywhere. Space is also everywhere. When you get a cold and your nostrils are blocked, it is unpleasant; we must open the mouth to breathe. The nostrils have a space. In the whole body, between the joints, there is a tolerance space to move. So space is everywhere, and air is also everywhere. Therefore, elements do not die. They may disappear from our physical eyes; we do not see them. When the solid material of our body—what we call the body—dies, this body is called earth. We call it mithī. Mithī means earth. Mithī, mithī me mil jāyegī. The earth will merge into the earth. So when we bury the body or burn it, something still remains. It is recycling. In this way, there is no death and no birth. In the bhajan of Śaṅkarācārya: neither birth nor death, Śivo’ham, Śivo’ham, Śivo’ham. So prāṇa is the source of everything. Everything moves through prāṇa. What we call the soul lives because of prāṇa, and what we call the ātmā is also prāṇa. So what we call Īśvara, God, is nothing but prāṇa, and this prāṇa is not visible. About 35% of the population prays only to Nirakāra (the formless), because Sākāra (the form) is limited for them. When God incarnates, He is in a body, yet we cannot limit God. It is limitless, everywhere. Prāṇa is also that fire. Prāṇa is a space; it gives this space. Yogīs say that as your consciousness expands—let’s say we think about the beautiful city Prague—our consciousness has already expanded, and Prague is within our consciousness. And Budapest, so our consciousness is so expanded that both cities are within. It does not take time to expand. The whole universe is expanding and contracting, breathing, alive. We see the ocean expanding twice a day or once in 24 hours; it is called a flood, and again going back, it is called the tide. The ocean is very big. It takes time to realize, yes, it is breathing and exhaling. That is based on prāṇa. This happy vegetation we see is nourished by these five elements but has a prāṇa inside, which is living. That is called sanātana. Sanātana means that eternal life, the eternal consciousness. So prāṇa is not easy to define properly. In the Vedas, there is little about prāṇa. In the Upanishads, there is a little about prāṇa. Our health depends on prāṇa. If all our five elements are healthy and our organs are healthy, then we have a long life. But it is given a limitation. How long will we keep our body? The material will merge into the material: water into water, earth into earth, fire into fire, air into air, and space into space. Therefore, in the Vedas, it does not speak of death, and when there is no death, there is no birth. It is a change, a changing, like a season’s changing. We say now it is autumn. Where is the summer gone? Where is the summer? Will winter come? Where is the autumn? It is very hard to explain. It is not that we put our summer clothes in the cupboard and take out winter clothes and spring clothes. Where has it gone? It has changed, that prāṇa. Of course, very important is the sun. The sun is life, the sun is the soul. The sun is that Ātmā, and the sun is God. You cannot come close; nothing can come close. What will burn will burn, what will melt will melt, what will disappear will disappear. It will become pure oneness. The sun is our life. Life is God, and God is life. Can we imagine one month with no sunrises? What would be our situation? So if you say, "I do not believe the sun is a God," then do not sit in the sun, do not go sunbathing. This is the God who is in every form. Where is there no God? So it is in everyone. And that is the prāṇa. This prāṇa is our life, and we are living through this prāṇa. So birth and death are not there. But as physical beings, we are bound to emotions. If there is no emotion, generation will not continue. There will be no families. There will be no love. Everyone will be lost. So we are here all together as a love. We like, we practice, we learn. How nice. It is said that between ātmā—or consciousness, better to say consciousness—and space, between these two is the prāṇa. That is the śakti. There begins the movement. There begins creation. So when you have good concentration, you have good prāṇa. When you have good memory, it is good prāṇa. Then you can study very well. You get a hundred out of a hundred. It is your prāṇa. Everything is; clarity is in the prāṇa. We belong to this planet, this earth, and we are used to this oxygen. If we come to 5,000 or 6,000 meters in height—height not from the earth but from the ocean—the ocean mostly provides the prāṇa and what we call oxygen. We call it the sea level. So we are far from the sea, and there is also air. But in that air is not that quality which we call oxygen. Air is not oxygen. There is also still humidity. That humidity is not oxygen. So we belong to this earth, which has been surrounded by ocean and the life in the water. If we take them out of the water, they will die. This creation is a miracle, and everything is balanced by God Consciousness. The soul, which has that prāṇa, is leading the soul; the soul adopts a physical form and again goes to the astral body. Karmaśarīra. Karmaśarīra is that cause or body of the actions. So there is the physical body, mental body, causal body, and subtle body. When one dies—let’s say, we have to use the word—the Siddha yogīs, who have many siddhis, slowly purify their body in such a way that there is no physical material there. They become transparent; they can go through rocks. That is called kāraṇa śarīra. When you go to the Himalayas, because mostly yogīs have been practicing there, you see that suddenly some yogī appeared and disappeared. They are living still; we cannot see them. They may just walk by, but we cannot see. That is because they are in Kārmasārī, and the subtle body is in the astral, and the astral is that aura within the sun, the energy, the space. Not aura, aura. That is the astral world: physical world, astral world; physical body, mental, causal, and subtle body. Sometimes they call the subtle body and the causal body the same, so they give the name only three bodies: physical, mental, and causal body—subtle body, sorry. All this is guided, protected, connected, and saved, coming up safely, is the work of prāṇa. There is one bhajan song from a Sufi saint. Banda means my friend or thyself. Where are you looking, my friend? Where are you looking, you? So: Moku kaha tū dūṇḍe bandhe? O my friend, where are you searching for me? Maito tere pās me. I am with you. That is it. But we are searching somewhere. Moku kahā tū dūṇḍe bandhe? Maito tere pās me. Sheher se bāhar, kutiyā hamārī. My heart is out of the civilization, out of the cities. Dear my swasme, but my residence is in your breath. Khojoge to abhi milunga. If you search me, you will see me immediately. Pal bhar kī talāś me, the search of just a second. Pal bhar kī talāś me, within a second. So, Mokṣa kaha tū dhundhe bandhe? My friend, where are you searching for me? Main to tere pās me. I am with you. My hut is somewhere out of the body, or this body, in the forest. But my residence is in your breath, inhalation, exhalation. So I am in your breath. If you will search me, really, you search me. Abhimilunga, just now I will meet you, padbharkita lasme, just like an eyelid movement, I blink, you can see me. How quickly? You close your eyes, close your eyes, just close your eyes. Do not miss the chance. Do not miss the chance. Oh, that is great. Just close your eyes. Now, you will see me. How quickly you will see me. It takes not a long time, even a quarter of a second. Just open your eyes. You see me? True? That is it. So this is called palak, palak, palak. So, khojoge to abhī milūṅgā pal bhar kī talāś me, mokum kahāṁ to dhūṅde vande, main to tere pās me. But there is a lot of vikṣepa, which means disturbances. A lot of mal, impurity. Impurity in the body comes through many things: through water, through food. Even if someone touches you, already the impurity went in. To be transparent and clear—if you make a spiritual X-ray of your consciousness, you will see how many different impurities are in you, how many energies from others, yes, and that does not let us become transparent. Jñānendriya and Karmendriya, these are ten indriyas, ten senses of knowledge and action. They also have ten prāṇas. So, ten indriyas, ten prāṇas, the prāṇas and sub-prāṇas—these are twenty. And five elements, these are pañca tattvas, twenty-five. This bhajan, who does not know, hands up, like this: one, two, three, four, five, six. That is very good, yes. This bhajan you do not know, but our ancestors, our masters, so-called our gurus, so-called our paramparā: Chikar par chadna, on the peak. Iman va dheere, dheere, chal gagan gar chadna. Iman va dheere, raat andherī galīyā, choṭī raste me ciknā. Raat aande hi galiya choti raste me chik. Agar sir pate pav tuma padhoge undi khai. Agar sir pate pav tumara padhega undi khai. Gagan ghar chadna bhai. Chadnaare bhai. Aach pachisaabeli hokar mohani raag sunaai, Paach pachisaabeli raag sunaai. Man terā mohe rastā de, gabhrāī manāvadī re, dhi chal gagana gar caḍhnā re... Chad nare bhav shikar par chad nare, chad nare bhav hi shikar par chad. Vayi man vadi re chal, gigan ghar chad nare. Vayi man vadi re di, chal ge ghan gharan bin janiya, koi ucha chadh si pade gashik par aayi. Bin jāniyā koī uccā caḍh sī paḍe, dharan par satguru bin malūm naī paḍtā. Mārag jinā bhāī, manāvadīre dī calgā, gaṇ ghar caḍhnā bhāī, manāvadīre vapurīsā. Rumeradini senal Shri Devpurījī Satguru, mera dini senalakai Swami Deepa Nyāsī bole, guru kṛpā se pāī, manava dheere dheere chal, gagan ghar chadanāre, ātmā vādīre dī chāl, gagan ghar chadnā. That purity—how much impurity we have. That impurity causes us physical and mental diseases. We are getting it through the air, through water, through food, through words, through touch, many things. So all is catching this, going into our body. You may feel pleasant, but the effect on your prāṇa is like a very fine film. And that gets more and more; it is called āvaraṇa. Mal, vikṣepa and āvaraṇa. Āvaraṇa is a curtain. Like a dark curtain, we cannot see anything. So prāṇa—to save the prāṇa, to purify the prāṇa—it is a hard time. It is a long time, but nothing is impossible. Everything is possible, so you should become so strong. You must make a sun sādhanā. Then, all this energy cannot approach you. It will burn, it will melt, it will become transparent. So, sun sādhanā, sun sādhanā in sahasrāra cakra, because that is the brahmarandhra. You know, there is one book you have read, from one of the bhaktas from Jaipur. He writes his experiences, and he wrote me letters. We printed these letters, his own handwriting, and translated them into English. In one of the letters, he tells that Mahāprabhujī is sitting on the door of the sun, and if you want to go to that Brahmaloka, his blessing is there because that sun is there in Devpurījī. What he wrote in the letter, as he wrote, I translated and put it in the form of a book. I have saved all the letters. Unbelievable experiences he had. He saw it. He saw someone. There was an ill person in Jaipur, and there is a very beautiful, very old temple, a Kṛṣṇa temple called Govind temple. Krishna and he is one of the friends; every day he used to go to the temple and have darśan and come. Now this person is old, very ill, and it seems these are his last days. He asks his friend, "What was his name? Do you know the permanent?" Permanent is gone. Okay, Premalājī, do you know the name of this person who wrote these letters? Gāthanī. Thank you. So Gathani went to his friend, and the friend said, "My last wish is that I can have darśan of Govind Dev Jī." But they could not move him. So the next morning, in his meditation, he asked Mahāprabhujī and said he would like to see Govindarījī, but these were the last minutes of his life. Mahāprabhujī said, "You go and show your palm." And he said, "What will happen?" Just show your palm and then ask him what he saw. So he said to his friend, "You want to see Govind Devjī?" He said, "Yes." "Look in my palm." And he saw the entire temple and the statue of Govind Devjī. He said, "Now I am happy. I saw Govind Desī." And then he moved his hand; he did not have anything. So, which energy was that? How could Mahāprabhujī give it to him? So, unbelievable things. It can become belief. An honī guru kar sake, honī detā mitāī, parabrahma gurudeva hai, sab kusā detā badāī. Impossible becomes possible, and what is possible can become impossible. It is Parabrahma Gurudeva. Everything he can do. You should have that love. That vīraha, pure prāṇa, where there are many other energies in your body, we have the curtain. So prāṇa is a great science of life. It is what we get from the cosmic energy, supplying our body and everyone who is living, also through oxygen. It flows through our nostrils and each and every hole of the body, the pores of the body. It flows in the heart and keeps the heart alive with the help of the nāḍīs, the nostrils. Therefore, the practice of yoga in life, prāṇāyāma for the vital energy, those particular techniques, prāṇa-śakti. You know the prāṇa-śakti kriyā. We had, two years ago, prāṇa-śakti sañcālan. But some did, some did not. We were lying on the back, and we pointed to the nābhi, the navel. That was prāṇa-śakti-kriyā, also prāṇāyāma, bhastrikā, nāḍī-śodhana, ujjāyī prāṇāyāma, or the complete prāṇāyāma course. So prāṇa, prāṇāyāma—the first prāṇa is that which supplies constant life energy. And apāna supports us to reject all kinds of dead cells and unnecessary things from the body, including urine and cold. Where the nourishment is from what we call tāmas guṇa and rājas guṇa, and many other energies in the body, it makes the weakness of the lower part of the body. First, our intense diet, the digestive system, the abdominal, then it becomes weaker and weaker. Many functions do not function. Even sometimes we have a problem to pass urine or stool. Our kidneys, gallbladders, abdomen, intestines suffer if the Apāna Prāṇa is weaker. So we support the apāna prāṇa to do the agnisāra kriyā and nauli, and saṅkt prakṣālana, and that is very important. Aśvinī mudrā. Now, many people are doing what they call liver cleaning. That is very good. I did it myself, and I felt so good, and it is not so difficult. Therefore, Ashwini Mudrā, Mūlabandha—so Mūlabandha is to strengthen the lower part of the body—and Garuḍāsana. Garuḍāsana is very good, but one has to practice. You have your Yoga and Daily Life book. Everything is written in it. Practice properly. But someone thinks, "Oh, I want to do this and that and this," just to collect more people. And this will disappear again. So Holī Gurujī used to say, to milk 100 sheep, better to milk one cow. It gives you once more milk. That is it. So again, afternoon, evening, we will continue on prāṇa. I wish you all the best. You can try now to have the prāṇa food, because today is Guruvāra and many are fasting. You can sit or lie down here and take the prāṇa. But do not eat too much. The prāṇa. Do not overdo it.

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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