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Part 1: The Mystery of Prāṇa and the Science of the Vedas As Swāmījī announced in the morning program, we will now continue with our conference. I kindly invite Honorable Dr. H.R. Nagendra, Chancellor of S-VYASA Yoga University, Chairman of the International Day of Yoga Experts Committee, and Chairman of the Task Force of the Government of India, to address us. Thank you. My dear brothers and sisters, I am very delighted to be with you all this afternoon. Before I begin my topic, I have one small question. This question is about UFOs. I saw one several years back. Do they really exist? Where do they come from? Why do they come here? Does NASA have any proof about UFOs? I am very glad to have this opportunity. So, UFOs started appearing from the 1960s. An unmanned vehicle would come from somewhere and move around at extremely high speeds. They can also come very slowly, and there are also people in those vehicles. They travel at speeds that are very fast, almost nearing the velocity of light. That is what NASA observed during those days. They continue to come on and off in different parts of the world, particularly in the United States. NASA was very interested in finding out where they come from, why they come, and what they want here. These questions, which you have asked, are also the questions addressed by NASA. They have found no answer. One thing they have found is that the technology they use is not known to us, because the speed with which they can travel in such a short time is almost inconceivable with the technology we know today. Some people wanted to destroy them when they came by shooting, by gunning, and so on. Nothing could work. Particularly in some villages, they found the UFO coming at very low levels. They wanted to find out who was there. They put up their cameras and tried to see, but they could not see anything. So the mystery continues. Similarly, about prāṇa. What is that which we call prāṇa? For modern science, it is a mystery today also. Modern science started in the western part of our globe 400 years ago. The objective of science is to find reality. Is there a reality from where this whole creation has come? Newton and Descartes started the ball rolling to find out the reality—the search for reality is the objective of science. Soon they found that what we know is very, very small. We don't understand how an object falls down, how lightning occurs, how thunderbolts occur. And they thought, "How can I understand things like prāṇa, mind, God, goddesses, devils, piśācas?" So they said, "Let us understand the gross physical world around us by our scientific investigations. Once we complete understanding that, then we will go to understand the subtle dimensions of our universe, like prāṇa, mind, buddhi, citta, ahaṅkāra. That we will start studying later." But let us go down to earth, to the physical things of the world, such as thought, God, prāṇa, and so on. And so, with these exact methods—such as tests, experiments, and verification of hypotheses—we began to understand the physical world more and more. Intellectuals started working in scientific realms, and we started finding out and came to a stage where we understand that there are what are called molecules. Molecules are made of atoms, and atoms have a nucleus with neutrons and protons, and electrons swirling around. We understood the structure of this physical universe, made out of atoms, molecules, and, smaller than that, fundamental particles on one side and energy on the other. So we thought there are two building blocks of the entire physical world: that is matter, and another is energy. Then came the big breakthrough: that it is possible to convert matter into energy and energy back to matter. And this was the biggest breakthrough in modern science, and we were able to measure how much energy is in a given matter. The famous energy equation, E = mc², can calculate how much energy is here. For example, if I convert this into energy, the amount of energy that we have can completely burn up the whole state itself. Such is the immense amount of energy packed into so-called inert matter. We had the demonstration of that in the atom bomb that was put on Hiroshima. That was the destructive application of this great finding, E = mc². But can we use that for constructive purposes? That was the next question. Our technologies built nuclear reactors. We can systematically convert the energy little by little and use it as electricity. All of you know that nuclear reactors can generate a large amount of electricity, which started coming up all over the world. It is actually shown that if we gradually convert energy, we will eventually build a nuclear reactor that can convert nuclear energy into a huge amount of electrical energy. Then, is it possible to convert energy into matter? Matter into energy, we understood. Can we convert energy into matter? That was the next question. We built what are called cyclotrons, in which the energy is made to speed up faster, faster, faster. And when it reaches very near the velocity of light, matter shows up, showing that energy can be converted back to matter. We then made the parts of the accelerator, and they showed us that we are able to convert matter into energy and energy into matter. By 1970, we had been able to understand this and know fully that it is possible to convert matter into energy and energy back to matter. So this way, it was proven that it is possible to transform energy into matter. And around 1970, we had confirmed that both are possible: to convert matter into energy and energy into matter. Then the scientists, the physicists, thought that we have understood everything in the world. Nothing else to be learned. That was the stage in 1972-73. Then, is it possible to create life out of matter? What is it that we call prāṇa? Can we create human beings using the energy? That was the next question, and a series of discoveries started coming up. We found out that in the biological systems we have DNA and RNA molecules, and they have a particular, very complicated structure. That they are DNA structures, and that they create very complex structures together. So, is it possible to construct these complicated molecules? And if we do that, will we be able to create prāṇa, life, out of matter? But our computers were not that fast, nor that big, to construct the complicated structures of DNA or RNA molecules. Therefore, we could not do that. But gradually, as our computer technology developed more and more, by 1979, 1980, 1981, we were able to replicate the DNA and RNA molecules in the laboratories. At that time, computers were not so fast, so we did not have the computing capacity to create these complex structures in laboratory conditions. But then, in 1979–82, the computers were so advanced that it was possible to create DNA structures in laboratory conditions. And we can completely govern all behavioral patterns of human beings, and we have wonderful things to happen. But soon we found that yes, we can have the DNA molecules in the exact way, but they do not create life out of it. So they wanted to push and see whether we can start, give a kick start, and see whether it starts moving and gets the prāṇa. But it did not work. They tried and tried and tried. Five years later, they found that prāṇa cannot be created out of DNA or RNA molecules. Then came the big, wonderful breakthrough book by Fritjof Capra, who wrote that, please remember, what Newton and Descartes had said: that after understanding the physical world, we have to go to understand the subtle dimensions of our creation. If there is something like prāṇa, apart from matter, what is it that we call the mind? Can the mind exist without the brain? And if there is something like intelligence, chaitanya, the consciousness? And into this region, we have to do more research. That is a beautiful book that was brought about by Fritjof Capra, a famous quantum physicist from California. And that book sold all over the world in millions. Many of you, as seniors, also might have seen that wonderful book. Since that book came out in 1983, there has been a lot of research going on. People have started using the word "consciousness" and started using the word "prāṇa," but we have not been able to understand what prāṇa is, what mind is, because in science everything moves very slowly, you know, decades and decades and decades. Even in the physical world, when Einstein found the theory of relativity, it took almost 40 years before it was accepted. And then, within about 15 years, the whole thing was completely nullified, and quantum mechanics started coming. Therefore, in science, everything goes very, very slowly. You have to get exact proof. That’s how science is moving. But we still weren’t able to understand the basic things: what is consciousness, what is prāṇa, what is thought, whether thought can function independently without intelligence, without the brain, etc. The problem is that in science, before any knowledge is generally accepted, it takes tens of years. For example, when Einstein came up with the theory of relativity, it took 40 years before it was generally accepted as a valid theory, and another 15 years before it began to be used in general, because it is always required to have some clear evidence about it. All this knowledge is available to us today in the books called Vedas. And as the name indicates, Veda comes from the word vidgnāne, which means to know. Vedas means the encyclopedia of knowledge. All the knowledge that was unraveled is available to us in the Vedas. And as you know, all this knowledge is still available in the form of texts, which we call the Vedas. Many of you might have heard of the four Vedas: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda. Four Vedas: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda. This is one classification of the Vedas. There is another classification called Pūrva Mīmāṃsā and Uttara Mīmāṃsā. In Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, we deal with all rituals: how to do a pūjā, a yajña, havanas, how to perform marriages, and how to do all other saṃskāras. All these details are given in the big books called Pūrvamīmāṃsā. So this I call the industry of the Vedas, the technology of the Vedas, because when you go to a temple and they say that you have to do āratī, you have to use this thing, all details are given and you cannot ask questions. Why should I do a lot? Why not like this? Why not like this? No, no, you can’t ask questions. Because when you go to an industry, you are trained to do a particular job. Imagine that you join an automobile industry where you manufacture cars. Then you will be trained to do a particular job: how to turn the valves and go on doing that for six months of training. Then you go and join the factory, and you must go on preparing these valves, one after another, every day, a hundred valves. And if you start asking questions, "Sir, why should I do like this? Why not like this?" No, no, you can’t ask questions. That’s why there is a similarity between the pūrva-mīmāṃsā and the industries, the modern industries of things. And that’s why this part of the Veda is, in a way, a technological part. That means it’s a kind of industry, you could say, because there are the individual procedures for how to do things, and there is no space to ask any questions or to say, "I don’t like this, I would like to do this differently," etc. There are simply clearly described procedures for how to do various rituals. But the second part, I call it the science of the Vedas. This second part, called the Uttara Mīmāṃsā, is contained in what we call the Upaniṣads. And there are actually these, which are the Upaniṣads. How many Upaniṣads? Somebody asked me. Sir, I don’t know. At least 800 Upaniṣads I have seen. There are thousands and thousands of Upaniṣads, maybe there. But there are 10 major Upaniṣads, which are most important. If you understand these, then you understand the whole of our Sanātana Dharma, our ancient science, which understood the whole creation. So, what are the contents of the Upaniṣads? What do they say? To bring you this knowledge, I want to tell you a story. The story of a king who had four wives. In India, earlier kings could have more wives. He had four wives. He loved his first wife. He spent all his energy, time, money, everything to take care of her nicely. And she also loved him very much. The second wife, the third wife, the fourth wife was the first, and the third wife is very, very beautiful, very enchanting, a great, pure woman. So he is to send her out as an ambassador to outside countries, so that anybody who would come from outside to his country, she will go and enchant the people and bring the people to the ways of the king. So he was very proud of her. The second wife, she is a very pragmatic woman, very practical. Any problem the king could not solve, and his minister could not solve, he would turn to his second wife, and there she goes, giving the answer. So he loved her, and she also loved him very much. And the first wife, she always is a very loyal partner to the king, and she lived within the wonderful palace, kept the whole palace with wonderful beauty and aesthetics, and everybody who came there got the wonderful hospitality and the serene atmosphere. Everything was so nice. But people did not know who was doing all that. She was always behind the scenes. And the first wife loved him very much. They were very loyal to each other, and she took care of the whole palace. It was beautiful. She took care of all the aesthetics, and there was always great hospitality for the guests, and no one actually knew who was aware of. It is because she was always in the background. Nobody saw her, because she was always behind the scenes. But the unfortunate thing was, the king also did not bother about her. He never asked, "Hey, have you taken food? Have you slept well?" Never. He never asked her. But her love for the king was very immense, and she did not bother. But the real love she had for the king. In our normal love, we always expect something in return. For example, if I love you, I will give you a nice party. I will expect that you also should give me a nice party, but if you don’t give me a party in return, then our friendship breaks and love goes away. But in real love, it is not like that. You go on giving and giving and giving, with no expectation of anything in return. This is called premabhāva, the real friendship. So the first wife had that type of premabhāva to the king. Now, these are the four wives. Now the king became old. He was on the deathbed. He knew in a few more hours he was going to die. Then he thought of his luxurious life all these decades and how nice it was, enjoying it with his four wives. Now, when I die, what is going to happen to me? I will go to a new place, a very unknown place, and there will be nobody to take care of me. The life will be so boring. What to do, what to do, what to do? He started scratching his head to get a new idea. Some people scratch their head to get new ideas. He started scratching his head. Then he got a brilliant idea. Let me see whether any of my wives can come with me to that new place. So he called his fourth wife, "Oh dear, I loved you the most. I gave all my money, energy, time, everything to you." So he said to his fourth wife, "I have given you all my love, all my money, all I have given you, and now you will be with me. So now I want your company. I’m going to that new place. There will be nobody to take care of me. Please come with me, and let us have a new life. Take care of me, serve me as you have been doing." What will she say? "You are dying, you want me to die? Goodbye, goodbye." She walked away. Then he turned to his third wife. Now he has to tell something new to her. "See, I have been introducing you to all VIPs and VVIPs, but I’m going to a super space. There will be super VVIPs. Come on, I’m going to introduce all these people, and let us have a new life all together. Come on, join me, let us go there, to the super space." And they said, "I have introduced you to various VIPs, and now I am going to some other space, and there will be super VIP people, and I will introduce you to them again. So come and die with me, and we will go there together." The super space of UFOs, UFO, what I was talking about in the beginning. The vehicle used to come from there, no? That is the super space from where UFOs will come. "Come on, I will take you there, and we will have a new life." But she is very intelligent, you know. She said, "What are you talking about? A bird in hand is worth two in the bush." Part 2: The Four Wives: A Parable of the Self I am only waiting for you to die. The moment you die, I am going to marry that new emperor, with whom I have already made good contacts. Therefore, good luck. I am just waiting for you to die. I have already made good contacts, and I will wed another emperor and have an excellent life. Then he turned to his second wife. "You have helped me all my life. You have solved all my problems. Now I have the biggest problem; please help me." "Yes, dear, what can I do for you?" "See, I am going to that super space. Both these wives have betrayed me very badly—my fourth wife and my third wife. I want you to come, keep me company, and let us enjoy a new life. Please come with me." In all humility, the second wife bowed her head with namaste. "Oh dear, how I wish I could do that. I am so sorry, I am so sorry, I can’t help you. The best I can do is carry your dead body to the grave. I am very sorry, but unfortunately I will not help you in this war. What I could do for you is to bring your dead body to the crematorium." He was completely devastated. Then he heard, "Don’t worry, my dear king, I am going to go with you. Wherever you go, I will continue to serve you as I have been doing all these years." He looked. Who was that? His first wife. And she went with him and served the king in his new super space. Now, who is that king? Who are the four wives? The Upaniṣads tell us that each one of us represents that king, and each one of us has four wives. Who are they? The fourth wife is our body, which we love the most. We spend all our time, energy, and money to take care of the body, to make it look good. And whatever we do, when we die, what is going to happen to this body? The fourth wife is going to say, "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye." Who is the third wife? Very beautiful, very enchanting, is our wealth, our property, our wonderful power. "Look at my beautiful house I have built recently, you know, a 40-story building. I spent five billion dollars. How many people in the house? Four people. How do you manage all these rooms, hundreds of them? Nothing to worry about. Robots—I have one robot in every room. The robot will take care of everything. With my remote, I can manage everything in my house." What is going to happen to this when we die? All this property is going to go to someone else. Therefore, the third wife is going to marry someone else. What about the second wife? The second wife is our family and friends who come to our help when we are alive. When we die, what can they do? They can carry our dead body to the grave or the crematorium. Then who is that first wife? This is what we call the individual soul, the Jīvātmā. Always unseen, she is behind the scene, serving all the people, keeping the palace in a beautiful state, keeping our body, keeping our mind, everything in wonderful harmony and love. Everything she is taking care of, just like the king did not bother about her. We are very busy in our activities, and we have no time to look at this Jīvātmā. If Swamījī says, "Every day I must practice one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening, yoga practices, and start going deeper," where do I have time? I am very busy, eighteen hours a day. If I had one more hour, I would have earned another 1,000 euros. So the Upaniṣads tell us, please, please don’t regret like the king at the end of your life. They tell us not to neglect our souls, as the king did. The Upaniṣads tell us to look inside, to start practicing yoga, and not to neglect our inner world. Psychologists who want to understand the mind try to understand and analyze the mind of others, not of themselves. Why has this happened? Because it is the law of creation. In the Kaṭhopaniṣad, it is said that we are all so structured to look outside in the creation. Our eyes have to look outside, ears have to hear outside, and all are outside. External look is the law of creation. Because when we are born, we are all directed towards the outer world. We begin to perceive the outer world, and that is why we have this tendency all our lives. But there was a great researcher who said, "Let me start looking inwards." He started looking inward to see what is mind, what is prāṇa, what are emotions, what is intellect, and the reality. He started investigating inwards. So the Upaniṣads give us the methodology to look inwards and find out the subtle and the causal realities of this entire creation, just like modern science. Scientists started investigating. Our people in the Upaniṣads tell the students, tell the yoga people to go inwards and investigate. In one of the Upaniṣads, called the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, there was a student whose name was Bṛgu. He came to his teacher, called Varuṇa, and said, "Sir, I want to know the reality." So the teacher says, "OK, go and do the experiment." Do the experiment which is called tapas, he said. So, the student looks at him. What is meant by tapas? How to do it? So he tells him, "See, within you there is something because of which you are born, and it is the same thing that sustains your life, and when you die, you go back to the same thing. Find out what is that entity, that is reality," he said. So, the student went on thinking, "What is it I am made out of? What is it that sustains me? When I go back, I return to the same thing." He went on thinking and thinking and thinking, and suddenly he gets a flash: "I got it, I got it... Eureka, Archimedes." What is that? "Annam brahmeti vyajānāt"—I am nothing but the matter principle, atoms, molecules. Look at the body, what is it made out of? All made out of matter, the molecules, atoms. And therefore, sir, it is all matter. Because the food I take is nothing but matter, the body is nothing but matter. When I die, the body goes back to the molecules, the ashes. Therefore, he concluded that the reality is matter, atoms, molecules, and the physical. And so he thought about it for a long time, and suddenly it happened to him. It happened to him that everything is matter, everything is particles, because what eats is matter, the body is matter, composed of various molecules and atoms. When the body dies, it falls apart into individual particles, so he found out that the reality is matter. Matter—I’m sustained by matter. When I die, I’ll go back to matter. Therefore, matter is the supreme reality. And so he followed his master and said to him, "Sir, so please tell me if I understood correctly. I think that the reality is matter because we come from matter." The great master said, "Wonderful, wonderful, very good." He patted him on the back and said, "Very good, but you go further, you go deeper. There is more to unravel. You have unraveled only the first level." This is where we stand today in modern science. We have understood everything and nothing but the physical world, made out of matter, made out of molecules, atoms, fundamental particles, and energy. So the teacher says, "Go and do deeper meditation, deeper tapas, and find out what is beyond the physical." So the student goes and sits in deep meditation, goes on thinking, "What is it that is beyond the body? What is it, what is it, what is it?" Then he remembers two persons lying down on the ground; one person is doing śavāsana. Another person is a dead body. What is the difference? Matter is here also, matter is also here. What is the difference? He understood: it is the life here, there is a prāṇa here; there is no prāṇa. He comes again with a lot of jubilance and happiness. He comes to the teacher, "Sir, sir, I have found out, I have found out, and it is the prāṇa. It is not the anna, it is not the matter, it is the prāṇa which I call as reality. Prāṇam brahmeti vijānāt," he said. Then the teacher says, "Very good, very good, my dear boy, you have understood that there is something beyond the body, and that which you call as prāṇa. The difference between the dead body and the living body is prāṇa. The dead cell and the living cell is prāṇa." And the teacher said to him, "You perfectly understood that the difference between the dead and the living body is prāṇa." But the teacher said, "Do meditate deeper. Find out what is beyond prāṇa." So the student goes and starts doing more of this tapas, more of meditation, and finds out what is there beyond prāṇa. He goes on meditating and traveling. Then he thinks of a person who got into an accident and who has gone into a coma. He is lying down in the hospital on the couch, and his breathing is going on, his body is there, but he is not coming back to normalcy. So he may have the body, he may have the prāṇa, but what is missing here? The mind. So he found out the mind is deeper than prāṇa. He found out that the body has matter, prāṇa, life, but it has no mind. He found out that a deeper level than prāṇa, or beyond the level of prāṇa, is the mind. So he comes back to his teacher again. "Sir, I have found out, I have found out. It is the mind, mano brahmeti vyajānāt." So the teacher is also his father, Varuṇa. And always it is easy for the teacher. It is all the students who have to do a lot of effort to unravel. Swamījī will say, "Okay, go and do this, do this..." We have to do all that as students. So he goes back, tries to find out what is beyond mind. He wants to find out. So he thinks of a person who is in a mental hospital. A neurotic. And he has got the body, he has got the prāṇa, he has got the mind. But what is missing there? The controller of the mind. That is called vijñāna. In Sanskrit it is called vijñāna, the controller of the mind, the buddhi, or the intelligence. So you may have the mind, but if you don’t have the controller of the mind, then you are lost. You are a lunatic. You are a neurotic. So even if you have a mind, if you can’t control it, you are completely lost; there is something neurotic in you. This time he is very sure, yes, my teacher will endorse me, because intellect with the power of discrimination is supreme in human beings, therefore he will accept me. So he comes back with all joy. "Sir, what do you say, sir, am I right?" And now you were sure that the Master will accept it as the final answer, because it was clear that the intellect is what can distinguish and control the mind and so on. So he came to the Master and said to him, "Sir, it is..." But the great Master says, "One more step. You have to go beyond and find out what is beyond the intellect, beyond your power of discrimination, beyond the controller of the mind. What is that state? You have to find out." So he goes there and now sits in deep meditation, trying to find out from where the thoughts arise in the mind. But the mind is wandering here and there, and he went on practicing day after day, week after week, month after month. He has to purify his mind, and when he went on purifying and purifying, slowly he started getting control over the mind. The mind started slowing down and slowing down, and so he has to try. He has to purify his mind, and with that passion and meditation, he has to calm it down, slow it down. After a long time, one day, there was a great explosion inside. He was so happy, so blissful. And it lasted for a long time, and then one day there came such an explosion of joy and great bliss. He was so blissful. It’s called Ānanda. And the teacher decided, "Why has my student not come? It is so many years he has not come. What has happened to him? Whether he is alive or not?" So the teacher started searching for the student. What is the student doing? He is sitting under a tree, and nicely, he is in a state of samādhi. He was all in that state of bliss. And the teacher recognized that he had reached that state of ānanda-maya-kośa, the state of bliss. What is that state? A state in which the mind has not been created yet. It is a state of silence, it is a state of peace, it is a state of tranquility. So the teacher understood that he is in the state of samādhi, that is beyond the controller of the mind, beyond the thoughts. This is what Patañjali says, this is what the Upaniṣad says: "Citta vṛtti nirodha." All the thoughts in the mind have vanished. They are in a state of complete peace inside, complete tranquility inside, and a wonderful state of happiness. And so the teacher found out that his student achieved the state of samādhi, that is what Patañjali is talking about as chitta vṛtti nirodha, when the thoughts are completely stopped. The question is, why did he not come back to his teacher? Earlier, each time he came to his teacher, he had a doubt: "Am I right? Have I reached my ultimate reality?" That was a doubt he had. But this time, when he went beyond the thoughts, when he was in a state of silence, he had no questions. Questions can arise only when your intellect is there, when your mind is working. When the mind is in silence, how can there be questions? For example, when you are in deep sleep without dreams, how can you have questions? In dreams also, you can have questions, but when you go into deep sleep, you cannot have questions. So the Upaniṣads give us the methodology to unravel the reality. So they give the direction to modern science. More than a number of modern scientists have taken to the study of the Upaniṣads. We had one of the great Nobel laureates at the University of Cambridge in England, Professor Josephson. The youngest Nobel laureate in the world. At the age of 29, he received his Nobel Prize. I went to his house, he called me, and there was a big library he had, all types of books. I found physics, mathematics, chemistry, and all that I expected. When I saw here books on Sanskrit, books on Upaniṣads, books on all types of yoga practices. I said, "Why are you keeping all these? They look very nice. Are you keeping nice books to show people?" He says, "No, these are the books for me to go beyond quantum physics." And he had a lot of books about physics, chemistry, medicine, and so on. But then he had a part of the library with books about Sanskrit, Upaniṣads, Vedas, and so on. I asked him why he had this book. He said, "No, no, these are books that I use to get behind quantum physics." So in the modern world, modern physicists and modern scientists—modern science is at the level of the physical world—and they are trying to unravel the mystery of prāṇa. That is where we stand today. So, can prāṇa exist without the physical body? Can the mind exist without the brain? Can intellect exist without the functioning of the left brain? Our ancient Upaniṣads, the yoga wisdom-based, answer all these questions. So it says, the prāṇa, which is the life entity within us, has different manifestations of prāṇa. They control all the physiological functions in the body. Prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna, vyāna: five manifestations of prāṇa. All those functions that occur here are governed by what we call prāṇa. All those which are here at the level of the head are governed by prāṇa. The breathing is the controller of the prāṇa. So, for example, the thinking, the smelling, the eating, everything is governed by this prāṇa. The breathing is therefore most important. And by proper breathing, you can control the prāṇa, and thereby control all functions in this area. So similarly, all functions—urination, excretion, sexual discharge—are all controlled by what you call apāna. All digestive functions are governed by Samāna. Then we have the sense of touch, which is governed by Vyāna. Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Vyāna, and Udāna. All the upward forces, upward functions, like vomiting, the belching, and the anti-peristaltic processes are all governed by the Udāna. So Udāna also controls and invokes the kuṇḍalinī śakti within us. So Prāṇāyāma, the Prāṇa Vidyā, deals with prāṇa to gain mastery over the prāṇa. It’s a huge science by which we will be able to unravel the mysteries of Prāṇa. Controlling the breathing is very important. Particularly in prāṇāyāma, you have to slow down the breath. The slower the breath, the better is the control. So when we do the prāṇāyāma, how do we progress? Your breathing rate should slow down. For that, for all our teachers, we measure the breathing rate. And for that, we have the measure of the exhalation time, called the primary time. Inhale fully to measure how much time is for exhalation. If it is 15 seconds now, you have to work to make it 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 35 seconds. This is how you grow. The slower the breath, the longer the brahmari time. The longer the brahmari time, the greater is the control of the mind, and you gain control and mastery over the prāṇa. So when you do meditation, the breathing should slow down. When you do prāṇāyāma, the mind will go into the deeper levels of meditation, and it will bring you help, the prevention and promotion of positive health, and can deal with all the diseases. Prāṇavidyā is the subtlest, which is very, very important for all of us as teachers; we should practice. A simple thing is to increase the brahmari time as you grow. With that, let me stop here. Over to you. Thank you very much.