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Once, take a deep inhale and exhale, and relax your whole body. Relax. Good. Your hands are beside your body, palms slowly open and facing upward. Your legs are slightly apart. Your eyes are closed, and for the time being, withdraw yourself from the external world. Become one with yourself. Just relax. Relax your whole body from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head till the toes. Relax your elbows. Relax your shoulders. Relax your back muscles. Relax your stomach muscles. The whole body is relaxed and comfortable. Exhale your breath. Do not change the breath rhythm. Just let it be as it is. You know that you are inhaling and exhaling, with inhalation and exhalation. You are charging the prāṇa śakti, life force, cosmic energy, and at the time of the exhalation, your body is exhaling all kinds of toxins, and you feel relaxed and comfortable. Three times, deep inhale and slowly exhale. Deep inhale and exhale. Feel your whole body. And now, slowly move your toes and your fingers. Move your head. Turn your head to the left side and to the right side. Close your fists and open your palms. Slowly roll your body to the left side and to the right side, in the middle. And now, stretch your hands above the head. Interlock your fingers and stretch the whole body. Bend one knee and stretch out the other knee. Now bend both knees, hold your knees, and roll your body to the right side and left side: right side, left side, right side, and in the middle. Stretch your legs out, slightly turn to one side, left or right, and sit up. Before beginning any yoga exercise, it is advised to relax. Relax the whole system, relax the body completely. Also, try to calm down your breath and your heart rate, become more aware of your body, and feel thyself in presence. The Self-Inquiry Meditation We spoke the last three days continuously about this self-inquiry meditation. Now we come to the higher level, where we spoke yesterday also a little bit about two different kinds of meditations: active meditation and passive meditation. Active meditation is connected with activities. It can be walking, swimming, riding, hiking, biking, jogging, or your work, artistic work. Whatever you do, you put your deep feelings inside and become one with that. So it means your inner beauty you will create in the outer beauty, to the outer world, to nature. Harmonize thyself, thy thoughts, thy feelings, and thy creation, one with nature. We know that we are not this physical body, but at the same time, we cannot deny our body. We should feel very pleasant under our skin, and we have to ask our body what our body would like to eat. What our body doesn’t like. Now, mostly we eat what we like only here in the mouth, taste. The gums and tongue, when they are swollen down, you don’t know what it is. But the tongue and gums, or mouth, is not the whole body. Actually, this one is a slave of our body. This one has to work and to receive something to supply to the body. But if you supply something wrong, your body will suffer. Similarly, there is nourishment: physical nourishment, mental nourishment, emotional nourishment, intellectual nourishment, spiritual nourishment. And everything that we do, we have to realize and feel. So, there is one technique out of many different techniques of the creative meditation or active meditation, which unites our body, our mind, our feelings or emotions, our energy body like chakras, and Kuṇḍalinī, our concentration as a brain training. And it’s good for our physical health too. People who have problems finding themselves or overcoming certain life situations, there are many life situations. For example, nowadays people have problems with computers. When the computer doesn’t function for a while, they say, "Oh, God," one comes out of the nerves. So many situations we have in our life. And it’s very good for the students, and this is called Khāṭū Praṇām. Our Swami Avatarpuri in Jadan Ashram, he’s just now looking, and he will be happy because he’s a very brilliant student in this school, and his favorite exercise is the Khāṭū Praṇām. His concentration, his alertness, and you will see when he’s doing, very, very nice. So, we will do haṭha praṇām. You did, definitely. You know all, definitely. But still, there is something more to learn and modify for the benefit. Okay? You agree with me? Very good. Such disciples I like always. Well, you see, sometimes when you go for a walk in the park or in the street, some people are jogging or walking quickly, or what you call hiking in the forest. After a few kilometers, they stop and they push one hand. They support one hand on the trunk of the tree, and they bend one knee, and with the second hand, they hold their one foot, and they try to stretch like this. Clear? Why? Because this stretching influences our muscles here and the hamstrings, it stretches the whole thigh muscles to release tiredness and to supply more energy. When you run, then muscles are constantly in tension. Contraction of the muscles is very quick, but the relaxation of the muscle is slow. Therefore, yoga does not advise or accept quick movements. Instead of five exercises or postures, you do only one, but very properly. That will have more effect on the body. Khāṭū Praṇām is balanced in such a way that it will harmonize body, mind, and soul. So, there is one posture we call Vajrāsana. Vajra means strong, iron. And in our body, there are 72,000 nerves. And out of these 72,000 nerves, three nerves are very, very important. The left nerve, which is connected to our left nostril, is sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sun, the sun system is the right one; the moon is the left one, the emotion and intellect. To balance both emotion and intellect is the perfect way of life. The third one is called the central nerve, suṣumnā. And that connects and controls and maintains the level of the consciousness. Besides this, three nāḍīs are the nerves, some called moon, sun, and the consciousness: iḍā, piṅgalā, suṣumṇā. So there are different names. Some call the three rivers Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī. The fourth one is called Vajra Nāḍī. Vajra means strong, and that begins from, or it has, the reflex zone. The point of reflection is between the big toe and second toe, and that’s why I did, in my old time, the yogīs, they had always the sandal, which has like a hook between these two toes. Not only that, to hold that, but also to have a gentle massage for that, to keep the consciousness alert or to make a better concentration. That Vajranāḍī goes from there, goes through our calf and comes up to our Mūlādhāra Cakra, connects to the Brahmanāḍī. The Brahmanāḍī means the Suṣumnā. The Suṣumnā means the central nerve. And that connects again to the brain centers. It awakens you into the feeling of blissfulness. So, this is the first about Vajrāsana. So, please sit in Vajrāsana. You know all the first postures of the Khāṭū Praṇām. So, Dayālpuri, if you can demonstrate, put your shirt in your trousers, where you are. You have no yoga trousers. Next time you should get them. Put your shirt inside, just pull it like this, don’t worry. It will, it will, doesn’t matter, nice or not nice. So, Dayālpuri, please, can you sit there? Thank you. Put your shirt inside, yes. It looks nice, no problem. That’s it, then, like this. A yogī should be practical. Now, turn your face to the wall, thank you. Now, you see the big toes are touching and the heels are... So, you can take place here. The heels are slightly separate. Now, when you are very tired... Physically and mentally, if you have no concentration or you feel full of stress, then sit in this posture. It will develop concentration, and it is very, very good for children and for students, those who have no good concentration. Very active or aggressive restlessness, and so it is best for children, and you will see many children automatically sit in this posture when they are playing, small children. Second, you see the back of the Dayāpurī, that is very naturally straight. It means his shoulder is completely relaxed. So if you have a shoulder problem, shoulder pain, then without your knowing, automatically this pain will disappear because it relaxes these old shoulder muscles very naturally. When the shoulders are relaxed, automatically your elbows are relaxed. And now you feel your fingers and your hands, a better circulation through your hands. When the shoulders are relaxed and the spine is straight, then our whole diaphragm is relaxed. The volume of the air, the chest is in such a way expanded and relaxed, so that you have more possibility or capacity to inhale and exhale. So it means it supplies more oxygen in the body. Because your diaphragm is nicely in the natural position, your spine is good, naturally straight, and therefore your stomach muscles are automatically relaxed. 78% of people have a problem with their stomach muscles because they constantly try to put pressure on their stomach. So, stomach muscles are always in tension. When the stomach muscles are naturally relaxed, then, of course, automatically, our intestines, the small and large intestines, are relaxed. As a result, the digestive process begins so naturally and very well. So this is one of the postures which is advised to perform after eating, minimum five minutes. Those who are sitting now in the vajrāsana, if you feel difficulty, of course you can change your posture. Sit in another, and after a while again adopt the same posture till I am finishing my introduction. Now, because the shoulders are relaxed, the trunk of the body is beautifully relaxed, and therefore your neck is completely relaxed. Now you will see, or you will feel, that your face muscles are naturally relaxed; your eyelids are so relaxed if you close your eyes gently. It develops concentration, and for the students who are learning, the capacity of their learning increases through this posture. And that’s, I think, also in Islam when they sit for prayer; first, they sit in this posture to concentrate, to relax, and to be one-pointed to God, or whatever the belief or the highest one. And so this is the basic posture for the Khāṭū Praṇām. So Dayāpurī, please, can you turn in the middle? Thank you. This side. Thank you. So this was the Vajrāsana. Now, if you like, you can take off your eyeglasses, and the second posture will come. Now, now it begins a meditation, your active meditation. You are nowhere else than with thyself. You are in your own temple. You are in your own body. You are one with thyself in these minutes. Don’t be in a hurry. Enjoy every second of the time with your now, these divine feelings, as a meditation. Very slowly, stretch your hands in the front. Very slowly, that was very quickly, Kṛpāpādevī. And slowly up above the head. Stretch your hands up, and now slowly fold your palms and look to the ceiling or look at your palms. Feel the stretching of your side muscles. Feel the stretching of your stomach muscles. Feel a kind of slight pressure on your back muscles. It will be like a massage. Feel the circulation: your arm muscles, the side muscles, your throat muscles. Even feel inside your palate. And now, slowly open your palms and hands slightly apart, not very much. Palms facing forward in the front side, and with... Control. Slowly, slowly bring your palms on the ground, elbows on the ground, and forehead on the ground. Your elbows are touching the ground. Relax. Normal breath. This is how the stress, the day stress, you will get rid of it. Have a normal breath, just relax. Try to relax. More blood circulation is towards the head, towards your face, very natural. Your back muscles are stretched, and your stomach muscles are pressed slightly with your thigh muscles. Also, your buttocks are stretched. Often, a mother finds the child in the cradle, sleeping like this. This is one of the best postures to relax and get more concentration and come out of this stress. Also, this is an anti-depression posture of the exercise, the Khāṭū Praṇām. It is proved that through the Khāṭū Praṇām, the immune system improves. Now, fix your palms where they are. Don’t move them anywhere. Think your palms are stuck on the ground there. They will not move anymore, left or right, front or back. And now comes a beautiful movement or feeling, slowly. Slide your body forward. Hey, don’t move your hands, lady. Middle one, don’t walk with your hands. And go more till your chest is touching the ground. Support your chest on the ground and your chin on the ground. And toes standing, now you will, and knees on the ground, toes, knees, chest, hands, and chin on the ground. This has a beautiful counter-stretching effect on the body. Hands will remain there. Walk with your hands, front or back, your feet remain where they are, don’t walk with them. But now, again, relax your toes and put your foot on the ground, that’s it. And slowly, stomach on the ground, and upper part of the body, raise up, try to become one with. Yourself, feel your body. This khaṭu praṇām, you can even tell, give the name cosmic dance. After, we will come next round to the chakra. Now again, toes standing with the help of your hand, don’t walk. Toes remain there, try to pull toes. Towards the body more, and slowly, the middle part of the body or the buttocks raise up like a heel, and your heels are touching the ground. This is very good for the arm muscles, shoulder muscles, shoulder blade, and circulation, more circulation. Towards the head, which we need very much, the oxygen towards the brain, and the heels on the ground so that you feel the stretching of your leg muscles, the hamstrings, calf muscles. Now, right foot, bring between your hands. The right foot and left knee are touching the ground. Left knee touching ground, and you are looking to the ceiling. Find your balance and slowly raise your hands up and fold your palms. Look to the ceiling and find a balance. Your body is beautifully balanced, and you feel all muscles which... Are stretched, or which are pressed together, and concentration. Open your hands and slowly bring them near the right foot. Remain there, looking at the ceiling, and try to place your buttocks or your hips lower to the ground. Now, bring the left foot near the right foot. Hands, try to touch your toes or the ground as far as you can. Don’t force yourself. And feel the stretching of your leg muscles and back muscles, and slowly, while inhaling, raise your body up, hands above the head. Raise your body up, but let your foot be on the ground. And fold your palms, remain there, and today only five centimeters levitate, now that’s enough. You don’t go six centimeters, okay? Open the palms, and slowly, while controlling and feeling the movements and body, with open eyes, please. Otherwise, you may become dizzy, go on the ground, and again feel your body. Now, the right foot goes back, and the left foot remains between the hands. Bend the knee, the right knee touching the ground, and, looking up, try to find your balance and slowly raise your hands up. Think like rising consciousness, in rising origin, rising dawn. Open the palms, slightly hands apart. I didn’t say go down. And feel the tip of the fingers, the circulation, the sensation, how the blood is flowing down. And now, as slowly as possible, bring your hands down on the ground near the left foot. And now, slowly bring your left foot near the right foot and raise your buttocks up. Your whole body is like a heel. Very slowly, step by step. So first, bend your knees so that your knees are touching the ground. Very good. Now slightly slide forward so that your chest touches the ground. That’s it. And raise your head up so that your stomach touches the ground. Again, touch your chin to the ground and raise your stomach up, or your buttocks up. The toes, the knees, the chest, the hands, and the chin are touching the ground. Toes, knees, hands, chest, and chin are supporting on the ground, so it cannot be a difficult one. Now, your foot flat, and slowly, this will need more power. It’s good for your arm muscles and the shoulder muscles. Hands remain where they are. They are stuck there. Slowly slide your body back until you come to the Śaśāṅkāsana posture. Elbows on the ground, forehead is on the ground, elbows on the ground. Relax, make yourself comfortable in this posture. Relax, feel the breath. Slowly raise your hands and your head up. Stretch your hands above your head and fold your palms, looking towards the ceiling at your hands. Again, open your palms, hands slightly apart. Bring your head to the middle posture, in the middle position, the normal position. Inhale deep and exhale, and very consciously, slowly bring your hands back on the knees. The knees lie down on the stomach and relax. Can we open the window for a while? Both windows, or a little air condition? Thank you. They are opening the windows. Good. You, the body, I think, ribs up where they will do it. She knows how to do it. Relax. Try to relax consciously the whole body, if you become conscious about your whole body, you will feel a kind of sensation, how the entire system of the body is relaxing. Now, deep inhale and exhale, bend both your knees, hold your foot, chin on the ground, and slowly roll your body to the right side, left side, right side, left side, right side, middle. One after the other, knee stretch out and slowly sit up, please. You feel hot? You feel hot? It’s fine, okay. Well, this was just a little introduction. Now you know. All these pictures on the wall, these are the energy centers in our body. From there begins the first, from the bottom of the spinal column: Mūlādhāra Cakra, Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra, Maṇipūra Cakra, Anāhata Cakra, Viśuddhi Cakra, Ājñā Cakra. Bindu and Sahasrāra. These are the eight energy centers. Now, Khāṭū Praṇām is designed to activate or to awaken the energy centers. What we did now was not only physical movements, but there was also a mental or spiritual effect on our whole body: the physical body, the mental body, the energy body, the subtle body, and the causal body. All these five bodies. We are not only the one physical body, but there are different layers. For example, the mind, you cannot see. Feeling, you cannot see. What I feel, you cannot see. How my feeling is moving, you cannot see. But it is there. Let’s say a healthy person is sitting on one side, and beside is sitting another person who has a mental problem. Both are sitting with closed eyes. We can’t see that one person has a mental problem, but there are some problems. And so the Khāṭū Praṇām is balancing our physical body, emotion, our intellect, and purifies the level of the consciousness. Now, in this posture where we are sitting, we influence all the chakras at the same time. When we go to the stretching up, we come, we begin to influence our Mūlādhāra Chakra, the first one. Then we go to, like, Śaśāṅkāsana, we go down with the hands, we influence our Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra. And when we raise up, then we influence our solar plexus, our digestive system, our Maṇipūra Chakra. Similarly, when we come, we move up, then we come to our heart, our emotions. Then again, we come to different postures, we purify, and we influence our thyroid gland. So in Ghaṭopraṇām, there are three or four movements which influence our thyroid gland very well, in a positive way. So, those who have problems with the thyroid, especially for the ladies when they come to the change of the cycle, then this posture, Ghaṭopraṇām, is a very, very important one. After that, we come to concentrate energy towards our Ājñā Chakra. Then we influence these two centers, the Nectar and the Brahma, Randra, Śāstra Chakra. When you do this posture, imagine yourself in a beautiful space, in beautiful light. All is thyself and energy. And you are swimming, you are fluttering in energy. The energy is constantly moving through your whole body. So this is active meditation. Take your time. Don’t be in a hurry. We did this one round in 34 minutes. Now I give you 15 minutes to do one round, okay? So do it yourself with the feeling of your being completely with yourself, like a meditation, and feel especially that part of the body if you have somewhere pain or you feel some kind of disease or illness, then try to direct mental energy into that part of the body. So you have 15 minutes to do one round individually, as you like. Relax and do it slowly. Khāṭū Praṇām. The active as well as passive meditation. I will change some mantras so that it keeps the more. Your spiritual atmosphere? Mokṣa Mūlam Gurur Vākyam, Mokṣa Mūlam Gurur Kṛpā. Śubham Karoti Kalyāṇam, Ārogyaṁ Dhana Sampadā. Śatru Buddhi Vināśāya Dīpa Jyotir Namostute. Oṁ Dīpa Jyoti Parabrahma, Dīpaṁ Sarve Mohanam. Dīpānāṁ Sajyate Sarvaṁ, Sandhyā Dīpaṁ Sarvasatyam. Brahmanandam Paramasukhadam Kevalam Jnanamurtim Vandatitam Gaganasadrisham Sarvadhi Sakshibhutam Bhavatitam Trigunarahitam Satgurum Tam Namamyaham. Om Tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam, urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt. Asato mā sadgamaya, tamaso mā jyotirgamaya, mṛtyormā amṛtaṁ gamaya. Sarveṣāṁ svastirbhavatu. Sarveṣāṁ śāntīrbhavatū, sarveṣāṁ maṅgalambhavatū, sarveṣāṁ pūrṇambhavatū. Naaham karta, Prabhudeep karta. Mahāprabhujī karta hi kevalam. Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Hari Om, Hari Om... After finishing your one round, you can lie down and relax. Relax your whole body. Relax your right foot. Feel all the toes from the right foot. Big toe, second toe, third toe, fourth toe, and fifth toe. The right calf, calf muscles, right knee, the right thigh and the thigh muscles, right hip, the whole right leg. Feel and relax. Similarly, also the left leg: the toes, the foot sole, the ankle joint, the calf, the calf muscles, the knee, the kneecap, below the knee, the thigh, and the hip joint. The whole left leg and right leg. Relax consciously. Feel the prāṇa śakti energy flowing through both legs. Similarly, feel and relax your right hand, palm, fingers, wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, and right shoulder. Just relax. Try to relax more and more and feel the prāṇa śakti. And the left hand, all the five fingers, the palm, the wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, shoulder, the whole left arm. Relax both shoulders, your elbows, and both arms. Try to relax your hips, the back muscles, the right shoulder blade, the left shoulder blade, and the right side muscles. Feel and relax your left side muscles, the stomach muscles, the whole diaphragm, the whole trunk of the body. Just relax. Become aware of your being here in this hall, your body, your thoughts. Just relax. Feel and relax your neck, neck muscles, throat muscles. Feel and relax your head, skin, forehead, eyebrow center, eyebrows, and eyelids. Relax. Relax your face muscles. Relax your jaw and relax your lips. The whole body, from the toes till the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. Just relax. I know that I’m relaxing. I feel myself. I’m discovering more and more my feelings within my own phenomenon. Yes, my breath. I’m so happy and thankful to God or Mother Nature that I can feel and breathe so freely. I am inhaling fresh air, the oxygen. I am inhaling the prāṇa, the cosmic light through which the flame of my life is burning or active. I exhale all kinds of toxins, and it releases my inner tension. I know that I’m inhaling. Feel your breath between the navel and throat. At the time of the inhalation, the breath consciousness is ascending from the navel to the throat. And at the time of the exhalation, the breath consciousness is descending from the throat to the navel. Feel your breath. When you inhale, you feel fresh and gentle, cool air flowing through the nostrils. And when you exhale, pleasant, warm air is coming out through the nostrils. Relax. Be aware of your being here in this hall. Feel your whole body is relaxed. I know that I’m inhaling, and I know that I’m exhaling. Don’t let go of your breath. Without your knowing, observe the breath between navel and throat in going and out coming breath. Relax. Be aware of your breath and body. Now begin to breathe a little deeper than normal breath in and out, a more deeper breath. And when you breathe in, feel the expansion of the trunk of the body, and when you exhale, feel the contraction of the trunk of the body. Inhale deeper and exhale. At the same time, try to become extrovert, try to notice the external sounds from cars. The birds, the people, and deep inhale and exhale. And slowly move your fingers and toes. Slowly try to rotate your shoulders both directions, and slowly turn your head to the left and to the right. Feel your deep relaxation. Feel your deep meditation. And slowly, raise your hands up. Stretch your hands above the head. Stretch your hands above the head on the ground. Stretch the whole body. Roll your body to the left side a little bit, and... To the right side, turn in the middle, yes, and slowly bend one after the other knee and stretch the knees out. Bend both knees and turn slightly to one side and sit up. Rub your palms and place them on your face, and warm the little face muscles and relax. Open your eyes. Hari Om. So I think that’s enough for today. Until next time, please practice as slowly as you can. It is good for you. It will give you deep relaxation, and you will get rid of many sorrows and much stress which the outer world causes us, and you will become very happy. So, Khāṭū Praṇām, do one round a day or two rounds, but slowly and with full concentration. Wish you a very nice day. Thank you. Hari Om.