TV Channel

Part 1: The Path of Prāṇa: Inner Churning and the Nectar Within Good morning—though it is already noon. This is the second day of this seminar, and we begin again with prāṇa and prāṇāyāma. I shall not start from the very beginning, for many of you have instruments at home—a computer, an iPad, an iPhone—with which you can listen to the lecture. There are about four stations, Swamiji TV, and one is for Europe, with two kinds of quality: high definition and middle definition. Others serve the Americas, Australia, Japan, and that part of the world. According to the different times, you can benefit anywhere there is an internet connection—on the lake, on an island, in the forest, anywhere. We continue with the subject of prāṇa, and generally we begin with prāṇāyāma. There are three main kinds of prāṇāyāma: pūrak, rechak, and kumbhak. Pūrak means inhalation, rechak means exhalation, and kumbhak is retention of the breath. There are two kinds of kumbhak: antar kumbhak and bāhar kumbhak. Antar kumbhak means holding the breath inside, and bāhar kumbhak means holding the breath outside. These three prāṇāyāmas are a general overview. Even natural kumbhak occurs all the time: we inhale, then there is a little gap, a holding of the breath, before we exhale. Similarly, when we exhale and then inhale, there is again a gap. In this way, we are naturally and spontaneously doing kumbhaka, recaka, and pūraka. So there are only these three prāṇāyāmas. Now, for different purposes, there are many different breath techniques, and every prāṇāyāma has a particular effect on the body, mind, emotion, intellect, and consciousness. One person is researching a prāṇāyāma called siddhālī, where you breathe with the tongue and teeth. He has written extensively about the benefits of siddhālī and siddhākarī prāṇāyāmas. In siddhālī prāṇāyāma, you press the tongue towards the teeth and exhale between the teeth—this is like a cobra also does. And siddhālī is when you turn the tongue back, roll it, and make a pipe. It is not difficult; everyone can roll the tongue like this. When you are very thirsty and there is no water, you can quench your thirst through this prāṇāyāma. Every technique has its effect on our whole being. At one program, an International Yoga Day event in New Delhi, a person said, “The Kuṇḍalinī and Cakras, these are not in yoga; they were created later by people.” Then the next speaker explained. Actually, first were the Cakras and Kuṇḍalinī, and he explained exactly. Sometimes people try to say, “Oh, Kuṇḍalinī and cakras came after.” Secondly, they said Āyurveda is five thousand years old. And I made the correction; I said, “Please make the correction. You do not know how old Āyurveda is, and when you do not know, then do not give a limitation of years. The whole world knows, and everyone knows, how old Āyurveda is.” Āyurveda is from that time in Satya Yuga when the ocean was churning and fourteen valuable things came—they call them the fourteen jewels. Jewels means precious stones or pearls—and all this in the search for the nectar. Finally, the nectar came. There was a dispute between asuras and devas. Asuras, you may call in the European way satanic, or devils, and devas, the divine beings. They were fighting. The fight was for the Svargaloka kingdom. Svargaloka is one of the most beautiful and best places. If you are very, very old and you enter into Svarga Yoga, you become twenty-five years old. So, who does not want to go there? And then, age does not change—ever young, and so on and so on. Too much temptation is not good. And so, also in Islam, they said, when you do this and this, then you will come to heaven or Svargaloka or paradise, and when you come there as a man, immediately you get seven women or girls, the virgins. So, are there so many virgin girls there waiting? Is there a shortage of men? And who knows that you will get seven? Maybe you get nothing. These seven are some qualities, but if you do good karma, good things—because suicide, to die by suicide, is one of the most terrible karmas, a sin. God gave you this human body, and this is very rare. So do not kill your body, so that the soul will not come to the good lokas; it will go to lower life. We will begin again from the reptilians. So never think to commit suicide. No, never do it. And if you do, it is painful, and then you come into darkness. It is not a good procession. You will be suffering; you will be questioned about many things by the Yamas. You break the law, the cosmic law. So the law of your country does not matter who you are; you have to follow and obey the law of your country. And not only you, anyone who enters your territory or your country has to respect your law. So these things are not good. To commit suicide or to kill someone—both karmas for you are very bad. These two things one should not do: kill others or kill thyself. God has given a particular time. The time, John, that on that border, then you will die. And everyone has to go through the same door. If you are a Hindu, or Jewish, or Christian, or Buddhist, or Muslim, or of any religion—and if you are religious or not religious, if you believe in God or you do not believe in God—at the end there is only one door, and through this door you have to go. And that door is very famous, very beautiful, but nobody wants to go through that door: it is death. So this door means death. Finally, everyone has to go through death. Rājā, Raṅg, Fakīr—these are three personalities. Rājā means king. Raṅg, the common people. Mahāprabhujī wrote one nice fakīrī bhajan: Śrī Gurujī, Mahāprabhujī... Ah, fakīrī bhajans. So, rājā, raṅg, fakīr—king, beggar, and the saint. I have to go through one door. One goes through that door riding on an elephant, one goes with hands tied like this, and one goes with free decision. So saints and fakīrs have the free decisions. The rājā goes with his horse, all dignities, and the other ones are the sinners who did bad karmas. And bad karma means killing—killing physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, politically, economically, etc. So there is one door, and there is death. And then, where you will go, who will guide you further, that is your karma. Therefore, to kill someone or to kill thyself, both have very bad results. So never think of suicide, and never think to kill someone. That is called ahiṃsā—also ahiṃsā towards thyself. Do not torture yourself through different kinds of drugs. Do not torture yourself with laziness, anger, hate, jealousy. So the Devas and Asuras are within us. They are all peacefully resting within us. But when something happens, they wake up. Anger wakes up. Heat, jealousy, kāma, krodha, lobha, moha—oh God, one after the other, the deva wakes up. Or devas like kindness, humbleness, understanding, speaking sweet words, dharma, helping everyone—these are our vṛttis within us. And the ocean is this: our existence, our consciousness, and the spinal column, or this kuṇḍalinī, is that snake, and our spinal column is like a mountain. So both qualities, our negative and positive qualities, are fighting; they are churning to gain something according to their taste, their interest. So churning is our mind, what we call overthinking. We say it manan. Manan means think over, think over, think over. Research, research, research. Within thyself, you will get the result. So everything is within us. That immortality, that nectar, is within us. So there are so many qualities sitting in us, and it is said that you can hide from anyone—we can try to hide perfectly—but your ātmā knows what you are doing, what you did, and God knows. So this is our destiny, which will churn us through many ages toward different lives or liberation. It awakens the good qualities. Nectar means it can wake up a dead body into life. So all this forest is dying, drying, and suddenly rain comes. It is nectar. Again, life is blossoming. So that nectar is with us too, in our Bindu Cakra. So manana nidarśana, manana johē, think over, think over, think over. So finally, Bhagavān Viṣṇu appears, brings that nectar. So Viṣṇu has to take another incarnation, because when Viṣṇu becomes the turtle, and he goes under the ocean, then he is supporting our spinal column, and Brahmā, here in Brahma-randhra, is balancing. Then Viṣṇu had to take a second incarnation at the same time, and that is called Dhanvantari. Dhanvantari is the God of Āyurveda. So Dhanvantari brought the Amṛta Kalaśa, and so one day before Dīvālī, we worship Dhanvantari, who brought nectar—one day before Dīvālī. And that is such a season where all of nature offers us all kinds of fruits, grains, nuts, etc. And so we worship on that day God Dhanvantari, the emblem, the principle, the God, whatever you call it. In Āyurveda, it is Dhanvantari as Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Kumbha Melā also was created because of this, and then again, you know, one thing you should... Viṣṇu comes once, and then his... duty is finished, and that is why in the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa said, “Time to time, yuge yuge, every yuga, I incarnate.” So now he came as Dhanvantari, and the Devas took it, Asuras take it, and they took it and ran away—sorry, boom, they took it too quickly away. So that was, you know, the legend. The stories in which the nectar fell, and there is a Kumbhela, but still, fighting. Devas want to have all. This is also selfish. In some way, the rākṣasas are also right. But they do not want to give it to rākṣasas, because we do not want to have any more rākṣasas. So they also want to have nectar—a big fight. So again, it was everything against dharma. So again, Viṣṇu incarnated. This time he incarnates as a woman. So many times, women can do the best work. You cannot solve it, but they can solve it. So if the husband follows the woman, the husband will be happy. Part 2: The Play of Mohinī and the Inner Nectar But the husband’s ego does not allow him to follow his wife. Yet finally he had to place it into the wife’s hands. She said, “Lakṣmī.” However, there are two kinds of quality in women as well. I do not wish to speak of that now—yes, some other time. For just as there are different qualities in men, so there are different qualities in women. Still, the finest among them we call Lakṣmī. She is like Lakṣmī, like Saraswatī, like a light, like the Gaṅgā, like the Divine Mother. She possesses many, many divine qualities. But at the very same time she is a ghost, she is this, and even—I do not dare to repeat these names because then my heart begins to race. All of these sleep inside us. You will find them nowhere outside; do not search outside, search within yourself. A Sufi saint said, “O my friend, what you are searching for outside, you are me. I am within you.” Mokū̃ kahā̃ tū̃ dhū̃ḍhe bande, maĩ to tere pāsa mẽ. Sehera se bāhara kuṭiyā hamārī, aura ḍerā merā svā̃sa mẽ. My hut is outside the city, but my dwelling is in your breath—the ascending and descending breath. Khojegā to abhī milū̃gā pala bhar kī talāśa mẽ. If you search for me, I will meet you at once; in a single second you will see me. But how to search? That is a technique, and this technique is called complete surrender—unconditional devotion. Then you will attain it. Mokū̃ kahā̃ tū̃ dhū̃ḍhe bande, maĩ to tere pāsa mẽ. Khojegā to abhī milū̃gā pala bhar kī talāśa mẽ, sehera se bāhara kuṭiyā hamārī, aura ḍerā merā svā̃sa mẽ. Such beautiful bhajans—they give us the key. Now, if you can open the lock, you can open it. But be careful: there are two locks, one devil’s and the other devil’s. These two locks, two doors, are the two parts of the heart. Both awaken here, or in the two hemispheres. Everything within us is divided. So Viṣṇu came again. You may think, “Swāmījī forgets and goes off on another path.” But I am not going on another path; I am merely looking for security in every direction, and then walking the same road. Bhagavān Viṣṇu knows how to act in any situation—how to behave in any circumstance. So here were the Rākṣasas and the Devas. Naturally, women do not have such games. The women said, “How stupid these men are.” That is why the prisons are full of men and contain few women, because women already have their jail—the household. She is imprisoned by her husband. Even if she works outside, when she comes home the children cry, “Mommy, mother, we are hungry!” And the husband comes from work and says, “You haven’t prepared food.” If there were no women in this world, you know what the world would look like? Yet without men, the world would be dark. So you see, both are within—day and night, day and night. Do not fight; let it be. Have a good night. So Bhagavān Viṣṇu thought, “If I come as a man, there will be a third war.” Therefore he came as a very beautiful woman. Every woman is a very beautiful woman; only men need good eyes to see the heart of that person. That beauty is within, not in makeup. Reality lies behind the makeup. That is why it is called Mālāvikā Śepa and Āvaraṇa. Women are behind the āvaraṇa, behind the curtain; their beauty, their kindness, their good qualities are hidden there. The Upaniṣads say that the first divinity is the mother. Anyhow, Viṣṇu Bhagavān appeared as a Mohinī. Her name was Mohanī, and Mohanī means very attractive—so attractive, so beautiful, so divine, so goddess-like, possessing all the finest qualities. Of course, it was Viṣṇu. Mohanī came and took the Amṛta Kalaśa. “Don’t fight, I will give to everyone.” Before she arrived, she was dancing; Viṣṇu was dancing. Viṣṇu always dances, for he learned from Śiva, and it was such exquisite dancing that the Rākṣasas were hypnotized and the Devas smiled. Then she easily took the nectar pot in her hand. They did not even notice that the pot was in her hand. And Viṣṇu always creates some māyā; māyā means illusion, māyā means ignorance. Everyone is in ignorance. Inside that one pot, Viṣṇu fashioned beautiful colors, creating two compartments within. In 1975 the first double thermos was manufactured, so people happily bought a thermos that had two parts inside—one side for coffee, the other for tea. The husband wanted coffee, the wife wanted tea; they pressed one button, and coffee came from the same thermos, and from the same came tea. This was very well known. Do you remember? The double thermos. There was also a double cassette player, no? I still have a few memories; I am not so old. So what I am telling is not merely a story but reality. There were two more things, but I will not tell you, otherwise the lecture will become... and you will say, “Swamiji, where is your prāṇa?” Yet I am bringing prāṇa to you to explain this. So Mohanī said, “Devas stand here, and Asuras stand here. Do not fight, and keep your cups in your hands.” Everyone held a cup. Now Mohanī danced, and as she danced she manipulated the situation—that is Mohanī’s art. Dancing, she moved toward the Rākṣasas. She tilted the kalaśa and poured out the Amṛta. The Rākṣasas received it; she dropped something into their cups, and they thought it was nectar. They drank. What was it? They became dizzy and saw one Mohanī multiplied into countless forms; wherever they looked, they saw only Mohanī. Then she went to the Devas and from the very same pot she poured into their cups. That was true nectar. They drank and cried, Ānandoham, Ānandoham—I am bliss. The Asuras sang something entirely different and grew dizzy. One Asura sensed that something was wrong. “In these proceedings there is something dark,” he thought. So that Rākṣasa crept behind Mohanī and, where she was serving the Devas, he stretched out his hand. Mohanī poured the nectar into the Rākṣasa’s cup, and he drank quickly. Viṣṇu, as Mohanī, realized, “Ah, this was a Rākṣasa! Once again my story, my game, will be spoiled.” Ask Viṣṇu how many times he lost a game—then Śiva comes and manages everything. Mohanī transformed back into Viṣṇu, seized the Sudarśana Cakra, and moved to kill that Rākṣasa. But the Rākṣasa said, “O tricky Viṣṇu, your Sudarśana can do nothing now; the nectar has already reached my navel. You may cut me into pieces, but I will not die.” So the head flew away and became Rāhu, while the trunk of the body became Ketu. Now, if you know something about astrology: among all the constellations there are two—Rāhu and Ketu—and then Sūrya and Śukra. When these four come together on your constellation, according to astrology, you become many times better, or any troubles or approaching death—well, I will not go that way. Rāhu is our friend, Ketu is our friend. When they arrive, we offer them prasād too—real prasād. As it is said, Jāḍul Janter. Mahāprabhujī declared, “If you remain positive and good, nothing can touch you.” And Rāhu said to Viṣṇu, “Whenever you wish to accomplish something good, I will come and destroy it.” And so it happens. Every Kumbha Melā I keep telling this, but nobody listens. When millions of sādhus and saints gather, why does tragedy occur at every Kumbha Melā? I told them, “It is Rāhu.” They should build a Rāhu temple and, at the start of the Kumbha Melā, perform pūjā for Rāhu. Then it will not happen anymore, for he too has asked for his right. So, my dear ones, that was the story of Satya Yuga. Amṛta means Āyurveda. That Yuga was millions of years ago—how then can anyone claim that Āyurveda is only 4,000 or 5,000 years old? Make the correction and write a letter to the Āyurveda institutions. Similarly, they speak of other things as being only so many years old. I said, “All right, if you do not believe in Satya Yuga, then consider when God Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa went to Śrī Laṅkā and Lakṣmaṇa was struck by an arrow and lay dying. Thanks to Hanumānjī, he flew instantly to the Himalayas and within that same half-night brought back—what did he bring? Sanjīvanī, the life-giving herbs, and these are Āyurvedic herbs. So when did Lord Rāma live? 10,000 years ago. How then can you make it only 5,000 years?” We have evidence; why not use it? So now, this nectar is within us. Through our Kriyā, what we are learning is the balancing of our cakras—our bindu and our prāṇa. This is the science of yoga, and it is the blessing of Alakhpurījī, extended to Mahāprabhujī, Devpurījī, Mahāprabhujī, and Gurujī. And Gurujī gave it equally to all of us, to you and to me. You are lazy, you sit comfortably, and you have given me the duty to speak. So I perform Seva. There were many signs when I went to Alakhpurījī’s kingdom. Indeed, that kingdom is our kingdom. Alakhpurījī showed me the path from that Vasudhārā. I have told many of you—it is like a very thin, long, vast plastic filament, like a milky road. Suddenly I was alone; all were with me here and there. I had to walk through stones, up and down. I looked upward, and that path was connected to me. This is a reality; I am not fabricating a story. So I said, “Alakhpurījī, show me again this path to the Brahman.” But my story is different. I told Alakhpurījī, “I will walk this path, but not alone. All my bhaktas will go with me. This is my condition.” So now I must deal with Alakhpurījī. Do you agree? Did you receive the protocol? Good. The prāṇa—all is a play of the prāṇas. These prāṇas will lead us to Brahmaloka, and Brahmaloka itself is prāṇa, pure, pure energy. So the space, light, sound, and prāṇa—we are there. Therefore, do your best, practice what you can, but if you harbor even one negative thought toward me, it is not toward me; it strikes the seed of Alakhpurījī. It goes straight to that; I am only a medium in between. So prāṇa—look, each and every leaf has stopped moving. What Swāmījī is saying, yes, who stopped these leaves? Alakhpurījī, not I, but it will come. This means you are all sitting under the dharma vṛkṣa, the tree of dharma, because you are filled with dharma. So delete, kick out all your āsurī śaktis: Kāma, Krodha, Mada, Lobha, Moha, Matsara, Rāga, and Dveṣa—throw them all out. Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Alakhpurīśa Mahādeva, Devpurījī Mahādeva, Satguru Svāmī Mādhavānandajī Bhagavān, Satyasanātanda, Bhārat Mātā Kī Jai Om. Viśvaguru Svāmī Maheśvarānandajī Gurudeva Kī Jai Om.