Swamiji TV

Other links



Video details

Quality of yoga is missing

A morning satsang on the purpose of human life and authentic spiritual practice.

"Human life is rare. It is the last milestone for divine realization or becoming one with God."

"Yoga practice is good for our health, but then we should do the system scientifically. Never torture your body, never force your body."

The lecturer addresses a global audience, contrasting superficial modern yoga with the deep, enduring practice of true tapasyā (austerity). He discusses the rarity of human birth, the cycle of karma, and the need to cultivate qualities that lead to light, using examples from scripture, anecdotes of ancient sādhus, and everyday situations to illustrate the principles of endurance, forgiveness, and connecting to cosmic energy.

Filming location: USA

A very good morning to all bhaktas around the world. Some have evening, some have morning, some have afternoon, some have midnight. Bhaktas are always awakened. Whenever there is a spiritual talk from which we can benefit, they are ever awakened. Yesterday, there was a question about a fly: Chandan makkī par hare durgandī wahān uṭ jāye. Aise agyani satsaṅg nahī sunāy, unge ke uṭ jāye. A fly was sitting on sandalwood, and suddenly a little child relieved itself. The fly quit the nice fragrance of the sandalwood and flew to that stink. Every creature has its nature, its qualities. So, just to have a human body is not everything. We should have that quality within us that leads us to the light. Hiṃsak Praṇī—those who are violent—all violent animals always go into the darkness. A thief hides itself in darkness. But spiritual seekers go towards the light. Human life is rare. It is the last milestone for divine realization or becoming one with God. But if we miss that quality, we will not make a step towards divine consciousness; we will fall deep into lower consciousness. Yoga has now become a kind of fashion. But somehow, that yoga is not practiced as yoga. It became more selfish, meaning commercial. There is no quality, like junk food. Similarly, there is no quality in practicing yoga. In some way, our Indian Prime Minister, Modījī, worked very hard. With his connections to presidents, prime ministers, and the United Nations, he asked if we could celebrate a day of yoga. Within 14 days, 176 countries said yes—Islamic countries also—and he was proud. People were proud and happy. But now people have taken advantage in a different way, and so the quality of yoga is missing. The scriptures or literatures are connected to philosophy. One who brought this name 'philosophy' is a philosopher. When a philosopher has his research work and knowledge, it doesn't matter what you tell him or her; he or she will not accept it because he is a scientist. The research—the scientific work—is the way to the truth. Research finds the truth without dualities or selfishness. So, the philosopher researches that subject and then tells us something. Now, other people are not that kind of philosopher, professor, or experienced person. They just play the flute. But the flute is bamboo, and bamboo is broken. So, how is the sound of the flute not that? We need authenticity. Nowadays we say, "Okay, good for my body," and move a little bit and say, "Oh, I feel good." For a while, you feel good. But the real good is your soul, your ātmā, where we must lead you. How are we utilizing time? Time doesn't wait for anyone. And karma, the action, will not leave anyone free. Action will come. The action ends in reaction, and that reaction ends in action. So, action, reaction, action—we are nowhere. Once we feel proud: "I took action; my reaction was good." One threw a brick at me; my action was I threw a stone. But that one said, "He throws only a stone; I will throw a bullet." So, action-reaction is going higher and higher. It means our development for our soul is decreasing, going down and down. We become selfish, egoistic: "What I say is truth, best; it's my life, my feelings, my culture, my tradition." Tradition is one, culture is second, but the truth, the philosophy, or the science, what it says, is different. Now they research that humans are only human, which is said in the Grantha Śāstras: a human is a human. But in between came many races, differences in humans, colors, etc. Now scientists have declared two things. The first human was in the Himalayas, in Tibet, as we called it that time. Tibet now is China, and next time maybe it's Śiva. So, it is China. The province of China is Tibet, according to present politics. There was a Śiva first on the Kailāśa Parvata. Śiva is Svayaṃbhū—no father, no mother. He manifested in the womb of the mother universe. So, Śiva is the son of the universe. All the energies, functions, capacities—everything in the endless universe—collected and manifested into Śiva. So, Śiva is not a normal incarnation or a normal human. He is the embodiment of the entire universe, and he gives to us. He manifested himself in the Himalayas, where Mount Kailash is. Therefore, a researcher said the first human was there. Second, a human is a human. It doesn't matter if he is small or tall, thin or thick, color white, black, or yellow. Human is a human. The Vedas said there are 8.4 million different creatures, and from this, one is the human. Therefore, there should be no differences and no fighting among humans. We are the great; we are that kind of incarnation. We are also incarnation, but now we have in our hands: use it or lose it. You have your human life, so either you go to development or you go to the distractions: svarga, apavarga, or naraka. The human consciousness, human abilities, the human body, human soul are to come to that light. That was given by those philosophers—now we call them scientists—and that time we called them philosophers, the kind of philosopher which was the ṛṣis, holy saints. Today, a picture came of one sādhu, one Swāmī elder. Some said he is 250 years old, others said 500 years old, and still he is active. He is walking, and he has on a tree like a nest, a little kind of hut that opens, no roof. He climbs the tree, which is about 3 meters in height, and he is meditating. He is living; everything he is doing is there. I don't know what he eats. It is said, "I was not there, so I can tell you only what I heard, and you will tell somebody because you heard from me." In India, there was one politician, Indira Gandhi. In politics, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. She lost twice, I think, her elections and Congress. So, she went to this Swāmījī, this sādhu, made a praṇām there, and he didn't look at her. He was in his meditation. Then, after two days, he just put his leg down so she could touch his feet. That's it. She said, "Okay, I got my blessing." He made like this, and she won with the highest number of votes. So, there are scientists, and they are like, "What? Can it be more than this?" The gods are true and true, pure, crystal clear, transparent. Their feelings, their consciousness, their being is divine and a blessing for us. At that time, we call that philosopher or holy saint trikāl darśī—knower of past, present, and future. But, my dear, it's not easy. You go for a weekend somewhere, or one week in your small tent, and it begins to rain the whole day and night, and snow. It's not pleasant. "Let's go home." When he was sitting, there was falling—maybe sometimes the hills falling down—and rain, and cold, and heat, and mosquitoes. "How will we do the mosquitoes? Oh God!" It's not easy, my dear, to endure the situation: cold or hot, rain or dry, hot air or cold air, rain or snow, night, nobody there. Nobody brings anything to eat. He is in himself. I'm thinking now of my next journey to India to have his darśan. There is another one; he is 180 years old now, sitting like this. People came and made an interview. They said, "Do you have anything to tell?" For the interview, he didn't want to talk about this. But they said, "Do you have anything to tell?" He said, "Yes, I think death has forgotten me." He is sitting there. There is a third one also; they don't know exactly how old he is—above some hundred years—and his skin is beginning like a stone, but his ātmā is sitting within him. So, we are nothing compared to them. We are only the consumers of food. In one life, we are consuming 80 tons of food. When you die at 80 or 85 years, you have consumed 80 to 85 tons. We are only consumers, not manufacturers. Manufacturers are those great Siddhas, great yogīs who make this life successful, as pure, as innocent, as truthful. He brings himself into the hands of God, as God gave you. That is yoga. Not: "Oh, today my kilos... yes, in one week I've lost three kilos. Oh, look." The husband comes and tells his wife, "Look, don't you think that I lost?" She said, "Yes, you lost everything because you had no time for me." My dear, yoga practice is good for our health, but then we should do the system scientifically. Never torture your body, never force your body. Good health comes from good thinking. Everything is coming from thinking. Good thinking means we will say, "Eat healthy food." Healthy food nowadays we are talking organic. You will say, "Swāmījī, coming from high philosophy to the eating philosophy." And in eating philosophy, another philosophy: the selfish philosophy. Day before yesterday, I think, I got spinach. I don't know who brought it; they said it's organic or something. I tell you, after 15 years, I test the real, the best spinach test. The original test—what God has given from those seeds—is a completely different test. So, when we have philosophy, when we have spirituality, when we speak about our inner self—not this body, not these thoughts, not these senses, not these desires—but that ātmā, that you. Who are you? And that knows. Only your inner self knows what is pleasant, what is the best, and what makes your life healthy, happy, long, and comfortable. Do that. For the temporary, the test is not. So, go there, endure. That's called tapasyā in our word, in Sanskrit or Hindi words. Tapasyā. You know what is tapasyā? In different kinds of austerity, we should not torture our body, but as humans, we should endure the situation. Don't judge anything immediately. Now, again, I am coming to some very normal, very simple example. You have experienced it definitely many times, and I have experienced many times. I flew so much. There is a flight, for example, from Washington to New York, and they give the food. One person said, "I ordered that food, and I am a diabetic person, and I need this and this and this." And what can they say? "Sorry, we are not guilty. You should go to the ground staff and tell them." "Yeah, but what is this? It's only 40 minutes you are flying; you will not die." But how human emotion is: "I pay the money, I get my ticket, and I have a ride." You can't imagine how many times I witness people fight for their eating. The maximum flight is 12 hours. In 12 hours, my dear, you will not die. They said, these hostesses, the boys or the girls, said, "Sir, we are sorry, but can we give you some bread, or can we give you some juice, some fruits, etc., some cakes? Take this, take this." "Yes, but I ordered my food." "I am sorry, we don't have that food." "I will write down." "Yes, you can write down." But you know, this is not a tapasyā. Tapasyā is you will say, "Food is not for me," or something. "Okay, doesn't matter, no problem. Please give me a glass of water or juice." Or someone said, "I would like to have tomato juice." That's all. Or one said, "Okay, I will have a glass of vodka." Oh God, without eating, vodka will burn your intestines. So, to endure a situation, accept the situation, digest that situation without anger. Otherwise, you are trying to digest your anger, and whatever you get to eat will create more poison in your body. Though they gave you something good—fruits, salad, or something—you eat with anger, and your stomach says, "Please don't do this to me." So, tapasyā, austerity, means not that there are some yogīs sitting now in the Kumbh Melā (many know what Kumbh Melā is, many may not know). One yogī, sādhu, has only one little cloth on the body and is making five different or seven different fires about two meters distance from him. The fire is a lot of cow dung, which burns longer, or buffalo dung and wood. He has one ring, a thick ring, and a cloth on it on his head, and there is a basket, and in the basket also fire on it, heat. Now he is sitting, meditating: Namah Śivāya. Om Namah Śivāya. People are coming to see him and taking photos. When you see, people are making photos, and he's enduring more heat so people will see how good he is, sweating and hot. The temperature was about 40 degrees, and then more fire. What do you think? That kind of austerity we should not do. Our body is a divine body—sorry—our body is God's body. In this body, God is dwelling. In our heart, God is dwelling, and we should not torture this body. But at the same time, we should not spoil this body, and that is yoga. So, not some kind of torturing: one puts this leg on this side of the neck and this leg on that side of the neck and sits like in a swing. No, it's okay if you are young. Some can do, some cannot do, but ask your hip joints how it is, the bones. My dear, endure the situation, the emotional situation. We should not create war. We should help. We should love. We should forgive them. Even if they say, "Yes, we will kill you, any stupid," say, "Yes, please." Calm, peaceful. That is the nature of the yogī. We were talking yesterday, day before yesterday, about prāṇa. Prāṇa means energy. There are two kinds of energy. One is the physical energy: the nourishment—what kind of water we drink or liquid, what kind of solid food we are taking, how much we are taking, how much we are going for a walk, the inhalation, oxygen. This is one kind of energy. The second energy is the cosmic energy. Cosmic energy is coming from the cosmic mother, and it comes through the sahasrāra cakra. This cosmic mother is nourishing her child, the jīvātmā. So, constantly there is a connection between the supreme cosmic self and our self, meaning our ātmā or our soul. Our ātmā, our soul, is like a bulb, and the powerhouse is that cosmic mother. The powerhouse supplies power to the bulb. Similarly, our soul is nourished or supplied with that energy—pure energy, which we call prāṇa, that is the cosmic mother's energy. Anyone who nourishes us is a mother. Anyone who protects and gives us knowledge is a father. So, mother can be father also, and mother can be also father and mother. But energy is feminine. So, it doesn't matter what kind of energy, but as soon as you said prāṇa, it's not feminine, it's masculine. So, finally that prāṇa, that energy, turns into the prāṇa, and that is God itself. We have to make a very clear path and let it constantly radiate this cosmic light in our heart. That is a yoga and yogī's sādhanā, tapasyā. This body is very precious. We cannot buy this body in the supermarket, we cannot borrow somebody's body, and we can't say we will get this body again. It's only and only and only one time. Therefore, first, enjoy being on this earth as a living being. Experience life on it and experience all these different energies, different tasks, different happiness, different joy—everything in the right way. There are three different behaviors. One is nature: trees, vegetation, etc. Second, animal. Third is human. Human should not behave as animals because when we change our feelings and we are just enjoying, then we are in the category of the animals—the animal kingdom. If we come above, the best joy can be had by a human. And what? Knowledge. What? Happiness. What? You can give someone support, give hands. That's why often I say: helping hands have more value than folded hands. Help, help. Many times you will see animals also helping animals. Recently someone posted on Facebook (in the last one and a half years I have Facebook also; I didn't want to, but everybody was forcing me). One woman, or girl, gave birth to a child and threw it into the garbage. A dog came, smelling, and saw this little fresh-born child. The dog caught that child and brought it home to his master, to whom this dog was in the street, and brought it to the humans and put... yes. So, dogs are very intelligent. Also, one day, a baby of the wild cow... The lion went there, and that lion, the mother lion, went to the hunting. This was a small baby. I am in satsaṅg, baad me khor kuru ga. The baby was running here and there. Finally, the baby just stopped and came to the lion mother. The lion mother looked at him, didn't kill, didn't bite. This baby was maybe three or four days old. Then another lion came to attack, and she attacked the other lion. She protected. So, even in the animal kingdom, there is protection, and it is their nourishment, their food. When they have enough, they will not kill anyone. When they eat grass, fill the stomach, then they will sit and relax. What do we humans do? When we go for a walk somewhere and nice, ripe cherries are there, we don't eat only five or six. We take a basket, pluck the cherries, and go with them. This is the difference between humans and animals. Birds will come, eat, and fly away—not that she will take more dishes or dish types. So, limitations, feelings. We humans have viveka. We shall give love, understanding. No anger, never, never in anger. Yes, you may be a little angry here, but not here, not here. Because when you come from the brain, from your intellect, to the heart side, then it's automatically filtered. There is no more anger; it is love. But when you bring your anger into your heart, many heart problems arise. Some people have the anger either in the neck or stomach problems, spine problems, some of the headaches, or the knees. This is a very sensitive point in our body. We have very much pain because we put our tension, our anger, our hate, our greed in a particular part of the body. If you give it all up, suddenly everything becomes very nice and clean. It's not easy for humans now. But those who practice classical, authentic, ancient philosophies accordingly—that you practice yoga—you will get what yoga is promising. Yoga promised so many things: self-realization. You didn't realize yourself in this world. That kind of practice is healthy and leads us to immortality. So, feel compassion in your body, in your heart, in your thinking, and have healthy food and healthy movements. Wherever you are, be content. That's all. That is austerity. That is tapasyā. And that is how to enjoy human life. We don't know if we will come again. There are two or three facilities or possibilities: either we come back on this earth to a different life—maybe we are a cobra, very beautiful, or we come as a buffalo, or something different, or a human—depending on the karma. Or we are in the astral world; there is no access for us again in this world; you have no freedom to come into this planet. So, you remain in the astral, torturing constantly in darkness, and that's called a spirit, a ghost, an ancestor which has existed for ages because there is no door, no access—life prison, astral life. There are years we can't count. The third liberation is in God's consciousness, one with God, one with God's light. So, these are the three levels. Either you again repeat in the cycle of birth and death among 8.4 million different creatures—the chance is through the last, a human—or if you are behaving wrong... The violence we can do in many ways must not be physically. Thinking, hate, anger—this is the most terrible violence. Therefore, forgive, be happy, accept. It is your mistake. If I make a mistake, it is still your mistake. Your mistake and my mistake are shared equally. With one hand I can move, nothing happens, except I can hunt away flies or mosquitoes. But these two hands sound: this hand and this hand. So, my mistake is your mistake, and your mistake is my mistake. We both are in this, and only we both can create between us compassion, peace, harmony, understanding. I will tell you a little example, and then today is finished. One man had two donkeys. One donkey goes towards Virginia, the other goes towards Arlington, and one's house is in Alexandria. Where should you search for your donkey? He goes there to get one from this side, then the other side is somewhere else. So, he tied them with one rope, about two or three meters loose, so they can go. At home, he put grass on this side for that donkey and on that side for this donkey. The donkeys came to the middle. This one wants to eat this side, and this one wants to eat that side, but half a meter was too far. So, this donkey is pulling this side, and the other is pulling that side. The grass is green. They are looking at the grass, wanting to come there. The other one is also pulling; both are pulling each other and hanging like this, looking at the grass. Someone came and took this donkey and pulled the other side, and both together began to eat. They ate this, then they went to the other side and ate. That is called coordination, mutual understanding. You will never eat that grass as a donkey. You can stand for days and days, but you can't. But with mutual understanding and cooperation, you can eat. Similarly, both sides have to forgive, understand, and touch your heart. There is the ātmā, and that will be happy forever. So, prāṇa, three kinds of prāṇas, bodies, the austerities, the final goal: a human life. Either you go in or out. Forgiveness, acceptance, and no more negative suffering. Then we come to the supreme world, and we have to follow the path. Modern technology is very good, but it is an imitation from the wise people. What kind of imitations? They gave us the path: how to go, where to go. It's completely guided: Aṣṭāṅgayogānuśāsana: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi—step by step. Modern technology: when you drive your car, you press the button and say, "Next, straight, turn left." After that comes the circle. The second axis drives there. Who is that talking with you constantly? Must be a very great wise person. There are three navigators: one pointing towards Washington, the second pointing towards Virginia, and the third towards Maryland. The same person, the same person talking. For Maryland, also tell this direction, and for others, this side, and the same girl talking inside. My God! This is a technique. Multiply. First, Śiva could multiply everywhere, or a saint can multiply. This modern technology has proved to us that it can be multiplied. Like today, just now, I am omniscient and omnipresent in the whole world. Bhaktas are looking and saying, "Yes, Swāmījī, I see you." Australians say, "Yes, Swāmījī, we see you." Indians also say, "Oh, Swamiji, that's great." Vienna, Austria, Europe—today is Sunday. All are sitting near their television, looking at Swamiji TV. Suddenly, Obama is talking; he is also multiplying, omniscient. Suddenly, Durgā Devī is talking. So, this is a technical... If we can multiply through techniques, then why can't we multiply through our intelligence and through our highest level of consciousness? This is the imitation we call Durdarśan—you could see in the far distance, Trikāladarśī. Now we have television, and then it's called telepathy. Yogīs were doing telepathy; now telepathy comes. The first inventor of the telephone was a Hungarian. In Hungary, they were saying, "Experiment, do you hear me?" Others said, "Yes, do you hear me?" In Hungarian language, "do you hear" means "hello, hello." Yes, so it was a Hungarian. Thank you very much. Maybe I am mistaken, but what I have heard—and this evidence is Swindon Hungarian—and also, who was making the electricity? Croatian, yes, Croatian, and took over the... Czech, and so Czech has a company called Tesla. So, that's why who made the telepath and television? Do darśan, yogīs. Yes? That's it. So, trikāladarśī. Now, the same thing: my instrument functions, but your instrument doesn't function. Similarly, the Gurudev has that trikāladarśī, but the disciple's machine is still out of order, cannot understand. So, trikāladarśī. But there is one thing: when you get this siddhi to see, you should not utilize it for yourself, to tell someone, to open or this. Otherwise, your siddhi will be finished. Trikāladarśī means the vision of three: past, present, and future. Sometimes it can happen: I close my eyes and concentrate there, then my Trikāladarśī sees completely what this person is doing, where this person is. But then I should not write down or tell. That's only for my Ātmā, for nobody else. This sādhanā will come when you practice yoga and life and kriyānusthāna. Then you will come to the Trikūṭī, Bṛkuṭī here, and then opens the vision. A peaceful lake or pond: we take a little stone and throw it in the middle. What happens? The waves come like a disc, and it doesn't go like this, it goes... Similarly, when the trikāladarśī, the bindu, the dot, the center is here, past, present, and future all three merge into one—the knowledge, the knower, and the object. And so, prāṇa—we will go. Evening, we come further. Next subject we touched is already called vijñānamaya kośa. You know, evening we will talk again. Vijñāna means science, knowledge. Then comes the causal śarīra. Wish you all the best. Evening we will further continue. We will have webcast possibilities in Atlanta and then in San Francisco. Hari Om. Bless you. Deep Naya Bhagwan. Nameshwar Mahadeva Madhav Krishna Bhagwan. Satya Sanatan. Om Shanti.

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:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel