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Worldly and spiritual life

A satsang lecture on the holistic science of yoga, focusing on physical health, spiritual education, and the layers of human existence.

"Yoga is the science of body, mind, and soul, for humans to be healthy, happy, and live a long life."

"Yoga means union, yoga means balance, and yoga means harmony. These three things come together, then it becomes yoga."

Swami Anand Arun addresses an audience for International Day of Yoga, clarifying the traditional definition of Haṭha Yoga as the six purification techniques (Neti, Dhauti, etc.). He expands the theme to explain the five bodies (Pañcakośa) and two types of knowledge (Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā), weaving in teachings on discipline, willpower, and the stages of life. The talk concludes with a blessing and a promise to continue the exploration the next day.

Filming location: USA

Om śānti, śānti, śānti. Peace, peace, peace. Good evening, dear sisters and brothers. Welcome. Nice to see you. Thank you, organizers, Divya Jyoti, and all others. "Yoga for Body and Beyond" was the subject given this year for the International Day of Yoga. This title has many, many branches or subjects we can explore. "Pahala shukni rogi kaya"—the first health, the first wealth, is good health. If the body is healthy, everything is okay. If the body is not healthy, nothing is okay. Though we know the body is not immortal—it is mortal—we still love our body and are happy with it. No matter how much philosophy we make, if something happens to our body, we immediately run to the doctor or for medicine. Yoga is a very ancient science. Yoga was given by Swayambhū, Śiva—all kinds of practices, yantras, mantras, tantras, kriyās, everything. So yoga is the science of body, mind, and soul, for humans to be healthy, happy, and live a long life. When we come to practice yoga, generally people here in America call it Haṭha Yoga. What people call Haṭha Yoga in America, and what you are practicing, is not Haṭha Yoga. But what to do? Everyone says "Haṭha Yoga, Haṭha Yoga," though it is not Haṭha Yoga. They asked me, "Swāmījī, do you teach Haṭha Yoga? When are the classes?" I said yes, I do teach Haṭha Yoga, but Haṭha Yoga is different. Many of you here are new, so let me first explain Haṭha Yoga to you. Haṭha yoga generally means you need discipline and willpower. Many do not have willpower. If we have willpower, we will achieve everything. But sometimes we make compromises with ourselves because the biggest enemy of the human is laziness. When laziness appears, willpower becomes weak and everything goes wrong. So "haṭha" means we need strength, willpower, discipline. In Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra—Patañjali was a great saint from nearly a thousand years, five or six hundred years before Christ—he said one word: "Atha yogānuśāsanam." Yoga begins with discipline. "Atha" means just now. So begin discipline, not tomorrow—just now. Decide now or never. It has to be very clear: awareness, consciousness, very clear. Haṭha Yoga is for inner purification of the body—purification mostly of our intestine, our alimentary channel, the nostrils, breathing, the respiratory system. This is Haṭha Yoga: Neti, Dhauti, Basti, Nauli, Trāṭak, Kapālabhāti. These are the six techniques which belong to Haṭha Yoga. Neti means cleaning the nostrils with warm water; you drink warm water with salt. It's very pleasant and very good for our health, for our sinuses in winter, or when you get a cold and have sinus problems. If we do Neti—cleaning of the nostrils with a little pot, a very nice one, with lukewarm water and salt inside—you will have good eyesight. If you use glasses for reading, 80% sure you won't need glasses anymore. This is Neti. Dhauti is a different kind of purification of the alimentary channel, generally with water. It's called Kunjal Kriyā. "Kunjal" is a name used for the elephant. The elephant takes water through its trunk, puts it in its mouth, and then takes it out again. If it has acidities in its stomach, it cleans. So the elephant takes the water out. This was the technique yogīs use—all techniques are from nature. So the elephant cleans its alimentary channel or any problems in the stomach. Nauli is a churning of the stomach: left side, right side. It's a very, very beautiful and good technique. It takes time to learn, about half a year, and also needs willpower. But after you have learned, it is so good. There are two techniques: Agniśāra Kriyā and Nauli. Yogīs said, "95% sure you will not get cancer." The most powerful kriyās for our health are these. Many illnesses begin from our intestines, from wrong eating. Nowadays, everything is full of pesticides. Every second or third person has cancer nowadays. It was not before. The cancer disease is produced by men through their greed: junk food, this food, that food, and the consumption of meat, because they put a kind of feed in the animals which is also not very good for their health, and that attacks those who eat the flesh. Then comes Basti, cleaning of the intestines. We drink a lot of water and then go to the toilet. It is another technique that should be done every two or three months, four times a year. That's called Saṅkhaprakṣālana Kriyā or Basti Kriyā. It's very, very good; it cleans our intestines very much. It is said that vegetarian creatures have a long, long intestine, and meat-consuming animals have a short one. We humans have an 8.5-meter-long intestine, and it takes time for food to go through. Something, somewhere, remains stuck. So Saṅkhaprakṣālana Kriyā is very, very good. For concentration, especially for children who can't concentrate, there is Trāṭak Kriyā: gazing on the flame of a candle. You also have to learn it, otherwise it can harm. That will also help very much so that you can give up your glasses or not need to use them. So these are the six kriyās: Neti, Dhauti, Basti, Nauli, Trāṭak, and Kapālabhāti. Kapālabhāti is a kind of prāṇāyāma to clean the sinuses. It's very, very nice. If someone has a headache from time to time, what they call migraines or something, if you do Kapālabhāti three times a day for two minutes, you will forget that you will have a headache. There are certain regions of the cause for getting headaches: it can be with the spinal column or with the liver, because of too much coffee or alcohol, or drinking less liquid, less water. Pure water, milk, juice—this is not water; this is nourishment. Water is different. We should drink every day at least two and a half to three liters of water. Yes, that's very good. And Kapālabhāti Prāṇāyāma is very good: exhale, and exhale, and exhale. You see how much air I have in my stomach? Oh my God, it takes a long, long time. But it cleans sinuses also here. So this is Haṭha Yoga—a very short glimpse of Haṭha Yoga I told you. Yoga has many, many different techniques: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, Rāja Yoga. These are the four different branches of yoga. But according to the Bhagavad-gītā, there are eighteen different kinds of yoga, very clear and very perfect. The Bhagavad-gītā is written; if you read it, you will understand what is yoga. Eighteen chapters—so yoga is a whole universe. It is balanced with yoga: the space, the consciousness, and the energy. These three are existing and maintaining the entire universe. Whatever is happening in the universe... So Haṭha Yoga is also classical Haṭha Yoga. According to ancient literature, it is to do something with the nerve systems and Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. "Ha" is the moon, belonging to the left nostril; "ṭha" is to the right nostril, the sun. So it is called "ha" and "ṭha," becoming "haṭha." And when it comes together, or the balance, is yoga. Yoga means union, yoga means balance, and yoga means harmony. These three things come together, then it becomes yoga. What we do and practice now around the whole world—I have been teaching for the last 45 years in Western countries, Yoga and the other life—in this way, yoga is for the body and beyond. Now, when we think of our body, we have five different bodies. All five different bodies need to be kept healthy. These are called Pañcakośa. Pañcakośa means five different bodies: Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and Ānandamaya Kośa. Kośa means the sheath, or a cover, a layer, like an onion. When we peel the onion, what is this? Is this the onion? The piece of onion, second layer, the piece of onion... till the end we come, there is no onion. So where is the onion? This is, "Where is the onion?" Similarly, we say, "I, myself, me, ātmā." So what is this? This is my body, my blood, my liver, my this, my that, my mind, my emotion, my thoughts, my thinking, my problems. But who is that always in my "my, my"? Who is that? So yoga leads to that point: who am I? As long as we don't know who I am, we are hanging somewhere. So first we come to this point: five bodies. The first is called the body of nourishment, the physical body. This physical body is holding our whole being together. But illness, whatever is happening—illness or any kind of flu or this and that—this happens already before a few months or one year or five years or ten years; it comes through our mental energy, from mental thinking, fear. Some people have a problem because they said, "Oh, my grandmother also had cancer, and now this." You have blackmailed yourself, so you are thinking. You have this fear, and when the fear is there, your willpower is getting less and less and less, decreasing. And this illness and the fear are increasing. So positive thinking means not only towards people, but you have to think positive towards yourself. We think positively for our ego, for our laziness, for our rights, etc. We are positive to ourself. But in reality, we are not positive to ourself because we are hiding from ourself. So, the body of nourishment, the physical body—the body is not everything, but everything is nothing without the body. God gave us a beautiful human body. The creator has created 8.4 million different creations, and one of them is the human. God gave a very powerful tool to the human, and that's called intellect. But intellect is nothing without education. Intellect needs education, intellect needs training. Nowadays, look how much the human intellect is developed. Unbelievable things to the human brain: thinking, intellect, studying—they've created many things. I have traveled nearly 55 times around the world with airplanes, and every time I'm so delighted, or very... not happy, but yes. Also different, I want to tell, but okay. When we take off from the airport, like a bird is just flying up and exactly landing there, exactly thousands of meters, night or day doesn't matter, flying, and you are comfortably sitting in this. This is a human brain, human intellect, the humans' research. So it's not bad; it's very good, all this technology. But in this kind of technology, there is good and bad both: a lot of pollution, etc., etc. In old times, ancient times, the ṛṣis were flying, or they were appearing somewhere in another country and being with them, and then again traveling with the astral body. Anyhow, our physical body and our intellect need education. Now we have two kinds of education: Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā. These are the two kinds of education which humans need. This Parāvidyā can be learned only in the lap of the parents. The education which we get, which makes us real human, is in the lap of the parents. Parents can give us education, social behavior, humbleness, kindness, spirituality, everything. When you go to kindergarten and you go to school and so on, then you are in others' hands. You were, in the first hand, with parents, and the second hand is somebody else. So when you borrow your car to someone for one week, and the person comes back, he cleans his car and your car, and so on, then hands back your car, you will feel that somebody else used your car. So, first hand are the parents. The child is like a raw material, and parents make from this raw material a beautiful statue, a beautiful something, an ornament, or anything. So parents are parents. And education—first education begins with the mother. When the mother comes to know that she's pregnant, she begins to talk already with her child. And we get old in the mother's body, yes. When we are born, we are how old? Nine months. Garbha Purī. Ask your mother. So when you go after this program to your mother and tell, "Swāmījī said that you became old in her body, in her womb," so mother is a mother. Therefore, in the Upaniṣads, there is a holy book, the Upaniṣads, and the Upaniṣads said first: first, God is a mother. Yes, so mother is mother. Can you provide a chair for him, please? Thank you. Yes. Chair, my dear. Share the chair. Yes, you are sitting here. Very good. First happiness, first pleasant, is a healthy body. And the body needs healthy sitting. So, thank you. Sorry to disturb you in between, but when I see that someone is a little bit not feeling comfortable, then I don't feel comfortable, so sorry. So, "Mātṛ devo bhava"—first God is mother. "Pitṛ devo bhava"—the father. "Ācārya devo bhava"—your teacher. And "Ṛṣi devo bhava"—the Gurudev, the master. So this all gives us different education. And that second education, nowadays what we learn in schools, college, university, etc., this is very important, and we are very happy that we develop education in the whole world. And what the United Nations is constantly talking about—sustainability—and the sustainability, is it different? My dear, the United Nations can talk and talk, and billions of dollars they can utilize, but still they will... not achieve what they want to achieve. Only God can make sustainability. You know, God made this sustainability to give birth to the children. Nobody tells you, "Create the children." Automatically, coming and going, coming and going, birth and death, birth and death. This is a sustainability now. Even the United Nations cannot stop this function. You understand me? So we shall support the healthy way, and so the fruits, the trees, the grains, etc., etc., etc. Anyhow, let's go further. So this education system, what the United Nations is trying to do, is a very good thing and very great, because a human can educate a human. Humans can learn many things from nature, but still we need humans. And that human who has that knowledge, they learn, they practice, they think it over, they use a lot of time. So there are then two: one is called a spiritual teacher, yogī, or guru; and second is your school teacher or your guru. Guru means teacher. "Gu" means darkness, and "ru" means light. He who leads us from darkness to the light is our guru. Enlightenment—enlightenment is only our guru can give you enlightenment. You have a car, but you have no driving license. You didn't learn to drive, and now you go to the driving school, and you have your school driving teacher—that's what we can say, driving guru. And in a few days, he will teach you how to drive. Now you can drive. What happened to you? Before, you couldn't drive, and now you can drive. He gave you that knowledge, and that knowledge, nobody can take away from you. That is an enlightenment. Similarly, anything we learn from someone, a good thing, is enlightenment. So the spiritual master, here the Guru, gives us that kind of enlightenment to understand what is God, what is the consciousness, etc. So these are two kinds of education: Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā. Aparāvidyā is what we learn in this world, in the material world. So after your kindergarten, you come to the school, primary school, then you come to middle school, then you come to higher school, then you come to college, then you come to university, and so on. Which faculty you choose, and in that way, your knowledge is developing. One studies medicine, one studies engineering, one studies science—different, different... and like that you become. Similarly, the spiritual master will lead us to come to that science of God, and then we enter into the light. "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya." Lead us from the darkness to the light, and that light of the wisdom. So Aparāvidyā is whatever we learn in this world; this is, and that is very important, very good. We should learn. But after that comes Parāvidyā, that is beyond, about mantras, miracles, or whatever you can say—this is a very spiritual knowledge, and both we should learn. Now, the Parā and Aparā I am telling is boring, is too much, okay? Why not have a little sip of water? No? Okay. Sit straight, yes, sit straight and stretch your hands up. Close your fists. And now, are you in Parāvidyā or Aparāvidyā? So, if you are in Parāvidyā, then levitate. And if you are in Aparāvidyā, then stretch yourself and then come back here. And again, up and down, and rotate your shoulders the other direction. And then look far to the left and far to the right. In the middle, so now Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā. Now "vidyā" means knowledge, "vidyā" means education. So Parāvidyā is our worldly knowledge, worldly education, science, etc., is Aparāvidyā, and Parāvidyā is more about God and energy and miracles, etc., etc. Now, beside this, there are two more principles, and that's called Nivṛtti and Pravṛtti. So, as long as we learn Aparāvidyā—Aparāvidyā means our education, our physical education and whatever we get—so Nivṛtti and Pravṛtti. So, Pravṛtti—now "vṛtti." Vṛtti is something very important for us. I came, I began with five bodies. And you will think, "Oh, he lost the subject." Where are the other four bodies? Four bodies are with you still, and I am already gone through. But I will tell you after that also. So these are the five bodies: the body of nourishment, the energy body, the mental body, the intellectual body, and the causal body. Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and Ānandamaya Kośa. These are the five bodies, and now we are traveling there. I am making you sightseeing through this body. So Pravṛtti, vṛtti. Vṛtti means our thought. Vṛtti means our longing. Vṛtti means our desires. Vṛtti means our interest to go there. You are sitting here, but you are thinking of going with your friend to the vegan restaurant. So, where is the vegan restaurant here? So after Swāmījī's lecture, I will go to the vegan restaurant. So you are sitting here, but your vṛtti is there. Or about your office, about your work, about your financial problems, about your children, about the education of the children, the marriage of the children, the grandchildren, and everything. This is called Pravṛtti. So we are stuck in this material world. We can't come up. We cannot give up. It is our dharma, our duty. What we created, we should take care of. We built this house with great interest, or you said, with love. Okay, houses need also love, this and that. Now you are somewhere in Mexico, or you are somewhere in India, or China, or Japan, but oh my God, in my house, electricity and this, and somebody there will break in, and this—you are still thinking of your house. So we take care about our house because we created it, we bought the house, we gave all the money. So the human is caught by prapañca. In Sanskrit we say prapañca. Prapañca means all these worldly sorrows. So, Pravṛtti—our thoughts are everywhere outside, very little for inside. And Nivṛtti, Nivṛtti means finished. So the system, Nivṛtti, in the whole world we have now, everyone... and Nivṛtti, you can say retirement. Understand? Retirement. So he said, "Oh, now I am retired." And I will get my pension. I will live with my pension. I am happy. Now I go on holidays there, there, meditation, yoga with Swāmījī. So now I am free, so free from many, many obligations. And you have time now for your body, for your mind, and for your spiritual development, etc., etc. And take care of your health, do the healthy things. So now you are free. You are retired. And when you were not retired, you had one week free, or two weeks, or one month, but you had to come to work. Work here, there is no work. You are searching work, and this and that. So, my children, my grandchildren, my husband, my wife, my uncle, everything—this saṃsāra, that's called prapañca. Prapañca means all kinds of duties. And after it ends, it has no reality; it's unreal. We earned so much, and we made a big house and car and this and that, and suddenly our best friend said, "I can't anymore." Who is our best friend? Our best loyal friend: heart, our very loyal servant. It doesn't matter what you do—you dive or you fly, if you run, jogging, or sleeping, whatever you are doing, your heart is constantly beating for you. That's very loyal, but how we are, we are not so loyal to our heart. Did you ever say to your heart, "Today you rest"? Go and enjoy for half an hour after, no? So this heart is all the time functioning for us. Similarly, we have the feelings towards our entire paraphernalia, what we have done, and we want to take care of it. Now, yoga said, Indian philosophy said, there are four different kinds of life. First is the life of childhood. That's called Brahmacārī. Brahmacārī means from birth till you finish your study, and you should finish your study till 25 years, maximum 26, 27. Finish it all. And until then, you should not have any other interest. All your energy you should use for your learning, your education, for your future life. No cinema, no nightclubs, no dayclubs, only one club: school, university, college, etc. Yes, so this is called a student life. Student means learning. Second is called household. Then you marry and have your happy married life, your wife, your husband, etc. And you will also have the children. So, until fifty years, you enjoy your household life: working, having children, this, this, this. From 50 years until 75 years, you begin to renounce everything and give to your family, your children. If you don't have your parents, who don't have your neighbors, you don't have, then to some charity, trust, or something. Give it before you go away. Before you die, give it with your hands. So that is called Vānaprasthāśrama. Brahmacaryāśrama, Gṛhasthāśrama, Vānaprasthāśrama—now time for renouncing. So you are getting retirement, and then call Sannyāsa Āśrama. That's the complete retreat. Meditate. Give all burden to others, and you meditate. And keep it as much as you need somewhere, and relax. No tensions. So after 75 years, till 100 years. And if you can maintain and manage, live as long as you like, no problem. But you have to ask your loyal one, "Are you still? Do you have the nerves for me to beat further, and the liver, and the pancreas, intestines, the circulation, the glands, oh, the memories, yes, etc.?" Etc., health. Therefore, health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health. So, these five bodies we will talk about further. I'm jumping again there. So, Nivṛtti and Pravṛtti: the interest for taking care of your material life, material world, etc., and Nivṛtta—finished, retired, have time. Now let your children, families, do anything. Similarly, it's called Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā. Aparāvidyā is that knowledge, that kind of education, that kind of abilities, that kind of... we have strength. We have what we should do in the world. We have a duty. There was a time when humans were little. They were living in the forest. With the sunset, they were going to sleep, and by the dawn they woke up. They were happy, with little responsibilities. We have now, day by day, more and more and more. At that time, they had nothing, or not so many facilities, but they were happy. And now we have everything and many, many facilities, but still we are not any more happy—tense and day by day. Now, temptation is growing. Temptation is growing. Just at the beginning of the last century, there was nothing. There was the telegram. And when the telegram came in one village, I said, "Oh God, what happened?" The telegram came, and before that, the letters had been coming for several months. This was different. And then came the telephone, cables, sometimes working, sometimes not. And now came the mobile phone. And now, we said, "Oh, good, we can telephone." But now, in the mobile phone, is the whole māyā; the whole world is inside. Day by day, we are getting SMS and emails and this and that. And then Facebook and FaceTime, and oh my God. Temptation is so strong. So temptation is so, our greed is growing. So Aparāvidyā, Aparā interest; Parāvidyā, nowadays is very hard to get a cent. Slowly, slowly, the priest is getting less and less. And also the sādhus and sannyāsīs are getting fewer and fewer. These sādhus, sanyāsīs, they also want to have this technology, this, this, and that, and that. Sādhus were different. But what to do? They are running with this, how the saṃsāra is running. It is very hard to get complete renunciation. So, this Kali Yuga is how it is collapsing together, and Āsurī Śaktis, the Śātanī Śaktis, are growing day by day. Hiṃsā, violence is everywhere. Violence towards the mountain. You know how many mountains are destroyed? Thanks to God that you don't see. They go somewhere in the mountains, in the middle of the mountains, and there they dig everything and bring your highways. You know from where highways are built? Gravels, and this and that, destroy the mountains, the forests, the rivers, everything. We humans are destroying and destroying. Someone said how many thousand or hundred hectares of the rainforest are being destroyed in Brazil, in Amazonia. And what we need under life, they are like this now. So that is Aparāvidyā. Aparāvidyā is with little knowledge. Ignorance is more. Greed is more. And Parāvidyā, that we come and we understand the heart of all, the feelings of all, and what is God, what is life, and how every creature, they also need love, they also need care, they also have pain, they also have children, families. There was one beautiful nest, a beautiful nest, and there were four babies that came out of the eggs from one bird. And the father was watching, and the mother was sitting there. And then, mother went to bring the feeder, food for the children, babies. The father was watching. Father was going there somewhere, and the mother was watching. And now babies are a little bit bigger. And she went to get some food. Father thought, "Now I will also go." And the crow came and took all four babies. Mother came, and what she had in her beak, she dropped it down. And she's looking in the nest. She's looking here and there. And the father came. She was very angry with him. He was also sorry, empty nest. I was watching; it's a story about Jadana Ashram from my floor. It was so painful. So can you imagine that even every mother and every father, it doesn't matter from animals or birds, all or any creatures, they love their children and they love their parents? So Pravṛtti is that selfish, and Nivṛtti is divine, where you understand the heart. If one is spiritual or not, you should understand the love of life. Then comes the Satyuga again. So Pravṛtti, Nivṛtti, Parāvidyā, Aparāvidyā—this we need. So, body. After the body comes the energy. After energy comes the mind. After mind comes the emotion. After the emotion attacks or awakens the senses. After the senses comes the awareness. After awareness comes the intellect. And after that comes the pure consciousness: unconscious, subconscious, conscious, higher conscious, and cosmic consciousness. So yoga is, as it is, a school for the humans to become from the human to the god. God means that knowledge, that light, that wisdom. So therefore, the practicing of yoga postures and breathing techniques are for our good health. And in yoga, there is no competition and no, what you call, challenges. Do those exercises which are easier for you and keep your body flexible and healthy. But work with your inner body. So tomorrow we will come to the other bodies: the body of the nourishment, the body of the energy, and then the body of the mind, the body of the intellect, and the causal body, the Ānandamaya Kośa. Ānandamaya Kośa—here in this subject, "ānanda" is bliss, but that's called divine bliss. This, what we have, this Ānandamaya Kośa, is a causal body, means the cause of everything. It means the body of the desires, so you come to that far, but then again desire goes towards your bodies, all feelings and greed, etc., etc. So we can educate ourselves, think, and reduce certain things: what we really need and what we don't need. In this way, my dear, I wish you a very good evening, and tomorrow, the whole day, we have further exercises and everything. Bless you in the name of all the divine souls and divine masters. Pūrṇam amṛtam gamaya sarveṣāṁ svastir bhavatu sarveṣāṁ śāntir bhavatu sarveṣāṁ maṅgalam sarveṣāṁ pūrṇa. Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu lāha karata prabhudeep karata. Mahāprabhujī karatā hī keval śānti! Śānti!...

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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