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Janama Bhumi, Karma Bhumi and Dharma Bhumi

A spiritual discourse on the universal principles of yoga and human duty.

"Yoga is the balancing principle of our entire globe." "Your yoga practice will be successful if you do karma yoga, because it is the yoga."

Swami Ji addresses a global audience via webcast, using the metaphor of a great tree to explain how all yoga stems from one root. He explores the concepts of janmabhūmi (birthplace), karmabhūmi (place of work), and dharmabhūmi (place of spiritual duty), emphasizing selfless action (niṣkāma karma) as the true fire of yoga that burns away past karma. The talk weaves together teachings from the Bhagavad Gītā, observations on human greed affecting celestial bodies, and the ultimate goal of realizing unity in the world family.

Filming location: San Francisco, USA

Dear ones joining via webcast, greetings to you all, whether it is morning, midnight, midday, or evening where you are. Our globe is vast, and the sun must rise nearly three times to cover our earth. Our subject is yoga. Yoga has many, many different branches. Yet, they all stem from a single root, balanced by one trunk. Imagine a high hill where a great, deep-rooted tree grows. Its beautiful branches spread in all directions, and every bird finds a target there, a place to rest overnight. You, too, are like this. You are the Jīvātmā. Jīva is a Sanskrit word; in many languages, it is also "Jīvot." Jīvot means life. Bodha Jīvot. Water is life, and life is water. Jal jahan jagadīś—where there is water, there is God. Jal means water. Where water is, there is God, meaning there is life. So God is life. Without water, we cannot exist here. There are many different planets, and they are dry. Now, there is a plan. They are planning for Americans to build highways—though highways exist elsewhere, America has many due to its size. To build highways requires immense amounts of concrete, which comes from mountains. We dig deep into our mountains. Now, they are trying to import stones and concrete from other planets. It is not a big deal. They will dig there, make holes on the moon, and pull the material with a certain instrument because there is no gravity, making it easy to move. Then, with gravity, it will be easy to let it fall down. Can you imagine our highways made from the gravel of the moon? Jupiter? My God! This means humans still are not content; their greed is not satisfied. They now plan to take all this material. One day, you or your children will say, "At that time, Swāmījī said we would destroy our mountains for building material and then import gravel from the moon." It is very easy for them to move it because there is no gravity. After a certain time, it will fall down automatically. It is cheaper than any other job, so there will be employment, and we will get gravel to continue working. But we destroy the moon. When you damage the moon, it is a disaster for the earth. People do not think of this. Whatever heavy material we take from the earth, we dig out and put it elsewhere. If we take ten billion cubic units away, we put ten billion cubic units somewhere else. The weight on Earth remains the same; it is balanced. The balancing principle for the earth is the moon. Consider an aeroplane. On the top, in the very middle, is a small hook or triangle, not very big. That one piece balances the entire aeroplane at high speed against the air, preventing turbulence. Similarly, they say the moon is a kind of balance, like a sensor. If you destroy or diminish it, the whole earth will move up and down. But humans do not think of this. They think they will do better. Yet, the God-made world is perfect, and the man-made world is imperfect. Yoga is that balancing principle, not only for humans. Last night at two o'clock, I sat up due to a slight cough. To calm down, I meditated and contemplated yoga—what to think, what to do. To grow, to sprout, to produce leaves, blossoms, fruits, seeds, and to age is exactly the same for a human body. We also grow; we are already growing and becoming old, beginning to age even in the mother's body. We came out when we were already nine months old. This is what we call developing the embryos: perfect balance, perfect principles. Coming, studying, working, having nice thoughts, getting a baby—a child is like a fruit. They arrive, and again they get old. The fruit falls down, and the cycle continues. The life of vegetation is exactly like the life of the human. Therefore, yoga is effecting balance and unity on this planet, as a tree and a human are the same. The first śloka of the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā says the roots of a tree are down. But the roots of the human are up. Our brain is our roots, supplying everything we need. The brain works and controls everything. It has so much power; it leads you. For example, the brain functions like a locomotive. A big train with many carriages is pulled by one engine. A large python, three to four meters long with a heavy body, has a small head. It expands its mouth, but in reality, only its little brain pulls that side. In your body, what lets you run and become a champion in skiing, a marathon, or swimming? Do you think it is your legs? Your strong muscles? This is the second part; it is good. These are good parts of the body in proper condition, like screws properly fastened. But it is the brain that leads us to that high speed to win. When you are jumping, or when little girls jump nicely on a wooden plate, it is not the body balancing. The balancing is from the brain. The brain is small, but inside it is so perfect. You must train again and again to form a habit and avoid mistakes. The Bhagavad Gītā says the tree has roots down, and the human tree's roots are up, with branches going down. Like a banyan tree, roots go down from the trunks. Compare the human body with vegetation, with the banyan tree. As a tree, we are a mobile tree. The tree speaks, and we also speak. If you meditate and reach a higher level, you can listen at night and hear two trees talking through vibration, light, and resonance. In their silence, you also perceive the tree's essence. Last night, at 1:30 or 2:30, I directed my concentration, my awareness, my attention. Similarly, with the mountains. I came to know that yoga is not only physical exercises. Yoga is the balancing principle of our entire globe. From here, we become perfect to continue to the highest level of consciousness, to the universe where our origin is. We are not here originally; we are only coming and working. It is karma. This is our karmabhūmi. There are three concepts. One is called janmabhūmi. It is very, very important. You should never neglect your janmabhūmi. No matter how it was, God brought you to this earth, to that spot. Your janmabhūmi is your birth land, your birth village, your birth house. You should be loyal and proud of your birthplace. There is a śloka about janmabhūmi in the Rāmāyaṇa. Bhagavān Rāma, when going to the forest from his kingdom because his stepmother wanted her son to be king, said, "Okay, I am very happy." He took about one or two kilos of soil from his birthplace. He carried it with him always. Wherever they stayed or rested in the forest, they made an altar and placed that soil upon it to worship. He said, "For me, this is not soil; it is my mother." We call it my motherland, fatherland. Generally, we say motherland, mother tongue. In your language, what do you say? Mother tongue. And you? Mother tongue. And you, sir? Mother tongue. So, everywhere, in Sanskrit and almost all languages, it is called mother tongue. The word often begins with the alphabet 'N'—nahi, no, name. This is how language connects us, reaching the same point in the brain. Almost all languages—Arabic, Chinese, Sanskrit—have this. Sanskrit is the source. Most countries say mother tongue and motherland. So, why are you still unhappy, ladies? You have been given the best things. That mother language, that mother, is called janmā bhūmi. Bhagavān Rāma said in the Rāmāyaṇa, "I have to, unfortunately, assume that I don't know. I should say this." It is very nice when people in spiritual conferences use the words "mother tongue" and "motherland." First is motherland. The second is called karmabhūmi. Not only Maheśvara said karmabhūmi, but you also said it. My janmabhūmi is in Rajasthan, Bali district, etc., Nepal. Janmabhūmi, Rūpāvas, but more is Nepal. Karmabhūmi is very important. It means where you are working now. Karma yoga: "yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam," as Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said. Your yoga sādhanā will be perfect, complete, or successful through doing karma. Karma means doing something good for all. There is niṣkāma karma and sākāma karma. Niṣkāma karma means selfless work, duty. You help somebody without expecting a "thank you." If you expect thanks, your selfless karma is gone; it becomes selfish. As soon as you say "thank you" and accept it, you take the karma back. In India, we say there is a good, ripe, juicy mango—the king of all fruits. The peacock is the king of all birds. You take the mango, suck the juice given freely, and throw the rest away. You did not accept; you took it back. "Thank you" has become a social word. Everyone says, "Thank you, sir. Thank you. See you, bye-bye, goodbye, thanks." If you don't say thank you, people think, "What a proud person!" This is Kali Yuga. But Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam." Your yoga practice will be successful if you do karma yoga, because it is the yoga. Everything has a fire. The seat of fire, its residence, is water. Fire cannot live without water. Water is in the fire. Bhagavān Viṣṇu resides in the ocean, in water. Only water can control fire; otherwise, fire destroys everything. That is why we have a fire brigade. If you don't believe me, when your house is on fire, who controls it? The fire brigade. It is said, "Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam," meaning yogaḥ agni karma dagdhani: the fire of yoga can burn all your karma completely. That is how a yogī becomes free from karma. But you must have that kind of sādhanā and practice—yoga agni. That master, that sādhaka practitioner, who has practiced this yogic sādhana—not merely āsanas and prāṇāyāma, which are just a little for children's play—does so for health. "Oh, my knee is painful." "Okay, practice Sarvāṅgāsana from yoga, and life will be good." "Oh, yes, I feel very good." But yoga is the discipline. Patañjali said yoga needs anuśāsana—discipline. So, karma yoga. Thus, karmabhūmi is where you are working. "Where do you work?" "I work in San Francisco." "Where were you born?" "I was born in Miami." So Miami is your Janmabhūmi and San Francisco is your Karmabhūmi. Both are material, physical life. Then there is one very important point: Dharmabhūmi. Where is your Dharmabhūmi? The Dharmabhūmi is at the shelter of the Gurudev. That is why it is Guru Charaṇam. Yad sat tīrāt ved purāṇām gāte, Guru Charaṇam. Yad sat tīrāt, Guru Charaṇam. Yad sat tīrāt. Therefore, at the shelter of the holy feet of the Gurudeva is the place of liberation for all the senses. Even if you have to do hard work, sometimes you must fight for good things. You will see all incarnations declared as God, not as a saint. A saint and God are different. A saint is the complete blessing, energy, and love of God. But when God comes in incarnation, there are 24 incarnations. In every incarnation, they have in their hands two things: a blessing or a weapon. God Rāma had an arrow, not a triśūla—Sudarśana chakra. Viṣṇu had the Sudarśana chakra; Viṣṇu's incarnation is Kṛṣṇa, and before Kṛṣṇa was Rāma. Generally, he had an arrow. Even Gaṇeśa had a weapon. Even Divine Mother, Śaktīs—look at any pictures of Lakṣmī, Sarasvatī—they have something because there are always two principles. Sometimes you love your floor, and it is nice, but sometimes you need a broom to dust it out. There is a power to it. That is why you might ask, "Why do Hindu goddesses have weapons, and why have incarnations only been in India, in the Himalayas?" In India, there is no other country till now that you can declare as having a God incarnation. Jesus said, "I am not an incarnation; I am the son of God, I am not a God." But we do believe he is a God, and so on, but not. The Buddha also, in many ways, we do not count him as an incarnation because he was born as a normal human. Through sādhanā, he attained that awareness, consciousness, so we declare him as a God. But before, Siddhārtha was not. Do you understand? This is the difference. Kṛṣṇa was an incarnation, but not, for instance, his brother Balarāma. If he is Balarāma, then why don't they declare God Rāma? Those who sing "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama" are not singing to God Rāma; do not mistake yourself. They mean Balarāma. Then why don't they say Balarāma? Because 80% of Hindus would not follow them. They are all thinking. If you ask them to sing "Sītā Rām, Sītā Rām" or "Radhe Śyām, Radhe Śyām," nobody will sing "Hare Krishna Sītā Rām." So, my dear, there is something. Duality is different. Duality exists between some good things. I always give the example: you have a very good salad with nice leaves, olive oil dressing, cheese, and seeds. But if someone puts very fine sand on it, you cannot enjoy that salad. Similarly, when you make differences between divinity, you are not perfect. You create conflict in God itself. They say "semi-God." There is no semi-God. God is God. If you say "semi-God," you are making discrimination among humans also—lower caste, higher caste, black men, white men, Dravidians, Chinese, Mughals. You make a difference in humans. Today, scientists say there is no difference between humans. It does not matter if they are black, white, yellow, big, or small. There is only one: human. That we have to bring back. That is why dharma. Therefore, you see in the Mahābhārata battle, in the Rāmāyaṇa, in the Mahābhārata, in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Dharmakṣetre, Kurukṣetre. The first chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā begins: Dharmakṣetre, Kurukṣetre. First comes Dharmakṣetre. Dharmakṣetre, Kurukṣetre. Where the Pāṇḍavas are fighting, the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas are fighting for dharma. This is a war of righteousness, a war of truth. Dharma-kṣetra—the field of righteousness. Kuru-kṣetra—because it belongs to the Kauravas, they think. But it is the Pāṇḍavas, Dharma Kṣatriya. My dear, human feelings and the human brain lead us in such a direction, but it must be given proper education and preparation. In that way, there is a call where there is dharma, a religion. Religion is a dogma. Dharma is different. Dharma is the duty of a mother towards her child, the duty of a wife towards her husband, and the husband towards his wife. Dharma towards your friend. Religion is a kind of relation with a different dogma. That is why, in modern Kali Yuga, so many dharmas have different definitions and are completely fixed in one direction based on what they have been taught. This causes the problems of wars, disputes over "my land, your land." Otherwise, it is called janma-bhūmi, karma-bhūmi, and dharma-bhūmi. Then you come to yoga. You want to learn yoga, to become a yogī, a siddha, a trikāladarśī, a liberator and guide to others. Then learn proper yoga. It does not matter how many people come; we see and teach quality, not quantity. So, the subject is that yoga is for everything, not only for humans. Vāstu Śāstra is a yoga. The engineer who has studied for years, who has in his brain the knowledge of bricks, concrete, and sand to build a building—that is his yoga. A building where everyone feels comfortable, with good room, space, harmony, and energy—that is yoga. You have built a good atmosphere. So, we say, practice yoga in that way. Vasudeva kuṭumbakam: the whole world is one family. If we live as a family, in brotherhood and sisterhood—though generally they say brotherhood. Why brotherhood? Because only brothers are fighting, not the sisters. You see, the philosophers were very clever. Whom should they control? We wish you all the best, and we will see you this evening. Hari Om. Dīp Nayan Bhagavān. Deveśvara Mahādeva. Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān. Satya Sanātana. Oṁ 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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