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Hari Om, dear friends, brothers and sisters, here in our Mahāprabhujī ashram in Śrīkī and to all who are looking to the webcast. Praṇām, Swāmījī. Today our subject is Haṭha Yoga, Haṭha Yoga Kriyā. Haṭha Yoga is specially meant to purify our whole system, to balance the nāḍīs—Iḍā and Piṅgalā—and to awaken the flow of the Suṣumṇā Nāḍī. Our special focus will be on purifying the entire intestine, from the mouth to its end. For this, we use what is available in nature: water, a little salt, and movement. This is Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. Translated, śaṅkha means the shell and prakṣālana means purifying, because our whole intestine is formed like a shell. To get the water into the shell, it needs movement. This purifies excess mucus, gas, and acid, an excess which causes chronic illness over a long period. The Śaṅkha Prakṣālana technique is very, very old. It is nothing new. As long as yoga exists, it is a technique of Haṭha Yoga. It goes back before Christ. When the Ṛṣi Patañjali was there, 700 years before Christ, it was first written down in the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā as they were researching and documenting. The technique itself is much older. It is also called Basti for purification. The Śaṅkha Prakṣālana technique is very useful and powerful because we need our willpower to do it, and on the other side, we gain that willpower—the haṭha. Ha means the moon, and ṭha means the sun. One side is the Iḍā Nāḍī (the moon); the other side is the Piṅgalā Nāḍī (the sun). The balance of both is Haṭha Yoga. As Swāmījī explained, we have four kinds of haṭhas: the yogī's heart, the willpower of a yogī. We need this when we do Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. To prepare, we need five to six liters of warm water. I will not give the exact technique because people might try it at home, and it should be done under the guidance of a truly expert yoga teacher or master. We have to know the how; the technique is simple, but it is the know-how. So, yoghaṭa, trihaṭa—we say the willpower of a woman. I don't know why only the woman. Bāla is the child, and rāja is the king or imperial; they also must have strong willpower. With Haṭha Yoga, we gain this willpower. If you imagine getting up early in the morning, preparing water and salt, going to the yoga center without having eaten or drunk anything, and then drinking nice warm salty water, it needs some willpower. But afterwards, you are so proud of yourself for having managed it, and one has such a good feeling. You do it yourself: drinking, practicing; drinking, practicing... and finally it starts, because it takes some time. The intestine is long, between 7 to 9 meters, with many curves and wrinkles inside—it looks like a frotte hand towel. It takes time to clean this. There is a story about Empress Maria Theresa. She was a little corpulent, and her doctor was concerned because she liked to eat very much. Then illnesses appeared: high blood pressure and different chronic illnesses. He thought about what to do for her treatment. He had a container—a vessel where one puts alcohol. From everything on a big table, he put a little bit inside this container and mixed it nicely: different kinds of food. He showed her the container and told her, "This is the condition of your stomach." The stomach, or intestine, digests everything we put inside our mouth, whatever our tongue likes, and it is not always according to what we should eat. We eat only according to our taste, not what is truly healthy. This was the condition he showed her. When we do Śaṅkha Prakṣālana, we purify all of this. We drink and we practice exercises so that the water goes into every ring and curve of our intestine, and all the layers are purified. Twenty, thirty, forty years of putting things in... It takes about one and a half to two hours to finish. Some are quicker, some less so, but we hear this when we do the Śaṅkha Prāṇāyāma. Afterwards, we also purify and clean our stomach. Why? Because the stomach is not straight; it has a little hook curve, and at the bottom of this curve, some food always remains no matter how good our digestion is. There is one technique called Kunjal Kriyā or Vamanam Dhauti to purify the stomach. I will not explain that technique now; it will be covered when we do Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. It is very helpful also for those who have bronchial asthma, who always have acid in the stomach, bad breath, or too much mucus in the lungs and bronchus. There are contraindications for Śaṅkha Prakṣālana: age under 15 years, pregnancy, active ulcers, and a hernia in the diaphragm. During menstruation, it is according to your feeling; I would not do it the first two or three days. Otherwise, we can do it specially when we start with yoga. People ask, "Can beginners also do Śaṅkha Prakṣālana?" You should do it. Many people come and do it, and then they start with yoga. Why? We are doing Nāḍī Śodhana, the purification of our nāḍīs, and we are eating, inhaling, and living in different surroundings, societies, and clothes, with different thoughts which constantly bring waste into our whole being—physically and mentally. Then we do prāṇāyāma, but that is not enough. We are always on the same level. We have to use some extra force to purify; then our prāṇāyāma will be successful and we can rise up a little more. Otherwise, we cannot do it because we do not give so much time to prāṇāyāma. What I see now is only 10-15 minutes, but as Swāmījī said, it should be one hour at least. At least four times a year, the sādhanā prakṣālana, then we can think about proceeding in our yoga practice because our daily life is filled with many kinds of chemicals from the air, food, clothes, and salts. Otherwise, we cannot purify prāṇa so much. After Śaṅkha Prakṣālana, of course, we have to keep a little diet. First, you get nice khicherī: cooked rice, mung dal, ghee, turmeric, and cumin. Eating it first is like applying oil on the whole intestine, like a body cream. Then we do not drink; we keep it. In the evening, we have the same khicherī. Nothing else on the same day, and for one week we avoid coffee, black tea, green tea, onion, garlic, and all things which cause gas. Otherwise, well-prepared food with spices—we anyhow do not use so much chili. Less chili and less Hungarian peppers, so more simple, good food, but cooked, and we avoid raw things for one week. This is the main point about Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. It is for purification, and it does not have an effect only on the physical body because, as we know, the physical body is connected with the Prāṇamaya Kośa and our Manomaya Kośa. It is like a chain. When the physical body is clean, the prāṇa and the mind are also different. It has a great effect on all the kośas. So the Haṭha Yogī works from the physical side to get purification for all five kośas. It is the easiest way. Other kriyās done mentally are, let us say, more difficult for us because our mind is very unstable. To give the mind that direction, in my experience, is very good. Haṭha Yoga, with the other five techniques, is more practical. This more practical way has to be done. It is practical, so we will do it. Good, thank you, and Hari Om. Now, our Swami Vivek Purī will give light on Trāṭak: Haṭha Yoga—who should do it, who should not, and what is the benefit? We have heard about Śaṅkha Prakṣālana Kriyā. When we talk about Haṭha Yoga Kriyās, we talk about Ṣaṭ Karma, the six techniques of purification of the body. We also have Rāja Yoga Kriyā. I always joke that the Trāṭak technique is the borderline technique between Rāja Yoga Kriyā and Haṭha Yoga Kriyā because the technique of Trāṭak has a very big influence on our mind. Every Haṭha Yoga Kriyā has a very big influence on our mind. When we talk about Śaṅkha Prakṣālana Kriyā, we are not just talking about purification of our intestine and our thoughts, but we must also be aware all the time that we have three brains: not only the brain in the skull, but also a brain at the navel and a brain at the heart. This is not only in spirituality; even medical science says that more information goes from these other two brains to our brain in the skull than the other way. Another way of thinking is that Haṭha Yoga Kriyā is only for purification of the body. That would be a great pity for us because we would completely lose one field of knowledge, which is the main reason why we practice Haṭha Yoga Kriyās. Trāṭak is one technique which, I think, dates from when humans started to use fire. In the beginning, what we were doing during the night was sitting around the fire. Just sitting near the fire and looking at the fire has a great influence on calming down our mind and releasing stress, especially in our beginnings on this earth when a human was not hunting but was hunted by other creatures. Sitting around the fire released the stress and injury of the day, and also involved telling stories. Slowly we lost the fire, but we kept the candle. Slowly we lost the candle, and now we have television. Many people have a problem with sleeping, but they sleep in front of the television because, in that moment, the light goes up and down like a fire, and you just slip down. The technique of Trāṭak is done with knowledge, with a scientific system. Yogīs have a special reason for practicing Trāṭak. First, it is excellent for purification of our eyesight, for curing many problems with our eyes. It is excellent for our concentration, awakening of the Ājñā Cakra, and releasing stress if you have any problem with sleeping. When we talk about the Ājñā Cakra, we are also talking about some gland systems: the hypophysis and hypothalamus. When you have a problem with those glands, you also have problems not only with sleeping but also with eating, and you may develop eating disorders. Because of that, when we balance the Ājñā Cakra, we are also balancing our... I need the help of the doctor—that is the circle. During the day, our body has a special rhythm: a rhythm of eating, sleeping, everything. Yes, thank you. Balancing the Ājñā Cakra immediately balances all this, our body's rhythm. When you have any problem with eating, sleeping, or anything like this, Trāṭak will help you also. For small children, especially very small children, they do not practice Trāṭak, but just that kind of concentration will help. I have heard that in India, before sleeping, a technique is used so a child will not urinate during the dream. The technique is, on one hand, very easy; on the other hand, it is not so easy. It also strengthens our eye muscles, and like every strengthening of muscles, in the beginning it is very hard. But it is also very connected with the prāṇa. You know that in our body, the organ which uses the most oxygen is the eyes. When you are tired or have a lot of toxins in your body, you will immediately see that your eyesight goes down. Because of that, if you practice prāṇāyāma a little longer and then open your eyes, you will see much better—but not for long; it goes down again. If we practice Trāṭak in the beginning, you will see that you are able to see the flame for only a short time. What does this mean? You sit in your meditation position and put a candle in front of you. It is better to use a dīpak. You take cotton and something like a wick, put it together, and you have a nice dīpak. Or you buy a ready-made one from a tilak shop, make this dīpak, and put it in ghee. There is a very big difference, really. I made an experiment: when you make a dīpak or a candle, it depends on the oil or the flame of the candle or the ghee. The brightness of the light is different. Really, the ghee gives such a nice, soft, bright light. It should be at the distance of your hand, and the flame should be at the level of your throat or something like that. Why? Always in yoga, we ask "Why?" because we must know why we are doing such things. If you look up—just make an experiment now—your head is straight, but you look up and try to feel your eye muscles. Now try to look at the level of the horizon. Do you feel a difference? When you look up, you will have tension in your muscles. When you look at something far on the horizon, your eye muscles are completely relaxed. Because of that, in meditation we look at something very far on the horizon so the muscles will be relaxed. The eyes are very important and indicate many things. When you sleep and dreams come, your eyes move. When you sit in meditation and start to think too much, your eyes start to move. The same is true for the tongue. If you want to relax and calm your thoughts, because of that, you usually hear when Viśvagurujī is leading meditation: "Relax the eyebrow center, relax your eyes, and relax your jaw"—which means the tongue. Just as thoughts influence our body, our body influences our thoughts. Because of that, the flame should be somewhere at the level of the horizon through our heart. All of this is in the book Yoga in Daily Life. We have a CD with the teachings of these techniques by Viśva Gurujī. In short, you have the flame in front of you. You concentrate on your Ājñā Cakra, try to feel your Ājñā Cakra, and also know that the flame is in front of you. In your chemistry, in your laboratory, when you write... In every chemistry experiment, the first topic is that a flame has three levels. Each level of the flame has a different temperature and different color. The middle part of the flame has the brightest light, and we look at the middle part, which has the brightest and strongest light. But what is very important? Try to look softly—not as if you want to hypnotize or something with the fire, because such a look will also influence your mind and disturb you. The look to the fire, to that flame, should be very soft and gentle, but with strength. You try to look without blinking. When you can no longer keep your eyes open, just close them and try to see in your Chidākāśa, at the same distance, everything the same as with open eyes—the flame—and remain. You will see it, 100%. It is not something mystic; it is real. You know that when someone takes a picture with a flash, you see that dot all the time. But be aware of this. If you try to catch this fire, this picture, the picture will go up and down. But if you relax and look somewhere far on the horizon, the flame will remain in the same place, and you will have concentration on that flame. We hear from Viśvagurujī many times: if you have a feather going down and you try to catch it, you will create wind and the feather will run from you. But if you just put your palm out, the feather will come to your palm. The same happens when you practice Trāṭak with that picture. The same is true for anything in our life: if we run after something, it will run from us. If we have a tendency, concentration, and haṭha, it will come to our palm, and the flame will remain in the same place. If you want to practice Trāṭak, it will be excellent to practice prāṇāyāma first. I also made experiments with myself. If you practice prāṇāyāma, you will be able to practice Trāṭaka longer. Also, do not force too much, but also do not do it all the time. It is hard, but practice every day. It will influence your body, your mind, and especially your Ājñā Cakra. When you have the Ājñā Cakra balanced, you will understand everything much, much better. You will have light inside, and many of your problems will just disappear. One thing more: there are many different kinds of Trāṭak. I have explained it on the flame. But you can also use a sun mūrti, Mahāprabhujī, or some symbol. Some people practice on the moon, which is not advisable without special direction from your guru. Some practice on the sun, which is also not advisable. The best thing, as we do in Yoga in Daily Life, is to have Trāṭak on your Dīpak, on the flame. You will be completely safe and have good results. After that, continue with your meditation and your mantra. Śrī Dīpna Bhagavān Kī Jai! Śrī Dīpna Bhagavān Kī Jai! So this morning we had two techniques of Haṭha Yoga. They should be done with discipline, step by step. In this way, Haṭha Yoga is more for purification. It needs a lot of discipline. First is control over eating, and that we do not have. When we ate what mother cooked at home, or what a wife cooked at home, then occasionally we had some sweets—not everyday cake and this and that. Nowadays, after eating, we always get something: cake, ice cream, coffee, and so on. Our intestine is tired. It has the duty to distribute nourishment to different parts, but sometimes certain foods do not coordinate with others. We are told we should eat salad, but now we are doing it the wrong way. If we eat salad, we should eat it at least one and a half hours before a meal. So now we all have to change our habit of eating salad. After eating, it is not recommended to eat fruits and salads, and ice cream in any case. Because when we eat, our Jāṭharāgni—the digestive fire—awakens. When we know we are going to eat, this information goes to the intestine and stomach, which begin to produce certain hormones, especially activating insulin. For good digestion, after eating we should not drink cold beverages or eat ice cream. If you want to eat sweets, you should eat the sweet first because that insulin can digest the sugar. But if we eat food, the insulin is occupied with what we have eaten and then goes down. Then if we eat sugar, that insulin cannot digest it all. I had a personal experience: after eating, I was eating a lot of sweets, and now Mahāprabhujī has banned it because insulin cannot handle it anymore. So, eating discipline according to the rules of nourishment—if we follow it, we can be healthy. After eating, if you want to drink, drink warm water. But we are killing our digestive fire. Yet 99.9% of us do not follow these rules. We know how we are. Among us all here, I have noticed after a long time that whoever has discipline in eating is our Paṇḍitjī. I have been observing him for the last two weeks, and he is really very disciplined with eating. Like that, it should be. We get up in the morning and look for a coffee machine, or after eating we look for coffee or black tea. According to the body's nature, this is not good. So this is a habit. Holī Gurujī used to say habit is the second nature of the human. When we have this habit, it becomes our nature. That habit is so strong that after doing our sādhanā, āsanas, and prāṇāyāmas, many are pulled towards the coffee shop. Tilak—it's okay, Tilak is also ours. So how can we be healthy? If we can give instruction to our children... Nowadays, sugars and all this are available too easily. Otherwise, homemade sweets once a week maybe, or occasionally. Cake was for a birthday or Christmas day. So many things have changed. Human-made everything is too easily available, and that is a business. For the businessman, it does not matter if you die or live, if you are healthy or not. So it is senseless to speak on this subject. We can hear, we can do, but we will not do. So my talking so long is also not useful. Let's come to "eat healthy." So, salad—do not eat it immediately before a meal. They are pushing me to eat the salad first. Now it will be changed. And always cake comes on top; they say it is cake with no sugar inside, but this is also not good. If you want, you can eat some nuts; that is good against constipation. Or before, also eat some nuts. There are many things. Thank you. It is Sunday; many are going. Thank you. Now we congratulate our dear Kailash Purohit from Atlanta for passing her yoga teacher certificate with 80%. We would also like to congratulate Mr. Dinesh Purohit from Atlanta, who also passed with more than 80, but then we checked once more and it was equal for husband and wife. Thank you. Give the mic to Dinesh. Praṇām Gurudev. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to Swāmījī and all the organizers for this beautiful seminar, and to all my guru brothers and sisters for giving us the opportunity to stay in this seminar for three weeks. It is a life-changing experience, a life-learning experience for us. I would like to thank Gurujī, and I would like to thank you all. For us, it was a great opportunity and a great experience. We have been to seminars and involved with yoga for a long time, but the experience we get from here—the atmosphere, the people, the teaching, and staying with Swāmījī for almost three weeks and continuously having satsaṅg with all of us together—for all this experience, we really thank you all. That's all I can say. I hope, with the blessing of Swāmījī and Mahāprabhujī, we will use this experience in our life and do better. Thank you. The next seminar will be in Atlanta; we can invite everybody. Praṇām. I don't have any words to express my feeling, how grateful I am. Here we both are. I always say, when I introduce myself, that I was born into this system, Yoga in Daily Life, but coming here and having this experience with you all—this is like the bottom of my heart and inside of me. It is so touching to me, every day hearing bhajan, hearing Gurujī, and spending so much time with him when he comes every year to Atlanta. But when he comes there, I have always complained because I keep running around. I always tell my husband, "I didn't spend enough time with Swāmījī. He came and he's gone in two days." This time I have the privilege and opportunity to spend all my time with him. Other people are cooking for us and feeding us so much, attending all the yoga classes, seminars, and anuṣṭhāna. I have always seen Swāmījī since he started coming to Atlanta in '86, and we have seminars in Atlanta. All people are doing yoga, and I always admire them and say, "When am I going to have time to do it?" Thank you so much. This certificate—I have been teaching yoga for more than 20 years, off and on, but this certificate means so much to me. I wanted to have a certificate; I wanted to take the exam. Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone, and thanks for feeding us. Thank you, Gurudev, for taking care of us. Many greetings to Prem Pūjā. We have one yoga teacher in Atlanta from the Czech Republic; maybe everyone knows her name is Prem Pūjā. She also inspired me so much. When I asked her, "I want to go for a seminar," I said, "I will go for one week." She said, "No, no, you have to go for three weeks." We are blessed to have her there for 20 years. Every year she comes, and this year I decided to come. Gurudev has so much blessing for us. I always know I have so much blessing from Gurudev. Thanks, everyone, and praṇām. Praṇām. Thank you. A special bhajan for a special occasion: Glory of the Holy Mother of India. Indeed.