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Harmonizing the layers of our being

The human being is composed of five sheaths, or kośas. The first is the physical body of nourishment, Annamaya Kośa. Modern overconsumption of food causes disease and shortens life. The second sheath is the vital energy body, Prāṇamaya Kośa. This prāṇa purifies and strengthens the entire system; proper fasting cultivates this energy. The third is the mental body, Manomaya Kośa. The mind operates across three states: waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Unfulfilled mental impressions can create psychic disturbances. The fourth sheath is the body of knowledge, Jñānamaya Kośa. This intellectual layer determines wisdom or foolishness. The fifth is the bliss body, Ānandamaya Kośa, which is also the seat of desire. Yoga practice balances these five sheaths and the five elements within. A specific practice, Brahmārī Prāṇāyāma, awakens the nervous system, balances the brain, prevents hemorrhage, and develops memory.

"Are we living for eating, or are we eating for living?"

"Psychic is only the problem of the mental disappointment, and from that disappointment, we get that desire."

Our body, our spirit, our soul, our supreme one—we begin with the body. The body is not everything, but everything is nothing without the body. When we are young and healthy, we do not care about our body and give it no attention. Yoga is a science of body, mind, soul, and spirit. According to yogic science, every creature possesses what is called a kośa. This means our body has five layers. The first is the body of nourishment, the physical body. This physical body is very important for our life. If a small toe is hurt, we feel pain; it gives feelings to the whole body. We have many organs, bones, and different kinds of nerves. There are 72,000 nerves, including in the brain. If we can balance and take care of them, our whole body will be healthy—our livers, kidneys, eyes, everything. Therefore, it is first necessary to pay attention to our body and become aware of it and its nervous systems. This first layer is the Annamaya Kośa, the body of nourishment. Someone said, "Are we living for eating, or are we eating for living?" In modern times, we eat too much. We eat 75% too much, and this excess is the cause of many diseases. It is written in yoga literature that there were yogīs living for thousands of years, and humans lived long lives. Why has our life become short? Because we kill ourselves with our food. What we are eating, we should not eat, and what we should eat, we are not eating. Nowadays, one person eats 80 to 85 tons in a lifetime, per year. The yogīs of that time were eating five tons, and they lived a long, long time. After the body of nourishment comes the second layer: the body of energy, prāṇa, the Prāṇamaya Kośa. Everything exists through prāṇa. Our whole vegetation lives from prāṇa. Prāṇa means energy. The yogīs were using the prāṇa. Automatically, prāṇa gives strength and purification to the body, outside and inside—purification of every nerve system, our joints, bones, muscles, everything. Prāṇa gives strength. Prāṇa has a lot of strength. For example, when we go to the airplane and put our luggage up, maybe 15 or 20 kilos, we do not know how, but the body does it automatically. We inhale, we hold the breath, we put the luggage, and then we exhale. That was the strength of the prāṇas. Try one day: exhale completely, do not inhale anymore, and try to lift something up. You will not be able to bring it up. So first is the Annamaya Kośa. Ānna means nourishment, food. Here, ānna means the grains, seeds. And that is life. From that comes the Prāṇamaya Kośa. It is the prāṇa which keeps our body healthy and long-lived. But we have so much appetite always, wanting to eat this and that. We have three meals: we have breakfast, and then until 12, we should eat nothing. Do not eat anything. Then, only clean water. No coffee, no Coca-Cola, no juice. Then, after lunch, take your lunch, and then do not eat anything until 6 o’clock in the evening. That person will be very rare; they will be unhealthy. So, because of prāṇa, what we eat goes into the body and then creates the prāṇa, the energy from the solid food as well as from the outside. Many diseases that we have can only be cured through fasting. Fasting means you should be capable of going at least six hours, or several hours, without eating anything except water only. In one month, you will see that you get a lot of energy and strength, energy so strong. If we eat every time, or when we do not eat anything we take chewing gum and are eating all the time, then that energy will not be produced and given to the body. Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa. Then comes the Manomaya Kośa, the mental body. The mind is the strongest, stronger than the Prāṇa. We do not know where our mind is, but it is with us. I am always searching for where my mind is. Someone said it is here. No, no, it is somewhere else. But there is a mind, and the mind is guiding. The mind has that much energy and strength. Within no time, you are on the moon. It is the mind that, within no time, is on Jupiter. That mind is within us. The mind is only getting messages. The mind is getting the pictures, like a camera is recording everything, but it does not remain staying. The mind has three levels of function: unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. Now you hear what I am telling; now your mind is taking every word, everything. It does not matter if it is good or bad, or if you like it or not; what is going on is immediately brought to the subconsciousness. It comes out and brings the past thoughts, impressions, anything, whatever happened, we bring it up. The consciousness, what we call our awareness, remains always as it is. The mind is active all the time. There are three levels of our consciousness. One is called awakened. In yoga, it is said, "jāgrata." Jāgrata means awakened. We are all awakened. You are listening, alert, everything. Second comes suṣupti, sleep. And third, svapna, the dreamer. Now, what we call problems, physical or social or any problems, these problems are coming from these three levels, and we are not aware of that. So, yoga tells you that if you meditate properly—not just close your eyes and sit down—there are techniques. Every day you sleep, definitely. So every night you sleep. If not, then the second night, definitely. Do you know how and when you sleep? In which second? How do you go from awakened to sleep? How do we overcome? So, that is the function of the mind. If our awareness is there, we cannot sleep, and we are sleeping. The second step: when we are awakened, we say we are tired, we would like to sleep, we will go and lie down. But when we are in sleep, suddenly we come to the dream. And now in the dream, you are on the North Island, walking in a nice forest. But in reality, your body is here. So that consciousness going with mind and consciousness is going together. We know that we are dreaming, but we are more aware that we are in reality. And very soon something happens; it is the duty of the mind to bring the consciousness again to the present time in the body within no time. I always tell this one story. There is a nice story about a dream and the mind. One day, one couple went window shopping, and they were in the market, and there was a very nice ice cream shop. So, the husband tells his wife, "Let’s go and eat ice cream." She said yes, good idea, but you know that you have some throat problem and you are a singer. So your doctor said for a few days you should not eat ice cream. When the wife says the husband has to follow, and when the husband says the wife has to follow, that is a perfect balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic. These both nostrils in yoga, which we will come to this point. Well, he was not happy, but what to do? Doctor said I should not eat ice cream, my wife said not to eat ice cream. After some days, he was dreaming and going with his wife in the same market. And his wife said, "Dear one, your throat is very good, everything is okay, you can eat ice cream, and I invite you for ice cream." He was so happy, he said, "There is no wife in this world as nice as you because of the ice cream." They sit there. She ordered ice cream. And her husband tells her, "Please begin first, you." She took the spoon and the ice cream. And then he also takes a spoonful of ice cream. It comes 10 centimeters close to his lips, and the alarm is ringing, the alarm, because it was a dream. What happens? He sits up and looks left and right, and he went to sleep very sad. So even in the dream, you could not enjoy your desire. What will happen? Your mind is off watching all the time. Slowly, slowly, that went into the unconsciousness. And that became, or becomes, what we call a psychic problem. Any time when we have some problem, we go to the doctor, and the doctor says it is psychic. This is one of the best excuses for the doctor not to find the disease and to say it is psychic. Psychic is only the problem of the mental disappointment, and from that disappointment, we get that desire. So the mind is coming to the sleeping. So, Jāgrata, Svapna, Suṣupti. This way, now we are coming to the fourth point: Jñānamaya Kośa. Jñānamaya Kośa means the knowledge. That knowledge, every creature has some kind of knowledge, a little bit. But humans have more. And this knowledge develops according to where you are living, with whom you are living, what you are talking about, and what you are studying. Jñānamaya Kośa makes the human wise, makes the human spiritual, or it makes the human stupid. It depends on what you are dealing with in your thoughts. And then it is called Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and the Ānandamaya Kośa. Ānanda means happiness. Ānanda means joy. But ānandamaya also means the desires. And there, that human fails because the desire’s temptation is so strong. If your jñānamaya kośa, the knowledge, is not strong enough, then you will go towards your desires, and those desires may be good or may be bad. So these are the five parts of the human that are called kośas. In these five kośas, we have the physical body, which we call the solid body, Agni, the fire, water, the air, and the space. These are the five elements, and these five elements make our body and give us life. Now, yoga brings us to live long but disciplined. Have a strong control over all the kośas which we spoke of before. Practice. Practicing yoga will balance all your kośas, all your elements, but discipline is not easy. Sometimes we say, "Oh, I will practice tomorrow; today I will not do." So a yogī tells, if you cannot practice today because you have no time, it means he will say, "I will not eat today." So, for a yogī, the practice is more than just to eat something. So, these are the elements for the yogīs. Now, there are two points which I will tell about prāṇāyāma. There is one prāṇāyāma which, if you will do every day—it is described in yogic literatures also—you will never have a brain hemorrhage. There will be no problem with the brain, and that is Prāṇāyāma. Prāṇāyāma, but a different kind of Prāṇāyāma. This you should practice tomorrow, or today already, a few minutes, a few times a day. It awakens all the nerve systems and gland systems in the brain. This prāṇāyāma is called Brahmārī Prāṇāyāma. Some yogī practitioners, you know what is a Brahmārī Prāṇāyāma? But they do not practice. This is a problem. You know, but you do not practice. We know because I am always teaching, and it is written in the book. The best technique for memory, to develop the memory, is the Brahmārī Prāṇāyāma. And it keeps the balance of the brain, both hemispheres. And because it is activating all the nerve systems’ functions, the blood is flowing, the blood is moving in the whole body. Therefore, I was now in one conference from Harvard University from America. So they came and they made a research, a complete research. And it was really very true that memory develops, the hemorrhage will not be there, and the balance of the whole body. Brahmārī Prāṇāyāma. Now, we shall do that today. That is not a big technique, it is a very quick technique. You will enjoy it also. Do it? Yes? Okay. Okay, then take these index fingers and put your index fingers in your ears like this. You can have a hand like this or like this. Pull out your fingers, please. Fingers out, okay. Because what I am telling you, you will not understand. So I will demonstrate, and you will listen. So it will go in. Always sit straight, and three times contract and relax your anus. Contract and relax. Contract and relax. Good. And now prāṇāyāma will go like this. I will do, you will listen. Oṃ Śānti Śānti... Keep your eyes closed and fold your palms. Rub your palms. Place the palms on your face. In your palms, open your eyes and move your hands. Bend forward. Feel the circulation towards the whole head, the face, face muscles, eyelids, all the jñāna indriyas, the senses of knowledge, getting more energy and more blood, and slowly, slowly bring your head up. Hari Om

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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