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Karma and koshas

A spiritual discourse on the soul's journey, karma, and the five sheaths of being.

"When this all went back to the astral world, it was not easy... All the time in the astral world, the certain situation of the karma, the destiny, is going on."

"God has given the humans that 'I give you the freedom. Now I liberate you.' But there is a 'but.' Whatever you will do again, you have to face the karma."

A spiritual teacher delivers a satsang, explaining the cycle of birth, death, and karma across the astral and mortal worlds. He uses parables, like walking through a coal mine, to illustrate the challenges of human life and the consequences of action. The talk introduces the first two of the five kośas (sheaths), focusing on the physical (annamaya) and energy (prāṇamaya) bodies, emphasizing proper nourishment and life force.

Filming location: Alexandria, USA

First, we will chant Oṁ three times. Oṁ. Oṁ. Oṁ. You know all about Oṁ. Deep inhale. Āḥ. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Devādhī Deva, Deveśvara Mahādeva kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī. Blessed Self, all dear ones here and in other countries abroad, everywhere, who are with our webcast. The message is coming from the USA. My first message came to the USA in 1980. Since that time, from time to time, my visit was here. And our message is, as our dear Ramanand read and gave the message to you: the aim of human life is given to God. Our aim is that, and that is called the soul which is in this body, which had been several times got the birth and death—birth and death. When this all went back to the astral world, it was not easy. It is not only the death, but after that also, no one can describe, no one can see, but only oneself. All the time in the astral world, the certain situation of the karma, the destiny, is going on. After that, again, the Merciful gives us the chance to come to the mortal world, what we call birth. Coming again into life here, every different creature has different situations and times to give birth on this earth. There are different kinds of life. The first is that life is the vegetation. That is also life. Then, it is like the eggs. That is included all in that kind of impurity or purity. That which also those life or eggs, or whatever it is, developing in sweatings, the water in different parts—that is called bacteria. Then, the third is like from the birds and et cetera, who are giving the eggs, developing as an egg. In the egg, the soul. And it is not easy. How many enemies are there who destroy or eat the eggs? Again goes to the astral world, again comes back, again goes, again comes. And then there are animals, and we who are born as the complete, the whole body. Developing that embryo in the mother’s body—do not think it is very easy. It is not. It is not easy. Do not think that the embryo is very comfortable and nice in the mother’s body. But it has to go through for the development and the destiny, or God, in which way is creating this creation in the womb. God is supporting, giving a perfect body. It does not matter which animal it is, or the human. The brain, organs, eyes, nose, etc. If that one makes a little mistake, who is working in the womb of the mother, then even the doctor cannot give that back. So it is karma. Finally, it is coming: complete body, the human brain, human thoughts, human knowledge, etc. Other creatures have to go through the karma in the astral world, as well as this mortal world, but God has given the humans that “I give you the freedom. Now I liberate you.” But there is a “but.” Whatever you will do again, you have to face the karma. Sometimes the result comes immediately, sometimes it takes time in this life or next life or in the world. The human forgets. When he is born, okay, still depending on the parents’ hands, but then when they grow, they think, “I am free. I can do what I want.” And God said, “You can do what you want to do, but the consequence you have to follow.” And therefore, human life is more difficult; human life is not so easy. And that is like, for example, you have a beautiful white cloth, and you have to walk 80 miles through a coal mine. Each mile is one year for us. So, 80 years, maybe some 100 years, maybe for two years, 100 years, etc. And there are the coal mines. People are working there, kind of dust and everything. And we have to walk peacefully, very clear, very aware. When we come outside after, let us say, 80 years of life, 90 years of life, okay, we give now 100 years. Then, after ourselves, we said, “Please, God, give me it. Let me go somewhere.” Now, are you coming out of that coal mine? On the other end, look at your dress. How many spots are there from black, from the coal? You may say, “But I was not consciously doing anything.” But there were... this is saṃsāra. This is a coal mine, and sometimes for our own desires, in that desire, in that emotional feeling, there is, like, a... for different things to enjoy or to get greedy, that we forget what was our aim, what we... Did what we promised, and then you left it and you went the wrong side again. God said, “I told you, it is not my mistake. Do not blame God.” Well, as long as we are young, when we are children, we were innocent, but we are very difficult life. A child wants something, and the parents do not know. The parents give something, the child cries, this, that, that. So then comes walking, and the student life. Then, about the age of 20 years, 18 years, 15 years—nowadays already 10 years—they are thinking, “I am the best. My parents are stupid. They do not know anything.” Yes, so it is. One said there is a... when we are born, we are depending on the parents, and we do not know how to... how to tell parents what we need. A child is only a few months, then the child is little. Bigger, about nine months, eight months, it falls in love with the toys. So toys are everything. Two years, toys are beautiful, nothing there. After, when it comes to the other age—20 years, 50 years—then these toys automatically go somewhere. You do not know, you forget it. The child was sleeping with the toy, but now the toy is somewhere under the furniture in dust, or it is all in garbage. Then, searching another toy. Yes, when you are 15, 18, 19, 20 years, you are searching that. Toys, and even they do not want anybody to touch your toy, even their parents. After a certain time, when this toy is also not that one what you need, then you have other desires: the properties, the monies. And then finally, when one is in difficulty... Very bad situation, everyone left you. Yes, we took the lemon, we squeezed out all the juice, and then we just threw it. That lemon was so beautiful, a nice plant, nice blossoms it was, the fruit was smelling so nice. It came in the market, we gave the money to get this, we brought it there and then threw it away. Similarly, that dear one, all of that becomes for us like something no longer useful. How many toys have you lost? How many toys do you no longer have in your hands? There is only one toy remaining. Which one toy? No physical body. That is lost. The juice is gone. The lemons are already in the garbage. Yes. Even they do not look at it. Your wife does not look to that side. Or your husband does not look to that side. Nobody. And your money and everything, then we have only one toy, that is God, that is bhakti. That time, we love that toy like when the small child, one year, and did not want to give from hand out the toy, because that toy is everything for that child. But at that time, now we are searching this toy as our God. It is ultimate, who will save us? God will say, “But I told you, use it, but do not attach, and follow the principles and your words, your saṅkalpa, your promise, and you did not.” Follow God, said, “Go this side,” but you said, “No, I will go this side.” Okay, you go there. God said, “I gave you freedom. I gave you the freedom.” But oh man, oh human, consequences are there. Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī said in golden preachings, and Mahāprabhujī said, “Do not go against the nature. Otherwise, you will have consequences.” You have to follow. You have to take the consequences. So, life, humans are very intelligent. God gave everything, and then someone said, “I am in problems, I am this, I am ill, I am that.” God said, “You did it.” Then, “If God helped me,” he said, “Yes, next life I will see where.” You will be helped, yes. Therefore, human life is more complicated and hard than other creatures. Everyone will go through it. And you think that God thinks that all humans will be liberated at once? Then who will be in the house? All houses, whole? Buildings will be empty. We come back as a ghost, yeah. The ancestors come back as invisible ones. And when someone opens the door, there is some sound coming, “Oh, oh God, oh God, who is that inside?” It is invisible. When you look in this corner, in that corner someone is screaming. If you look there, behind is screaming. That is the astral body running there. So that is more painful, more painful is there, what you call, in the still, in that astral body which did not get the liberation. Mokṣa, Svargaloka, Brahmaloka, also they said in the Bible, there are two. Heaven, and who did not come to heaven? Just kicked out again in the other world. So there are two doors: one door is to heaven, the other door is in the hill. And that is, you said, “But God, I did, I prayed, my Lord, yes, but someone is crying for you.” You did not do good to that person; you took the property of everybody. How much? So people have done so many things. So now wake up, wake up,... become aware. And therefore, God gave us one very good tool, and that is called intellect. The most powerful tool for humans is the intellect. And this intellect has two kinds. One is a dry, just intellect, doing everything. There is nothing, there is no God, there is nothing. This, there, this: enjoy, eat, take your bread and butter, and drive your car. Forget everything. But then, how will it be? The other is the intellect, which is in the brain, but it should have a connection between the brain and the heart. And that is why God put the heart very close to the brain. If the heart were further down, toward your feet, it would take a long time. And so the brain is just here, so the step is just from here to there. And I am sure all of you, you are doing very good things, and you are very, you have a brilliant brain and love in your heart, but love in the heart for whom? That is the question. Your neighbor is suffering and crying, and you... Have your joy, your joy. What you are doing, that joy is not that joy. That joy will be the suffering. First, help that one who is crying, who is suffering, and that is why it is. It helps your next. So when we, when we create the... Difficulties to someone, then the crying of that person, or the dog, or the cat, the elephant, the cow, the hearts of any creatures—what we cause the pain that will reflect to us, much more than that one is suffering from that. So, therefore, but still we make mistakes. And for that, we have to pray. Something will happen; otherwise, we just remain in every corner and do not go anywhere, and just be there. Then nobody will bring bread and give you a tinker also. We have... To active work, so that yoga is a science of body, mind, and consciousness, that through this, our soul feels like in the lap of the mother, or a little baby in the cradle. And so, God is always there in our hands. You know this story sometimes, I... Told her many, many times, there was one man then traveling through the desert. Very nice sand, soft, walking, going somewhere. It was comfortable. Suddenly, there came little hills, mountains, and it is very hot. The rocks, the stones, the snakes and scorpions, thorny bushes, and very dangerous animals. The person who was walking with a very soft scent, when that person sees the footprint, it means that someone is walking with you. You do not see that person, but if someone is walking with you. And so he was very happy. I am sure the God is with me. Suddenly, a very thorny bush came, with many thorns and stones. Who was walking with you disappeared, crying. “When I was in a good situation, then you were all the time with me. And now I am on a difficult, thorny, stony path, you left me, my God. I left, but I have to go. I have to go to my destination after.” Two, three hours walking through the thorny bushes and stones, scorpions, snakes. Suddenly, it came very gentle, very nice, sandy. And came one tree, beautiful, big tree, and the god said under the tree, and again, someone is walking with a person, said. That is the love? Is that his friend? Or that one who was walking with me when I was very comfortable and had a very nice, joyful time? He was with me. And now it was so hard, and you left me, and again in a very nice situation, nice, nice, soft sand. And so you again came with me to walk. “Where have you been?” The voice came, the sound came, the voice came, “My son, when...” The comfortable way path is, then I am walking beside you. But when very hard time was, then I took you on my whole palm. I was walking for you. And so is that in difficulty, is God is more with us, more with us, and when you are comfortable. Everything, then okay. Then also you will forget, but God will not forget. He knows. Let him, let him walk because it is a good path, but I will observe him. That is it. God does. So life in the astral world, life in the mother’s womb, life on the earth, and life in the grave are not easy. Therefore, in every religion, in every path, spirituality, gods, etc. That we should finish this life, then we come to God. But do not think that every human will come to God. There you are torturing the animals, slaughtering the animals, and also humans, and this and that. You think they will come to again to the gods? Even the gods will not see their face. Then it is said that it is a cycle. So in this cycle, there is a, like, the wheel of our car. Sometimes the wheel is, um, on top. It is down, but it will not. That which was on the top will be down, and down will be up, and that is called the cycle of birth and death. We shall do our best. We pray. When we do something, then we always say, “Pardon, sorry, sir,” immediately. We say, “I am sorry, sir.” Listen, no problem, it is okay. But if you touch and go like this, other ones will say, “How is this person so similarly?” Whatever mistake we do, still we have the time to make the correction. Otherwise, that suffering, that pain, one is crying and the other is dancing. How? Example, you go for a wedding in the church, and you are standing in front of the holy altar, and the priest comes, and in the name of God and the holy book, he will give you a promise, and you will say, “This and that, I will be there. In every situation, I will be with you, etc., etc., and all.” Many people are there, and you are happy. Your wife is happy, your husband is happy. Everybody wants to have now a very nice, big party, but we are praying there too. God, God bless us that our life is happy. This, this we, we are praying to the altar now. God should help and pay, uh, bless us. But for our party, we are slaughtering two, three animals: pig or goat or cow. It does not matter which animals you... Are you killing for your wedding party? Will that God pray for you? You are marrying now, or God is sad because his children are killed. Animals are also God’s children. And that wedding will definitely have no success. If in the next life you have to come back in that wedding situation, you will be that animal slaughtered there. It slaughtered you, therefore, to take the revenge again, that is called karma. Everything that we do, when the two hands curse together, then it makes the sound. With one hand, we can only do like this, even though we cannot harm a mosquito or... A fly sitting somewhere, and we are doing like this, that is it. So, anyhow, today he said about satsaṅg, and this now our program is like to purify our five bodies, that is called five kośas, and one after other is like the annamaya kośa. Anna means the food, all that we eat. But anna is that kind of food which has a seed inside: grass seed, corn, wheat, barley, etc. This all is the seed of the plants, and the fruits, milk, etc. So this body, which is... Called the body of nourishment, prāṇa, the annamaya kośa, and this is how we are surviving through this anna, this food. All our organs, our nerves, our muscles, our bones, glands, etc., all are surviving through this nourishment, the food. What kind of food you eat, that is a different karma, but still, that is our body. So we should have healthy food. Pela sukha nirogi kaya. The first, first wealth is good health. Wealth means not money. Yes, dollar is also wealth, but what is the best wealth? And that is health. How to maintain our body healthy: good food and good exercises. Many people are doing, okay, this is good, they call it gymnastics or something, but this, your knees, your joints, your shoulders, your ankle joints, your back, in all these, it will give you trouble. Yeah, it is good that we have little body muscles and this and that. Okay, you think, “Oh, I am just very good.” But then, there are some people who are doing bodybuilding, you know, and muscles. Then, after their age of 75 or 80, their muscles need that kind of nourishment, the blood circulation. And what is hurting? There is nobody who massages you now. So one is doing himself like this because it itches; it has a pain. Anyhow, so good, condition is good to do, but yoga practice, one of the best things which will keep us healthy for a lifetime. Our muscles, our joints, our glands, our nervous system, organs, etc., etc. Of course, we can do these trainings, what they are doing, what they call the jīm, yes? And in the Rajasthani language, “jeem” means “eat,” please. Yeah, so it is very politely, with great respect, please, jī, jī, khao. So, Jīm, and this one word is okay. So prāṇamaya, annamaya kośa, good nourishment. And so, Annamaya Kośa is developing, and all organs and bones, our brain, everything develops from that nourishment of the mother. So you should feed. A husband’s duty is that now when he knows that his wife is pregnant, he has to give her more attention, more love, more respect, and more support, and to help take away from her hand the work, and you take her work to do this and that, and that plus that kind of nourishment, and that will not only be for your wife. But that embryo, which is developing there, and there is milk, nuts, this is very... and there are certain good foods you have to, fruits, etc. From there, our body develops. In that way, give good and give good support. That child will be the best, the best child. Otherwise, when the child is still not born, the husband is not anymore there. She is crying alone. “My husband is coming,” though today he is not anymore there. And when she asked, “Where have you been?” she is... Not your problem. When he tells this to his wife, that pain is not to the wife, but to that embryo, that your daughter or your son which will be born. That is why the humans, the humans have different laws than other creatures. Annamaya Kośa, when you are born, you should have good nourishment, and now the milk. Here, I am so surprised how the women are surviving nicely. In India and in many other countries, that mother who just gave birth, they have to have, they kept one month or 14 days or one month in one room without anyone’s visit. And then sometimes this and this. There is sitting here our sister from India. She can tell you this sitting also. There is an Anī sitting here. There are two Anis. Yes, there is a jama’in, and this and that, they can, and it is very tasteful. Then the husband says, “Can I also eat?” She says, “Of course you can eat.” Wives are always very kind. And something is not so tasteful, but the mother-in-law is pushing, “Eat that, because it is for my grandchild.” That kind of milk, that kind of thing, is very, very, very important for her. And that, this kind of nourishment when she is getting, then her nerve systems, her gland systems, her organs, etc., become again strong, and it was like young time, young side. That food you must give to your, now you go to the hospital. Birth is given, cleaned, okay. Next day, take baby in your hands, walk at home, that is it. The mother who gives delivery should not walk suddenly and stay, stay, they take care. In allopathy, they give you an injection, or you take a medicine, what do you call the chemical? One tablet of this and one tablet of that, and a vitamin. They say, “Whatever we are taking, extra vitamins, it is only 10 percent functioning in the body.” But... What we give them through the food that is the best there is, and therefore we should take such a kind of nourishment for the human body. Animals, they are taking themselves how they want. The birds and rabbits and this and that, they all know. So I would like to ask this of our sisters who are sitting here, two Indians, and they can write down, really, they should write. And out of 100, 80% of women, they will do it, and they will be so happy. Otherwise, after the birth, many, many women, they get psychic problems. They have problems in the spine, near the near the back body. Many, many, there are problems after the birth, giving birth, you know. And if you get that kind of food, and you had to have one month, you have to get this one month this nourishment. There are so many good things you cannot imagine. Sometimes a husband says, “God, I have so much money for this good nourishment. Yeah, I do not want any other child more.” So, anyhow, that is so. Though our body is a mortal body, it is not a mortal, but, you know, the body is not everything, but everything is nothing without the body. We are proud that we are as a human, sitting in a body, which we can consciously take care of. So, this is called... Anna māyā kośa: this body is from the nourishment, and we should have good nourishment. The dead food is not good, and so all humans should not consume meat. All animals are eating according to their nature, what they should, so humans should. Have that pure food, and that is called vegetarian: milk and nuts. Someone told me that it is written in the Bible, and I believe what is written in the Bible. The ill people used to go to Jesus, and one day Jesus said, “You... You are ill because you do not eat what you should eat: milk, nuts, grains, and fruits. You should eat this; you will not be ill.” So there is a seed about honey, the fruits, then nuts and milk, anyhow. The second one is called prāṇa-maya-kośa. Now, prāṇa is the life strength, if we do not have prāṇa, we cannot walk at all. So when we eat, when we are very, very hungry and we eat something, that food gave us strength. That is prāṇa, and prāṇamaya kośa. This means our second body is the energy body. Body energy has more strength than our food, in that prāṇa is coming through also through the breath. There are ten kinds of different prāṇas, what we call the prāṇa, apāna, samāna, vyāna, udāna, etc. These different kinds of prāṇas are functioning in our body. Prana we inhale, apāna we give out, and if we cannot inhale, we die. If we cannot exhale, we will die, and so prāṇa is coming through the whole body, and apāna is going through the whole body. If our apāna prāṇa does not function, we cannot urinate. You have to go to the doctor to give some injections or something and catheterize. You cannot go stool, completely blocked. You can try and try, but it does not go because apāna is not powerful. So all different kinds of prāṇa in our body are very important. And now, in that prāṇa, if it is positive prāṇa, good prāṇa, then you are very happy and very clear. If you take alcohol, a lot of alcohol, then your prāṇa is a little bit, you are very interesting. Like, oh, you are driving in the car, you think the whole highway is mine. Yes, till the next car comes in the front. So, that is immediately we know what we drink, what we eat, where we are, with which people we are sitting, what kind of energy is coming to be our prāṇa body. It is about the prāṇa we should do, and in this weekend we will have this. Beautiful programs to get all toxicants out of our body, the home. We will learn how it is beautiful. So, I had programs in three, four countries, five countries. The anti-stress program, and that one program is only for 20 minutes. Or 15 minutes, and you will see the stress is gone. You will feel within you like you are expanded, like you go to the forest and sit and sit. Ah, good air and good smell, you feel free. Tomorrow begins our program, prāṇamaya kośa, then call the manomaya. Kośas, mind, that we will talk tomorrow. Today is enough. So it will be in this sādhanā, you will feel it. We will practice it, and we will have satsaṅgs. We will speak about these prāṇas and mind. What is the mind? Five kośas, which is very... Very important, all right. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī, Devīśvara Mahādeva Kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ.

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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