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The Sun Shines in the Kingdom of God: On Habit, Mind, and the Kośas

A spiritual discourse on the five sheaths (kośas), habit, and the nature of the mind.

"Whatever kind of habit you have, after a while, that will become your nature."

"The mind is the reflection. Or in the pond, in the water pond, very nice, clean, and very still water. You look, and your face is inside. But it's only a reflection."

The lecturer leads a morning satsang, exploring how habits become second nature, using a parable of a man and a bear to illustrate addiction. He explains the five kośas, focusing on the elusive manomaya kośa (mind sheath), describing it as a reflective layer governing the senses and storing impressions. The talk covers purification through prāṇāyāma, the trap of attachment (mamatā), and the importance of selfless giving.

Filming location: Alexandria, USA

Most welcome, everyone. Some have early morning, and some have late evening. This means that in the kingdom of God, the sun is shining everywhere. Similarly, yoga in daily life is present wherever the sun ever shines. Yes, you understand me? Our program, first of all, is the purification of impurities from the body. Yesterday, there was talk about nourishment, which we call Annamaya Kośa. In Ayurveda, it is said: "Jaisā khāi ann, vaisā rahe man." You all understand, no? But still, I will translate for other brothers and sisters who may not know. "Jaisā khāye ann, vaisā rahe man." The kind of nourishment you have, that kind will be your mind and energy. "Jaisā kare saṅg, vaisā lāge raṅg." The kind of company you keep, you will acquire that color, meaning that habit. A good habit means a good color, and a negative one means negative energy. Our Satguru Dev, Swami Madhavānandajī Bhagavān, Gurujī, used to say: "Habit is the second nature of the human." Whatever kind of habit you have, after a while, that will become your nature. For example, if you drink alcohol every day, soon you will become an alcoholic. At that point, it is said, it is no longer in your hands. You are in the hands of the alcohol. It becomes your nature, and your nature is always asking for it. Or, someone takes some kind of drug. Alcohol is also a big drug, but this drug is a little too much for the economy of this world. But if we are only living for the economy, for money, is this our only...? People suffer, yet we want to earn money through alcohol. There are many different ways to improve the economy, but what to do? Similarly, with other kinds... In the beginning, they think, "Oh, let's try." And they try, but then they become dependent. It becomes their nature. Then it is very hard to give up or become free. Our Gurujī, Swāmī Madhavānandajī, told a nice story, which he also wrote in one of his books. There was a river flowing in the hot summer. Two best friends were walking along the bank. Both young men were strong, doing bodybuilding, etc. Very strong, very positive, very good. They were walking along the river and suddenly saw something: a beautiful, dark coat. In the middle of the river, this coat was fluttering with the water. One said, "Brother, I would like to get this coat." The other said, "No, no, no. There's a high current in the river." He said, "Don't worry, we are strong, I'm strong. I am a bodybuilder. I will go and catch the coat and bring it back quickly." The friend said, "Brother, I know you are always good at swimming and so on, but why? The water is cold." He said, "Allow me, please." The friend said, "Okay, come back quickly." So one continued walking along the river, and that young man jumped into the water. He ran first to the front and then to the other end. He was swimming and swimming, and he came near the coat. It was a beautiful, very big coat, like a strong man's. He came within a distance of two meters and wanted to catch the coat. But before he caught the coat, the coat caught him. Because it was a crazy bear who was hungry and very tired, just dying in the water. So the bear came and caught this man. The other friend saw from far away, nearly about 50 or 100 meters. He shouted, "Come quickly out!" But he was fighting the bear. The bear embraced him, hugged him, and bit his one shoulder, taking out the flesh. Then the other side. And the bear said, "Is it painful?" The man said, "Yes, leave me free." The bear said, "No, let me eat you." The man caught by the bear wanted to be free. He wanted to throw him away, and tried to fight, to put one hand on this side and the other, but the bear came with his other claws. The other brother was standing there and said, "Friend, brother, if you can't manage to bring the coat, leave it, come out." And the man in the water said, "Yes, my brother, I want to leave this coat, but the coat doesn't leave me." Similarly, that is the condition of someone who is taking some different kind of drugs or something and becomes dependent. For a while, someone will tell you not to do this and that, to seek good society, but again it is in the blood, it is in the veins, it is in the brain centers. If they are good qualities and good things, they also reside in your body, in your brain. So, therefore, it is said: habit is the second nature of man. What kind of habit you have, that habit is your nature. Many people say, "I have no time to meditate, no time to exercise, no time to make prānāyāma, etc." But how busy a person will find time to drink a glass of alcohol. For that, you have time. If there is no more alcohol at home, you will go with the car, drive a few miles. One shop is closed, you'll find another that is also closed. You'll go to the petrol pump, get from there, and come back. For that, one has time, but not for good things: to exercise, to meditate, or read some good book, or write some good stories, or do some good to your wife, good to your children. That one doesn't do. One is caught by such a habit. So habit is the second nature of man. The techniques we did, the prāṇāyāmas, and which we are going to do more in these two days, are for purifying all these toxins from the body. There is a very scientific pranayama technique for our brain, for our thinking, and for our blood. We are getting these toxins out of the body through fresh, good prāṇāyāmas, but we need a technique. Something went into our body; then doctors have the techniques. Doctors have the instruments, so that doctors can take it out from your body. Others cannot. Similarly, this pranayama technique, these yogic techniques, this is a science. What can be pulled out from the body as well as from the mind? And again, with recovery, our energy. Which energy do you have when you have good food, good nourishment? You have milk, you have maybe cheese, you have nuts, you have fruits, everything. You are healthy and strong. But when you are completely drunken, then, as I told you yesterday, it is like enjoying on the highway, like on the snow or the ice, the other one all goes away. You say, "My god, somebody is drunken." That man is drunken and driving, and he said to his wife, "All are coming on the wrong side." She said, "You are going in the wrong." So, one thinks that I am the best and all others are wrong who don't drink. Similarly, we have to purify, but we also have to gain energy. The energy comes through good food, good nourishment, good water, good air, good society, good exercises, etc. Then our energy will regenerate our body, and we will become healthy. But the mind—still, the mind is strong. The mind is within us. Everyone has a different mind. My mind and your mind are different. What you think and what I think are different. The mind is also like a soul. Your soul and my soul are different, but it is a soul. So my mind is different and your mind is different, but the definition of the mind is the same. This is the same quality of that mind in the human body. Animals also have a certain kind of mind; they are also very clever. But where is the mind? Where is the mind in the body? It is within us. We say, "It's my mind. I change my mind." Mostly the Americans say, "I'm sorry, I've changed my mind. I will not come." We will come next time, and then again they make some programs and say, "Okay, we will come tomorrow," and let's go. Okay, okay, yes. And in the morning you call, "Sorry, I changed my mind." It is a mind; it is easy to change. Why don't you change your body? The body is not so easy. Is that mind we think we are depending on? Our mind is depending on us. We are depending on that mind, but where is that? In which part of the body is our mind? We tell it is in the brain, but they ask, "Doctor, please, can a doctor catch my mind in my brain?" The doctor said, "Oh, yes," but he went to the heart. Then, "Please take out the heart." He said, "Oh, it went to the liver." And when you do, if you say, "No, she's in the garden," mind—what is the mind? The mind is something which is catching everything, every quarter second, like this camera is catching all of us constantly. So, the mind takes the impression from our five indriyas. These are our senses. The five senses: our eyesight, our vision. We see everything very clearly, far distance, near distance. Our eyes always support us: how the neighbor's garden looks, we open the curtain and look; or the children are swimming in the garden, we are looking at how the children are, or the cats; or husband and wife are fighting in the garden. Our eyes are so curious. But it is not our eyes that are curious; our mind is curious. But where is the mind? The mind is working through our eyes. The husband and wife are not fighting in the garden, but they are fighting in the house, and the curtain is closed. Then our ears, these are also Jñāna-Indriyas for listening. In reality, they are not fighting. In reality, they are talking about something and laughing. But we hear wrong, but still we are hearing. They smell the taste, and they touch the skin. These are the five senses through which we learn from birth till death. Whatever we have learned, anything is through these five senses. And the mind is governing these five senses. The mind gives impressions to the subconscious, because the mind is always awakened with consciousness, always. It is very close to the intellect, but it brings everything into our subconscious. After a while, the things which have gone to our subconscious will go deeper, into the unconscious. And that becomes what we call psychic problems. The mind said, "I am not responsible. I gave you a clear picture, that's all. Maybe one day you will need it." And so what the lawyer says, "Close the windows, please." Yes? The lawyer said, "Clean, clean, clean completely. Close completely the windows, you know. That's it." So the lawyer said, "The evidence will never die. Evidence will never die." What you have seen, you have seen. Forever, your whole life, that will remain in you. You may say, "No, I didn't see." But our inner self and our mind said, "Why do you lie?" What do you smell? How nice that fruit, how nice is this and that, our smell. You had a very nice fruit salad on one plate, and you liked it very much. It was very nice, fresh fruit from the gardens, from organic, from Gītā Purī's garden. Yes, good garlic. My gosh, garlic was so delicious. And all the birds went away; they don't come close. Is this how we remember all the time? Our whole life, after 15 years, we will meet our husband again and say, "Oh, wow, yes, that's so nice. Your fruit salad, good smell, still in my nose." So it is there. What you have heard, what you taste, what you smell, what you feel, the touch, and what you see. The mind is with us, and that will go with us all the time. But one day the mind will forget. But the senses will not forget. One may lose the ear or hearing or the eyesight, but those memories and impressions will remain in our subconscious. Sometimes they will come again. So, second, the expression, explanation, sorry, about mind. The mind is within us, but we cannot correct our mind unless you come to some techniques. So, the mind—an example only. You go to your bathroom and your beautiful big mirror, a very nice clean mirror. And you see your face. Your face is beautiful. You admire every time when you go to the mirror; you try to correct everything. So, there is somehow from your eating, it remains here, something or some spot. And you look in the mirror, you see in the mirror, and you take your cloth. The spot is here on your face, but you try to clean the mirror. Yes? Again, you look, there is still a spot there. You take some soap or something, and again you are cleaning, but that doesn't go. The mirror has the language of the mirror. It's called your mirror is smiling. Your mirror is smiling: how intelligent you are, how good you are. And always, we are making corrections to ourselves in the mirror. It's how we should always smell, smile, look. So our mirror is correcting us, but the mirror cannot correct us. You have to correct yourself. Similarly, the mind is the reflection. Or in the pond, in the water pond, very nice, clean, and very still water. You look, and your face is inside. But it's only a reflection. You are in reality, not inside. So is the mind. Is that mind within us, or are we within the mind? So this quality of the mind can be made through correction, through meditation, through good society, good friends. A good wife can correct your mind, yes? Or a good husband can correct your mind too. It's for everybody because with the two hands together, it makes this sound. Yes. God doesn't come with one hand. If you say, "God, bye bye." And if you say, "God, like this, yes, please come," so don't be one-handed. So what are these two hands? The brain and the heart. Both have to be together in the heart, here, together. So the mind, so that's called annamaya kośa, prāṇamaya kośa, and manomaya kośa. That's mind, the man. Mind is man. And Maṇī said, "Man marā na mamatā marī," your desires, what you want to have. My mind, how to kill my mind away? It is said, "I want to kill my mind, I want to hold my mind." And if I catch my mind, I will turn it like this. Someone said about someone, okay? Someone said about someone. I don't know, and I don't want to go so far. But there is jealousy. And in the jealousy, he or she or someone said, "If I catch, I will go like this." I have heard this many times from my good friends, disciples, okay? This is the mind. Mind. So someone asked how to kill the mind, the manomaya kośa, how to come up. Manomaya kośa means the one cover of our soul. The body of nourishment, the body of energy, the body of mind, the body of the intellect or knowledge, and the body of our habits or our karmas, our desires. Manomaya kośa, Annamaya kośa, Prāṇamaya kośa, Manomaya kośa, Vijñānamaya kośa, and Ānandamaya kośa. Ānand means bliss, or ānand means joy. Ānand means happiness, that you are happy. But that joy, the desires which you are trying to get, there it is in the joy of the joy. Is there less in joy than more sorrows of that joy? You understand? You understood? You are a psychiatrist. So he is very hidden, you know. He is watching me very carefully, what I am doing. Yes. So from that desire, the joy is less in joy and more sorrows from that joy. That joy. Oṁ Tat Sat, Hari Oṁ Tat Sat. So that one holy saint, a holy saint said, "Man marā na mamatā marī." Should I tell you how to correct the mind? "Man marā na mamatā marī, mar mar gayā śarīr. Asha trishna na mari, kaha gaya dash Kabir." You have heard so many times, so you understand the Hindi also. "Man marā na mamatā marī." The mind, you can't kill, or you can control your mind? You cannot. Because man mara, mamata mara. Mamata, what means the mamata? Desire. See, something like this: mamata, mamatva, he bandhan ka karan. Gurujī always said, bandhan he dukh ka karan hai. Bandhan means attachment. It is such an attachment, and that attachment does not let you free from your mind. "Mamatā mānamohāriṇī, mamatvaḥi duḥkha kā kāraṇa." That attachment is the cause of the pain, cause of the troubles. So, "mamatva bandhana"—you are caught with it. That is like a fish: you throw the hook in the water, and this innocent fish thinks it is something to eat, and the hook goes in the throat. And then you pull it out—how painful it is—and you see how this living creature is suffering out of the water. And only doing like this with the mouth, so he cannot speak, but then, "Oh human, let me be again in my kingdom, in the water." But you are caught by this mamatva. Mamatvāhi bandhana kā kāraṇa. Mamatvahi, that desire, that longing has caught you in that hook. And now you have to suffer because you did this, and otherwise it would not have happened like that. Oh, fish, why do you run towards that hook? You could have gotten many other things. But you thought this other one is better than the other. "Man marā nāmam tamārī." The mind is not killed because your attachment is still not free. "Man marā, nāmam tamārī. Mar mar gayā śarīr." Again and again, one died. Who? The body. Your body died. Again, you came. Again died. Again. It is not easy, that attachment. "Mar mar gayā śarīr." Why not? "Asatṛṣṇānāmari." Asa means hope. Again, we still have the hope. Still, I will get. I hope I will get. Hope is a walking stick from the cradle to the grave. You are hanging in hope from the cradle. And someone looks at you and he says, "Oh, this one is mine." But your whole life, you are hoping it will come. You hope it will come. This is an āsā rūpī daṇḍā. This is a walking stick from the cradle to the grave. "Asa trishnā." Trishnā is a burning desire, the thirst. So that one is dying out of thirst. Thirst, because of the thirst of that desire. "Asha trishna na marika hagya dasa." And therefore the saint Kabīra said, "Man, mamatā, āśā, and tṛṣṇā." These are the four principles. If you can master them, you are liberated. You are liberated from your mind. The mind will go behind you, not that you go far behind. And the mind is one of the most mighty powers. Body, then man, that is the mighty power. So that is a reflection. That is a reflection. That reflection we cannot catch. Similarly, our mind is torturing us, invisibly torturing us. If you want to go further, then first you should become independent. Don't depend. Give. Give... Give free. But don't give something to get something. Then there is hope. There is desire. There is something, and therefore, what we call in America, you have many, many NGOs which are called charitable, charity organizations. And the charity, what do they ask? They don't ask. If you want to give, give it. But they don't ask back to give my money back, no. Therefore, in charity, if you give, then give because it is for good. For the humans, charity; for the animals, charities; for the forest, for the rivers, ponds, oceans, etc., where they are also doing free. They are also doing freely to help the others. So what you have given without expecting, then your donation is spiritual and fruitful. But don't wait for saying thank you. When you say thank you, your charity, what you have given, it is just a help, that's all. So don't expect return in any word, in any way. Well, we are still but human. We say, "Thank you for the people, thank you for them." We will say this, but not for me, not for the persons who are working in those NGOs, sorry. So that will make you free. So give, just give. God gives to everyone. Who are we to feed anyone? God feeds from the ant till the elephant; no one sleeps hungry. God provides according to what they eat. God gives us like that. So, mind, manomaya kośa, and manomaya kośa is also covered, but it is so thin, so thin, like a layer. Between the layer of the garlic and onions, the second is coming now, the intellect. Vijñānamaya kośa. Vijñānamaya kośa is the intellect, the knowledge that we will have this evening. So that technique, what we are doing, you did perfect. That was good. I liked it. But you know, it went a little long in practice, but it went for one hour. It should be, but we did it in 45 minutes. In 45 minutes, that kind of technique which we had, it was a technique for one and a half to two hours, so I shortened it. Other techniques will come in the evening, and the lecture will also be about Jñānamaya Kośa. Anamaya kośa, the body. So what you drink, what you eat, what you inhale, etc., that affects your body. Then prāṇa, like that, will be your energy. Drink a nice glass of milk with honey inside, and a little bit of saffron, or something very, or eat a nice fruit salad and drive your car. Ānanda. What is ānanda? Blissful. And suddenly, it comes, big brother, with kind of vodka. You swallow it, and then you will see what your energy is going on. That's everything. Everything is everything. So therefore, anamaya kośa, prāṇamaya kośa. So, how will we eat and what will we eat? That way, strength will come. Mental, physical also, but mental. And not only mental, the energy, jñānamaya kośa. And then it comes, ānanda maya kośa. So it was five elements: the space, the fire, the air, the water, and the earth. After that, five are the kośas: prāṇamaya kośa, ānandamaya kośa, vijñānamaya kośa, ānandamaya kośa, etc. So these are the layers upon layers, and this is the science which the yogīs have given. And that's why all saints and yogis are saying, and also our Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modiji, he speaks so much about the science of yoga, and he brought in the knowledge, in mind, the clarity into the mind of the whole world, that we should give our generations, elderly people as well as the young generation, to bring in the good way, that is the science of yoga. The science of yoga is body, mind, and soul. And awakening of the consciousness means the awareness. And that's why, how they are all now yoga people trying, the young generation, to bring in the healthy, happy way of life. Thank you, and see you again in the evening. Evening. So our Gurujī Swāmī Madhavānandajī, his bhajans, what he spoke, all this is what I am talking about. And now on the 7th of March, in the head office or the head center of the United Nations in New York, we will have a conference on Śrī Svāmī Mādhavānanda World Peace Council, and that is the NGO in Austria and as an NGO in the United Nations. So, of course, you are most welcome to know now the hall is full. It is limited; they can't bring an extra one, even one more inside. But you can see further, further. And next time, we will make another conference in Washington, okay? Yeah, this is the capital of the United Nations, or the USA. Okay, so wish you all the best. Now, we will chant Aum in that technique which we did yesterday, okay? Three times. You know, and deep inhale and exhale. Relax. Sit straight. Deep inhale and exhale. Deep inhale. Exhale. We will chant Aum. Inhale. Aum.

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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