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Part 1: An Introduction to the Chakras: From Mūlādhāra to Svādhiṣṭhāna I would like to share how many times we have been to retreat with Swāmījī. Svyatky, Semyenka, Vrachovateli—thank you very much for the ashrams, but especially for the theater Black Eagle. When Swāmījī was here, he planted seeds, seeds of yoga, and I would like those seeds to sprout. I will talk about the chakras, and very precisely, it is written in Swāmījī’s book, Hidden Powers in Humans. For those who would like to go deeper into yoga, I recommend getting this book. So, for anyone who wishes to know, to go deeper into yoga, who is serious about practicing, it is necessary to gain knowledge about cakras. But it is also good as general information to know what a chakra is, and its meaning and use. So, chakras. "Chakra" in translation means a wheel. Chakra means a body. We have many chakras. The eyes are chakras. Our ears are chakras. Our nostrils are chakras. The mouth is also a chakra. There are really many of them. These are the places through which our inner space communicates with outer space. They are the spaces enabling communication between inner and outer. We are talking about the physical senses. At all times, there are chakras. When there is a truly deep communication between inner and outer, there is an exchange of energy. When we talk about the chakras, we will discuss those from the base of the spine upward. Those are the main eight. Some literature says there are seven main chakras, but Swāmījī always says there are eight. The chakras from the base of the spine downward, towards the legs, are ones we do not talk about. We will talk about the chakras and ask to discuss the practical use of that knowledge. If you would like more information, it is recommended to go to yoga classes and definitely to read the book Hidden Powers in Humans. To understand one chakra can take a few weeks, sometimes months. So today, it will be just to get basic information. The first chakra is Mūlādhāra. It is at the end of the spine. "Mūla" means a root. What root? We can say our life is like a tree. We can see the trunk and branches, and some fruits—some sour, some more sweet. The roots of the tree are very important, and also the quality of the soil where the roots are planted. And, of course, the quality of the seed. It is the same in our life. We have some genetic basics. We have been planted in a certain environment, and we have nourishment, water, and all this from the environment where we live. So Mūlādhāra is connected with unconsciousness, and we do not know what is dormant there. Through yoga, we can change a little bit what we nourish within from the world. We can transform so there is no negativity in our life. It is not easy to understand what Mūlādhāra is about, but when we purify this cakra, we can have good health. We can also begin to see what our life is about. Why are there certain patterns in our life? Why are we born into a certain family? And why are we born in a special place and not another? All that information we can find in the Mūlādhāra. When we go further, there is the second chakra, Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra is the place where hidden tendencies manifest in our lives. In Svādhiṣṭhāna, there is a manifestation of those dormant informations that appear in our daily life. So what is dormant, what is inside the seed in Mūlādhāra, is sprouting in Svādhiṣṭhāna. This is the space where we can do something with our life; it is not dormant anymore. Here, we can understand, or we can enact change; we have the possibility to change something in our life. If we do not work with this information, if we do nothing about it, then our life takes us from plus to minus, from positivity to negativity, and that is how our life will go. So, how can we influence it? Firstly, there is purification. First, we need to purify our physical body, then our thinking process, then we need to purify our interactions, also our emotions, and so on. Purification is important and is the basis for further transformation. It is similar to a computer. We have many kinds of viruses and many programs. We can change this; we can purify those viruses and also unwanted programs which are functioning in us. On this level, there is the ego, and the ego is fighting for its position. So, on the physical plane, we need to purify our physical body. And on the mental level, we need to work with our ego. How can we purify our physical body? There are four things that enter our inner space. There are four things functioning in our space: what I eat and drink; what I inhale and how I inhale, how I am breathing; movement; and stress. If I want to start serious practice, I have to start with a non-toxic diet. If I really go seriously, then I need to change my food to something non-toxic. Therefore, most, or almost all, yogīs are... Our body is structured to function on pure water, not on tea, Coca-Cola, coffee, and other drinks. I have a slogan: we have to drink clean water. And Alan is kind of saying that we have to drink so much, so finally we drink some water. Cold, soft, clean. The best is spring water, but from a spring, note. Pure water is more important than good food. And then there is the breath. I am sure in the yoga lessons you are realizing what is inhalation and exhalation. And also to acknowledge the exchange, or the pause, or how we go from inhalation to exhalation. The space which is between inhalation and exhalation is very important. In this space, there are things happening. The movement from inhalation to exhalation should be smooth. We are living close to the High Tatras. The transformation should be like a mountain called Kráľová hola, which is very smooth, not like other mountains which are very steep. It is good to consciously inhale and then consciously pause in between. The next technique of cleansing is working with your body. The movements are āsanas. Āsanas, during deeper study, you will perceive as a cleansing technique. So we can perceive āsanas also as a purification technique. And then there is the stress factor. Stress, we cannot influence it; it is there. But yoga has several techniques to eliminate the effect of stress on the organism. Yoga can give you a few techniques on how to eliminate, or at least how to work with, stress. That is relaxation, prayer, concentration. You have tried it yourself. If you are in stress and you go to a place where there is clear water, a surging stream, you sit quietly in nature. We can find out in our life that when we go to nature, pure nature, where there is a little brook, trees, flowers, birds, we feel very different. At the level of Svādhiṣṭhāna, it is decided whether our development and evolution, our consciousness, will stretch further into the higher spheres, or we will return again and mingle between the unconscious and the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna. So in Svādhiṣṭhāna we have two options. We can evolve, the consciousness can evolve higher up, or we will go back down and we will pendulum between unconscious states and have no control. In this chakra, there are two divine forces. In yoga we call them Kriyā Śakti and Icchā Śakti. Kriyā Śakti is a force that creates something in us. It is a creative force. It is an energy of power which can create. If I have this power activated, it is not a problem for me to create anything. If my kriyā śakti is activated, I can do anything. If I have activated Kriyā Śakti, I can go in a positive way. The second power is the power of resolution, Icchā Śakti. But those powers are very fine, and it is not easy to get in touch with them. However, ṛṣis and yogīs came up with how to activate these powers in Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. The first technique is to get prāṇa śakti, energy, into the organism. And here we are again with our food. If I eat very toxic food, then for processing that food, I need a huge amount of this most gentle energy. So we go back to the food. If I eat toxic food, I need a lot of this fine energy to work out the food in my body. The worst toxins are... If something is stuck, there is no movement; it will decay. So we have good food, then movement, especially in nature, and then we have āsanas. That is the basic way to get pure energy. The next step is to not throw the energy out, not to use it for whatever. We need to cultivate this energy, this prāṇa śakti. The second factor through which we can influence these two divine forces—the force of will (Icchā Śakti) and the force of creativity (Kriyā Śakti)—is the force of concentration. Through concentration we can influence those fine energies inside us. If I decide to practice yoga, I need to concentrate and live this yoga. Yoga should become part of my life. And there is one more part: you should be conscious. So Svādhiṣṭhāna is a little bit up from Mūlādhāra, a few centimeters up, and in Svādhiṣṭhāna there are divine powers which we need to awaken. Through purity, through concentration, and through strengthening our seeing, we should concentrate on what is the aim, what is my goal, and then concentrate on this goal. Swāmījī says that if we manage to conquer this realm, the realm of Svādhiṣṭhāna, we have more than half of the way behind us. Swāmījī says that when we can awaken and purify Svādhiṣṭhāna, it is halfway behind us. What does "half of the way" mean? What does it mean that the halfway point is behind us? We have said that the ego in Svādhiṣṭhāna manifests itself in the most powerful form. So we have said the ego is very powerful in this chakra. Svādhiṣṭhāna has six flower petals, which symbolize six negative qualities. These six petals, the six negative powers which influence our life, are the opposite of purity; it is like a veil in our mind. They influence our body in a very negative way. It is said that 90% of diseases are from mental pollution. So if we want to do something with yoga techniques, we must, on the one hand, clean our body, but at the same time clean our mental and emotional world. If we want to change something through yoga, we need to purify not only the body, but also the mental state. Part 2: The Hidden Powers Within: Purification and the Chakras It is said that yoga exercises are psychosomatic. The interplay between body and mind is so tightly connected that one cannot function without the other. As the saying goes, in a healthy body there is a healthy spirit. Yoga is psychosomatic, and in a healthy body there is a healthy spirit. This book is called Hidden Powers in Humans. Unless we purify our body and mind, those hidden powers will always remain hidden and dormant. These forces can manifest in us only when we cleanse the second chakra, cleanse our negative properties, and cleanse and remove the toxins from our physical body. We can awaken those dormant powers after we purify the body. Very often, we have heard about miracles, many cases of miraculous healing from people. What is actually a miracle? A miracle is like a higher, analytical kind of power inside us. This power is hidden because there is no purity. To understand yoga, we should go through purification—not only of the body, but also of the mind and in daily life. Unless we do this, we will just play at yoga, and all those hidden powers will remain hidden forever. When we leave Svādhiṣṭhāna, we come to the realm we call Maṇipūra. Above Svādhiṣṭhāna, there is another cakra called Maṇipūra. Mani is a jewel. It is a chakra where the jewels are hidden. In Maṇipūra, there is a hidden power we call Jñāna, which is our wisdom. To come to this level is not easy. Maṇipūra is placed in the navel, about three to four centimeters around the navel. It is near the navel, a few centimeters inside. Usually we refer to it as the solar plexus or the center of Hāṛā energy. It is like a powerhouse of our body. In Maṇipūra, there is a center of our strength. Again, unless we purify the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra, we cannot come to this energy, to this power which is in the Maṇipūra Cakra. Every chakra is a kind of level through which we can see our life. In Mūlādhāra, we said there is the unconscious; a human there is really living unconsciously. In Svādhiṣṭhāna, they start to think about what their life is about and how to improve it. In Svādhiṣṭhāna, there is the possibility to think, "What is my life about, and how can I change toward positivity?" In the second chakra, we can understand that there is a chance to change something in our life. Maṇipūra is a kind of level where we can change something. In Maṇipūra, we can feel the power of our consciousness. One of the jewels of Maṇipūra is the kind of feeling that I am established in my life. I can understand, I am sure about myself, and I know I am going a right, positive way in my life. Maṇipūra influences our emotions and also the energy of our body. Everyone can understand how life is easy when we have enough energy. If there is not enough energy, we can come to depression, and life is like life without energy. Maṇipūra influences digestion. In yoga we say there is a special kind of fire in Maṇipūra, the digestive fire. If I fill this Maṇipūra with evil food, with evil water, I will drain the energy and extinguish this fire. We are back to nourishment. If I do not have good food but rather toxic food, and also not good water, this fire is dimmed. It is like putting wet wood on a fire, which does not want to burn, which is heavy. Then digestion is not good and the body doesn’t feel good; there is no energy. Everyone experiences when you have a heavy dinner, how it is then at night. So back to nourishment: in yoga classes the instructor will tell you slowly about the food—what to eat and what not to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and similar questions. The energy is basically very close to nourishment and is very much influenced by that. In Maṇipūra, there are powers, and that power is called Prāṇa. Prāṇa is the energy which we have. And there is also Apāna, which is the energy to eliminate toxins from the body. There are ten prāṇas, but these two are important and can be connected in Maṇipūra. In Maṇipūra, there is also a space on the mental level where it is commonly said, "I have not been able to experience anything." On the mental level, we can say there is something in Maṇipūra which I cannot digest. So, there is a connection we can see between our physical body and our mental level, between our physical body and the psyche. We need to get harmony on this level; otherwise there is no harmony in life. When we proceed further, it is already a high level of observation of our life. We proceed to the heart chakra, to Anāhata. If we go further, there is the Anāhata cakra, and it is really high up now. It is already the seat of my "I." Anāhata is a place where there is my real me, that feeling of "I." Anāhata is a place where our feelings reside. It is one of the most beautiful chakras. Anāhata means to expand. Also, in the pictures of Christianity, we can see the space of the heart with many lights coming out. It is a seat of the divine. Anāhata is a touch where there is the divine, me, and my true being. This is a space where there is a conflict between spirituality and individualism. In Anāhata, it is a kind of space where divinity and individuality come together. When I direct my feelings to myself and to my ego... The soul wants to sing, wants to spread, wants to go into space, wants to communicate with space. A soul or spirit expands and communicates with the space around. The power of ego is a problem. Why those forces? Why can the soul not expand? We are like closed inside a balloon. We should think and understand what "mine" means. What is mine, actually? Nothing is mine; all is borrowed. Not even a body is mine. One day when I leave this planet, even this body won’t stay here. "Me" and "mine"—it is the greatest illusion of this life, and this illusion is kind of binding us. So at this level, how I look at my life... or I go back to negativity, again to those negative sides, aspects of life. When we look at life around us, what is being done here? Everything is based on such consumable materialism. Everyone wants more; everyone wants only more for themselves. If we look around, many people live a life where they just think about themselves, and they want more and more. If we are not able to purify Anāhata, the space in our heart, we cannot go further—not only personally, but also as a humanity. The world can evolve more only through the quality of the heart. These days, it is really a problem. We are really stuck in materialism. It is not easy to come out of this situation, because getting a bigger car or more money in a bank will never make us happy. The next level is the Viśuddhi Cakra. The Viśuddhi Cakra is the last human cakra; it is in the neck area. Viśuddhi Cakra is purifying the mental and physical planes of our life. Viśuddhi is like a door to the astral world. The function of Viśuddhi is to purify on the physical and mental level. The one who has a purified and pure Viśuddhi will never swear. Whoever is swearing and using negative words is really intoxicating the Viśuddhi Cakra. If I purify the Viśuddhi Cakra, the words will be very different, and everyone will understand my speech. My consciousness can then expand and move further to the next cakra. The Ājñā Cakra is a space between the eyebrows. Ājñā Cakra is a leading chakra that directs our chakras and our inner function. Ājñā Cakra is a place where the intellect is seated. In the Ājñā Cakra is a seed of buddhi, and the cream of buddhi is viveka (discernment). If we make one or more self-destructive decisions in our life, it will destroy our life. The clarity of life really depends on the purity of life. Bad decisions and bad analytical thinking can destroy us. Ājñā Cakra is also called the Guru Cakra. Ru means darkness, and Ru means light. The Guru is the one who can lead from darkness to the light. Unless the Ājñā Cakra and Guru Cakra are purified, until then, we use the thinking and we use the knowledge of our Gurudev. This is actually the meaning of why we need a guru. There are many gurus. It is said our first guru, a very important guru, is our mother and our father. In a very important part of life, a mother or father gives us the basic roots of knowledge. The next guru is the family. It is the society in which we live. The next level of the gurus are teachers. Teachers give us knowledge, how to read or teach us mathematics, further expanding our consciousness. Then, another level of gurus we can say are priests. The priests are telling us there can be a father, some other knowledge. The fifth guru is a guru who has an open Ājñā Cakra, who knows, who has gone through the evolutionary path, the evolution that we as people have to achieve. The next level is a spiritual guru, a guru for whom the Ājñā Cakra is completely open. Because this guru walked this path and reached the end, that guru can give us instruction and knowledge of what to do and how to do it to achieve this. While our analytical ability is not brilliant, we use the view of things by the Guru. Unless our analytical thinking is pure and brilliant, we use the Guru. The other chakras are Bindu Cakra, which is connected to the word Amṛt. There is another chakra, Bindu Cakra, and in this Bindu Cakra there is a nectar called Amṛta. Yogīs who can work with Amṛta don’t need to eat. Yogīs who can get this Amṛta, they don’t need to eat, and they also know what to do with aging. The last chakra is the Sahasrāra Cakra. It is on the top of the head. For a yogī, Sahasrāra Cakra has ten doors. When a yogī is dying, the consciousness should go through Sahasrāra Cakra. Otherwise, the soul can go through the eyes, ears, nose, and usually there is a drop of blood. The last three chakras are divine. It is not easy to talk about those cakras, because we don’t get to touch them. We can read about them. We can have an intellectual talk about those cakras. But we have not realized them, maybe just a little bit. So, this was a little bit of the basics about those main eight chakras, and what realization of those chakras can bring us to a higher state. Definitely, we would like to know more about the chakras. There is no better book than Hidden Powers in Himalaya. Thank you very much to everyone for listening. We can now approach the questions.