TV Channel

We have in this seminar program the first item: Khaṭupramāṇam, the body as a means of knowledge. Present here are doctors, physiotherapists, yoga teachers, and practitioners. The first priority must be given to our Bārikhāṭu Praṇām. Each posture has a particular effect on the body, the breath, and the spirit. The sequence—which posture follows which—is very important. We have our books, "Yoga in Daily Life" and "The Hidden Powers in Humans," and an older yoga book from 1972-73. Many good yoga teachers and schools also write excellent books detailing different postures. However, when you adopt one system, you must follow that system. To start your car, you must first open the door with a key. You cannot just sit inside and expect it to run; there is a procedure. The car starts in first gear, or if automatic, it operates by its own system. Similarly, there are many beautiful yoga postures developed through hard work, considering anatomy, muscles, and breath. But within a system, like our Bārikhāṭu program or Sūrya Namaskār, there are fixed elements. Other schools and even our other books, like those describing Sarvāṅgāsana, may allow for variations. But the system of Bārikhāṭu, like Marjārī (cat stretch), cannot be changed; it has only two movements: looking toward the stomach and looking up. When practicing the Bārikhāṭu system, we must analyze it from the first movement, which is assuming the initial posture: Vajrāsana. In recent years, we have often spoken about the Vajra Nāḍī, which is as important as the three primary nāḍīs—Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā. When sitting in Vajrāsana, one must take care. If you have knee problems or damaged ankle joints, you should not sit in this posture, as it will cause pain and damage. If sitting in Vajrāsana is required before Marjārī or Bārikhāṭu and you ignore this principle, you will harm your body and then blame yoga. One must know one's own bodily capacity. I brought two small children with me, one about three years old and a girl of six or seven. They jumped down and ran quickly. People of our age cannot jump like that, or perhaps only once or twice. This is not a mistake of yoga; it is the condition of your body. Even a yoga teacher has limits regarding which postures they can and cannot do. Some young people have problems with their back joints. We must take care of our bodies. Sometimes, through very simple postures, we can try to alleviate pain. For example, with a slipped disc, you might say, "But the book says to do Paścimottānāsana." If you do it, you will have a major problem again. You should not practice Paścimottānāsana with back problems or a slipped disc. It is crucial to understand what to practice and what to avoid. This is a general principle. In our "Yoga in Daily Life" book, it is written systematically: the name of the posture, the basic position, how to perform it with and without breath, the number of rounds, the benefits, and contraindications. We must follow this. It is an individual matter. Consider a road map from here to Prague, showing the distance and travel time. If a section of the road is damaged and traffic is diverted, you cannot blame the highway designers for the delay. If you ignore the diversion sign and drive straight, you will fall into a hole. There are always disciplined principles. Certain actions are inappropriate in specific situations. If you sit on the toilet with constipation and think you have a mantra—Prabhu. Deep—this is not the mantra to use. You need a different resolve; you must shake up your saṅkalpa. It is an alarm, a high time, to perform Śaṅkhaprakṣālana. This means you should have done Śaṅkhaprakṣālana four times. If you don't, you cannot solve the problem, and you suffer on the commode. Similarly, we must know what to do and where. This is the duty of yoga teachers. All of you here are teachers, even within the Bārikhāṭu program. We must also know what to avoid in it, such as Hastapādāsana and other positions you may not be able to do. We must learn perfectly what we know, but also understand the condition of our body. The same applies to breath. If you have a heart problem, you should not practice kumbhaka, Bhastrika Prāṇāyāma, or Kapālabhāti. You should mostly practice Nāḍī Śodhana Prāṇāyāma. There is Nāḍī Śodhana, Anuloma Viloma Prāṇāyāma, and Nāḍī Vedhanā—they are different. We must know how long we can hold our breath. Many of you practice morning kriyā. If you have a heart problem or headaches, you should not move your head vigorously up and down. You can do mental practice instead. Every yoga teacher's first duty and priority is to know what to do and what not to do for themselves. But the problem is that about seventy-eight percent of those sitting here do not practice daily. How do I know? Better not to say. We should not insist, "No, I will only go this way on the highway; I don't want to take the detour." There is a concept of tolerance. Sometimes there is "no tolerance," and then you suffer. Even in mechanics, there is tolerance—space for adjustment. In today's program, we learned Bārikhāṭu Praṇām. You must practice it very carefully and know it by heart. Many still do not, which is why we concentrated and reviewed it properly. Everyone should take notes. If you cannot practice because of a knee problem—"I can't sit in Vajrāsana; I cannot do the Hastapādāsana posture"—then the Bārikhāṭu program system is broken for you. The same applies to Sūrya Namaskār. Please understand this and reflect on it in relation to your book and the classes you teach. Every Yoga in Daily Life teacher knows this. Those who do not should make some compromises. Long ago, when we developed our system, we had rest periods after every posture. We had ample time to come and relax. A practitioner would come to the ashram, and you would say, "Now lie down and relax for twenty minutes." The practitioner would lie there, moving restlessly. That is why people stop coming. They could come early and relax before class begins. If you arrive ten minutes early, there is no need for gossiping. You can go to the practice room or hall, lie down, relax, or sit and meditate. But the teacher should not give excessively long relaxation periods. The maximum should be five minutes. After performing a few postures, relax for about one and a half minutes. Many older teachers from the past still allow too much relaxation. Then the teachers themselves develop problems with back pain, neck pain, knee pain, etc. The teacher must also know what to do. There was a time I could also do some postures. One posture I am perfect in, whether painful or not, is lying down and sleeping. This is a very good posture. But one day, something happened. One should not sleep on the left or right side; just lie down straight. Oh God, this posture is not easy. After the age of fifty-five, we tend to sleep with our mouths open. The tonsils and buccal cords are no longer under full control, and when you relax, they can fall inward. Sometimes you have difficulty exhaling, so you automatically try to bring the breath out. If you lie on your left side, right side, or stomach, you may not have a snoring problem. This is also very important for yoga teachers to know. Otherwise, according to yogic sleep, at night we should sleep on the left side so the Sūrya Nāḍī is open. During the daytime, if resting or sleeping, use the right side so the Chandranāḍī is active. It is said, "At night, keep your consciousness as awake as during the day." It is a dark night, but the Sūrya Nāḍī makes you active. This is called Svara Sādhana, which is a complete chapter of yoga. Yoga is a science for the body, mind, and soul, for humans to master themselves. This is what yoga teachers should know. Instead of giving overly long relaxation, you can explain a technique for ten minutes. Refer to the Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā, Śiva Saṁhitā, Patañjali Yogśāstra—there are many such books. Just explain one śloka. Students will be very happy and gain knowledge. Also, after class finishes, you should not immediately start laughing, screaming, and talking loudly. That turns it into a perfect kindergarten. When little children finish school, you know how they run and scream. But you are not in kindergarten; you are in the yoga garden, the guru's garden. You should carry this hour's practice home and know what not to do. If you omit one posture, it does not matter. Every teacher should practice at least one and a half hours daily. Then, teach for another one and a half hours in the evening with your students. When I teach a yoga class or any class, I am learning again myself. It is a teaching for myself. The teacher learns again. Even a school or university professor, if they stop teaching for two years and then start again, will have to look at the book. We are out of practice. Our knowledge needs purification every day. When we get up, we clean our mouth and eyes. We wash our body daily. There are many techniques. This is very important; otherwise, we become ill, lazy, aggressive, and lose knowledge. Therefore, you must chant and remember every day. The same applies to daily practice. It is not only about doing the posture; we must know the benefit, who should do it, who should not, and for how long. This is essential because most of you here in this seminar are Yoga in Daily Life teachers. Yoga in Daily Life is a complete and comprehensive system—not only physical movements, breath exercises, meditation techniques, or Śaṅkhaprakṣālana, but many other techniques and knowledge that a human or yogī should know. Even a perfect yogī, a Siddha Yogī, if they do not practice for a few years or months, will lose their proficiency. For example, if you have a good memory and know everything by heart, but do not use that knowledge for a few years, it is suddenly gone—deleted. We lose our spiritual or any knowledge. Knowledge must be renewed daily; otherwise, we are lost. What was beautiful in our knowledge—sometimes each of you attains a clarity that nobody else knows, only you. It is powerful and useful, but if you forget it, it is lost. You conducted that best research but did not pass it on; it is lost forever. Therefore, it is said: O man, what you have, give it; otherwise, it will be lost forever. If you have knowledge but cannot give it to your children, disciples, or friends, and you die, the knowledge is gone. There was a person—I will not name them, as people on the webcast will ask, "What is this master saying?" There was even a minister. You know, almost all politicians and certain people take money and put it in Switzerland, in Zurich. If you caused an explosion in Zurich, what would come out? Diamonds, gold—my God! The whole treasure of the earth. People collect it and put it there. Anyway, please do not do this, or I will be guilty. That one minister had only one faithful person: his son. The minister was shot and lay wounded. An ambulance took him to the hospital; he was still slightly alive. He said to the doctor, "Doctor, please, by any technique, try to keep me alive until my son comes. I must tell him one word." He died because he wanted to tell his son about the money, and that money is still lying there. Who was taking the corruption? Also lying somewhere. That is lost. Knowledge, you must preserve knowledge. You must give it to someone; otherwise, you never know when you will die. So, my dear, we have many things to learn. Yoga is not only āsanas and prāṇāyāmas. You must clean out your negative ideas. You should not be manipulated. Suppose someone comes to me and says, "I have that siddhi, and I can give you this and that." Forget Mahāprabhujī. I would say, what? Do you think that if someone offers me a siddhi, I would say to Mahāprabhujī, "Bye-bye"? No. That would be death for me. Pravda. Tak. Yes? That is knowledge. If you practice all year but do not gain that knowledge, it is like a spoon in honey. The iron spoon cannot taste the honey. Similarly, if you are just practicing or teaching—of course you can and should teach, and you may receive some money for it; there is nothing wrong—but you must give proper instructions and preserve your deep knowledge. We have much more. This afternoon or evening, there will be a beautiful technique showing how Aum is connected in Rāma, the bīja mantra of the Maṇipūra. Both Aum and Rāma are present. There is a connection between prāṇa and apāna. How can we combine them in harmony? Over the last few months, or this whole year, we have come to the mantra and chanting of Aum. Many people have told me, "Swāmījī, since doing this, my depression is gone." Many with thyroid gland problems, after chanting Aum in that specific technique, said, "I have no more problem with my thyroid." Because that psychic problem was putting pressure on the thyroid. Similarly, it was the awakening of prāṇa while simultaneously supporting apāna. This afternoon or evening, we will have this technique. I will not give you free time today. You can always... you are always running and eating too many cherries. If you drink water after eating cherries, your prāṇa and apāna become completely confused. After your breakfast now, you have one hour. Then enter the trees—meaning, return to the practice area—and again, really, systematically, and consciously learn Bārikhāṭu Praṇām. Arrange all yoga mats in a very nice, systematic order. For our upcoming Yoga Day, across the whole world—in all Yoga in Daily Life schools, hospitals, ashrams, and so on—at that particular time, they should do 11 rounds. There will be 25 points; you can practice 25 rounds if you wish to go to Alkpurījī. If you want to go to Swāmījī, five rounds is enough. But now you should not be confused, looking at others with one leg back and the other leg forward.