Swamiji TV

Other links



Video details

Don't change the Master

A spiritual discourse on the chakra system, kuṇḍalinī, and the yogic path to self-realization.

"Everything is in our body and is developing... yet, we have not yet discovered the process of the body in its safest place, which is within the body of the mother."

"Yoga is the science of humans. For the human brain, for human thoughts, there is a lot, a lot written in the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras, and by different other yogīs."

The lecturer delivers a satsang, explaining the universe's reflection within the human body through the chakras and nāḍīs. He discusses the journey of the soul, the importance of a single spiritual master, and the practical science of yoga for purifying the mind and body. The talk covers the iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā channels, the significance of the haṁsa (swan), and the need for consistent, systematic practice over seeking quick experiences.

Filming location: Melbourne, Australia

Hari Om! Blessings to all of you on the glory of our great masters. Today is a beautiful day within ourselves, and it is a most fortunate day, for we are receiving knowledge about the entire universe—knowledge that is within ourselves. What exists in the entire universe is within the human being: body, mind, consciousness, and more. For us, it is simply a matter of knowing and then realizing what we should utilize and what we should not. Everything is in our body and is developing, just as yesterday we came into our mother's body. Yet, we have not yet discovered the process of the body in its safest place, which is within the body of the mother. As we always say, there are 8.4 million different kinds of creatures, divided into three categories: Jalchar (water-dwelling), Thalchar (land-dwelling), and Nabhachar (sky-dwelling). There is life in water; there are many different kinds of life in water, and water itself is a life too. We do not know all that is there, but they are more numerous in water than on earth. Life is the light. Life is that part of God. To know life means to know the whole universe in the water. After that, on the earth, consider the life on the earth, within and above. How many different creatures are there? And Nābhāchārya—all flying creatures. Some are born on the earth and die on the earth—sorry, in this space. Some have only a few hours of life, and some have a long life. There are some creatures which can manipulate very much. So these are the lives, but all in all, it is one. The soul is the soul, and life is life. There are 8.4 million different creatures coming to this earth, meaning to our planet. It is hard for that life to come to this planet, but it is a development here. We cannot develop somewhere in space; we have to come to the physical form, to physical life. Yesterday we were listening and speaking about how one creates, comes from the śūnyākāś, from Śiva. We spoke on that, and now we are going to come a little further. This is just to give you the knowledge. These are the cakras, this is there, but still we do not know. It is like a car: there is petrol, four wheels, a steering wheel, etc. But to see the whole structure of the car, there are so many different techniques, and one has to learn. That can only be done by engineers. There are different kinds of engineers, and also in our body, and in other creatures, we have our own engineer. Many people know about certain problems, our good things. Let us come to our awareness, our consciousness, our intellect. But someone has depression. Someone has such mental problems. Now, this is a subject of kuṇḍalinī yoga. What I am talking about is that nowadays, when something happens a little bit, we go to doctors. Doctors have their knowledge, everything, but still it is limited. And what do we get? We get some medicine, some kind of medicines that make you just lie down and sleep. You think sleep and sleep, and then you will be okay—but you will not be okay because it is from outside; it is chemicals. But still, the doctor is your engineer, probably. From the outside, we are all—let us say, your mother, your father, your brother, sisters, your friends, your husband, wife, or your children—we will try to support and help you, but we cannot enter your brain. We cannot enter within that one, and this is a very safe, very safe thing that God has given: this brain. But we, from the outer world—meaning we as a second person—will talk in a different way. Maybe we are angry, we are fighting, different from outside. And that will affect you through a kind of fear. And from that fear, something is touching in our brain, and we do not know what happens. It is in different parts of the body. In different parts of the body, there are some kinds of effects on your brain. So, what to do? And that is yoga, the science of yoga. Yoga is the science of humans. For the human brain, for human thoughts, there is a lot, a lot written in the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras, and by different other yogīs, by the great self-realized sages who can really enter into their body and work everything, and may give you further guidance. And you can also get what you want by yourself. We are only giving you instructions, that is all. But whether you accept it or not depends on your brain or your outside feelings, emotions, thoughts. Still, we have to come to clear everything within our mechanism. And for that, the path is the kuṇḍalinī. Now, people think that kuṇḍalinī is something rising up through the spinal column. You feel something sucking the body: "Oh, my kuṇḍalinī is going on." This is the turning of the direction. But people want, they are looking for that: "Oh, kuṇḍalinī is going up, oh, it's burning." Is this all a mental problem? It is a mental problem. The kuṇḍal, kuṇḍalinī—kuṇḍal is like a circle, like a ring. Sometimes we see when the sky is clear and the moon is full, we see a circle around the moon, yes? Did you see sometimes? And these are two kinds of circles: one is complete and one is half, and then it is like a door. So when the indication from that moon side, when there is only one circle, then it means rain. No, sorry, wind or some kind of cyclone. One is like a big circle, let us say 80 percent, and then it is open. It means there will be a lot of rain. So there are different indications in nature, in the sky or in space; even the animals know exactly. But there is one animal that does not know, and that is you. And that chakra—there are the chakras, what you will see on the screen—but these chakras are your life, and you are traveling through them. The whole universe is moving at a very high speed. You are going to different parts of the universe, but when we come to this Earth, then we are resting. We are coming, and we get our awareness. We become conscious about this, and we think: "Now what should we do? Who are we? Before, we were not, but now I would like to know who am I." In this part, "Who am I now?" is a very big question. If someone touches your shoulder and asks, "What is that?"—this is my shoulder, my elbow, the wrist, the fingers, etc., the whole parts of the body. So it is my hands, my fingers, etc. Now, who is speaking? It is your voice, but how do you know? So, what you are thinking is: "I am, I am speaking. This voice is my voice, but myself is different." So, as yesterday, you knew about the five elements, and these five elements are not only this. From these tattvas, there are many, many different ones. On this path, animals also have them, but humans have more than that, something. And we are talking about this. So you come to someone's door and knock on the door, and there you said, "Who is there?" "I am." Okay, you open the door, you touch. "Who are you?" "I am." "Where are you?" "Here." But this is your head, so every part of our body—physical, mental—these parts of the bodies. And these are the chakras, one after the other, the layers around and above our self. But still, I am not myself. Still, I am not. And when that is there, then you are not here. And when you are here, it is not there. That we have to get: self-realization, or what we call becoming one with God, one with the Supreme. Otherwise, doing some exercises, changing one master to another master, changing one exercise to another exercise, it is just playing. You are not there. As I spoke yesterday, many of you were not there. You were here, many here who were not here. Okay, that is the problem of the master: what to talk now? What I am telling, and you were not there. If I repeat again, they will say, "Well, Swāmījī is speaking the same thing." That is why we have to go systematically. The Yoga in Daily Life is the system, and if you go through these techniques of the yogic postures, etc., etc., step by step, you will come there. The exercise is the same, āsana is the same, prāṇāyāma is the same, but when and how to do this? Is this so? You are going from the nursery school to the universities, and after further, but you cannot say after the child is only five years old that university is finished. It is slowly, slowly building. And the problem is, in Western countries and in India, yoga is completely lost as a yoga. As a yoga, I tell you now, the Western people must bring yoga to India. Yes, it is not a joke. The yoga is from India. There are few masters and these disciples, some... But they do not. Do they want to do something like aerobics, this and that? That is not yoga. The people in Australia, as far as I know—I have been for the experiences with Australia for 50 years and further—there were also many more masters. And like this, but ten people do perfectly, step by step, by one master. Ten percent; ninety percent, they are like birds from one tree to another tree. The Australians are aware about health, but they are not aware about their spiritual yogic development. In India, one percent. So therefore, the person like our Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Jasrajjī is coming to India and teaching, and like this, you know that. But sometimes he is very angry because they do not follow in India, so he said, "Ah, finished," and this is like the people. People think, "I will achieve everything immediately." Nothing will be gotten. The development of spirituality towards the Supreme, God, or whatever you call it, to yourself, etc., is within you. You have to do it, not others. But if you change, then it is not. You go 10 kilometers in one direction, then you say, "No, no..." and go the other direction. You go 20 kilometers that way, 40 kilometers this way, two kilometers this way; you will not achieve, you will not come to your destination. And this is, sorry to say, but this is Australian: they change, they change. Okay, it is good for your exercise and for your body. Okay, that is right. They are doing everybody sometime this and sometime this and sometime this, but are you that yogic? Then open your chakras. What are the chakras? This is within our consciousness, and this is what we are in the whole universe. Everyone has the space to develop. It is said that each and every branch of the trees finds a way to develop. There are many, many bushes of the trees, but every plant is growing and finds this space. Similarly, we humans can find the way to develop, but if you go this side and that side and that side, then we will come and chip off the branches away. So yoga, the kuṇḍalinī, is the science of our self-being. Who am I? And when we said, "Who am I?" then what is it about? Rest, so "I" is the you, and "I" and "me" are "I." We are both the same one; we are one. We are divided. Our blood color is the same, whether it is a human's blood, an animal's blood, or some other creature's. It is the same. So, these five elements are the same. But inside, which chakras are functioning for us? We should develop and go to a master. You have one mother. You have one mother. You can accept every woman as your mother, but the one who gave you birth, that is your mother. But you can respect everyone as a mother, but the mother is yours, only one. The father is only one father, but you can respect everyone as like an uncle or father; these many things. But that your father is your father. Now you can go to every master, but do not change your master, and you cannot change your master. You mentally may think and change, but you cannot change. Yes, there is one chance to change: die, die and get next life, other father—that is okay. And so this is one problem again in the whole world, in India and in Western countries: changing the masters. And those masters are also the same like disciples. They say, "No, you come to me, I will teach you," and "This will be best, and come to me," okay? But that is not correct, neither masters nor disciples. But the master will say, "Come, I will give you a path. I will help you." That is right, correct. This is now: you come on the path, so you are connected to that energy of the spiritual masters. Once in life, one does not understand. One has to understand what is the master, what is the guru. Just, you know, what is the father and what is the mother, you understand nowadays? This system is taking children away. After a few years, or 10, 30 years, or 25 years, you are gone, and you do not want to care about your mother, where she is, or your parents. "I have my life, I'm okay." It is not okay. You should have your root. You should have your root, and so this is what yoga is bringing us. And there are the chakras. The first is in the universe begins. And they are developing one beautiful, beautiful energy as a soul coming to this earth. Great, great. Many others are in other lives, in other ways, another karmic things. We talk about karma, and now we, as humans, we came, and there are some mistakes from the parents, from the nourishment, from many things. We are getting problems in our brain. But it is said in the coal mines you can get the diamond. And so, it does not matter which country, where, in which kind of situation you are born, as that brilliant diamond. And this diamond is there, just there was some dust on it, and you have to clean the dust. Your master and you are that one, and this diamond is just nothing. The light of the diamond is not that one, like your soul, so you are that brilliant diamond in the whole universe. How did they develop the sun? There are stars, there are moons, etc. But how was the sun there? And I like that. That is the great masters. You can be a master. Just throw away your blanket, the black blanket, and take that very nice white blanket. Suddenly, everything falls down from you, the dust, and you are very fresh, coming out like you are sweating and you were working and this and everything. You came near the beach, and you jumped in the water, and you come out. How do you feel? You got all the burden away. And so it is in the cakra, which is getting to purification and making all mechanism correct way towards the Supreme. And there, the chakra—every chakra for us is there—is an 8.4 million creatures. Everyone has there some kind of chakras, energies, etc. But we, out of these 8.4 million different creatures, one is a human. And now, this human gets the techniques. Techniques means the instructions, giving you the lessons. And who is doing? The mother. First is the mother and the father. As long as your child is in your lap, is in your hands, you can give all knowledge. When your child is gone out of your lap and goes to what you call nursery school, after a few days, your child comes back different. Because now the instruction is coming from outside. But when you drink the milk of your mother, and that milk is in your body for your whole life, and your mother, with her love for your child and father, if you follow this path, you will be great, and you will be very happy, and you will not have any problems. Well, there are some problems. Mother is also a little bit not in order, then children are suffering. This is what we have now in our modern world. We do not know where the child is going. Now, this chakra in our body, so we have to—it is your master. You are an engineer, or you are a master. Whatever you can, you can repair all your problems. We can go to physical problems to the doctor, something on these five elements, but what you say, myself, my problems, this, this is only we can do something, and that is a meditation. What do you do in meditation? There are different kinds of meditation: active meditation, passive meditation. Also, what you do, working is a meditation on concentration and doing good things. This is a development. For ourselves, or you meditate, then do not go out. We are giving instruction; every yoga teacher is giving instructions. I am also giving the same instructions, but after a certain time, you go within thyself: "Who am I? What are my problems? What is my duty? Why am I here? How am I?" Just come to one point of your mantra. The mantra is like that: you are like a swan, and this swan is flying with those wings, and these wings of your inner confidence, or your master, are with you. But you see how the wings are expanding and flying. I was flying now twelve and a half hours from New Delhi to here. I always admire my swan, that aeroplane. Yes? So when the aeroplane comes on the runway, then I said, "Now take off, swan." And he is just going like this. He does not make like this. Sometimes, making like this, then we say, "Oh God, oh God, no," so there is no movement. But if you are a crow, which goes up and down and finishes, it will not go very far. So your ātmā, your thoughts, your knowledge, your feelings, everything is so smooth, everywhere. So it is said, one man came and said, "My student is very great." "Who is that?" "It is a crow." "Oh, and how? Look, my crow can have so many techniques, flying this and flying like that, and this and that, and then again comes back." The other master said, "Okay, look, my disciple, your disciple cannot fly far." And so it is the haṁsa. You know what is haṁsa? Haṁsa means swan. And you know, in Mount Kailāsa, there is one beautiful lake, and what is called that lake? Man's Rover. Now, Manasarovar, there is one couple of the haṁsa, rare you can see, but they are amar. Amar means immortal, and there, this is a couple, both. Similarly, your soul, your ātmā, is that Manasarovar. Now, what is a sarovar? Sarovar is a lake. What is a man? Our mind. So our mind should be so clear, and then once it takes off, let us go. Sometimes, do it like this; otherwise, you will fly away. So you are yoga teachers and yoga students. Practicing every day, you should not tremble. No, always. If one day, two days, one week, or one month you cannot practice, it does not matter. Mentally, you are there, but again, come to that same path. And so, the creation is giving different energy for different ones, and so we humans have the difference. Now, in this, what we call the five elements, we spoke of 72,000 nerve systems everywhere, from one to this very small. The whole body is like a net. When you take out from some plant, how many roots are there? How many? The roots are more than the branches, and especially those roots which are in the ocean, in the water, when you take out, how many roots are there? Similarly, we are like that in our body, and this gives us that life of developing. Now, let us come to these nerves and nerves. You know, everyone, everybody, and I know only that much, as much as you know also. I have only that many as you have. In case of some operation, if some nerve is cut off, that is different. But we have that eight-point or 72,000 nerve systems. The two are there, or three are there, from more powerful, holding our entire function in the brain, and this is iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā. Now, names are always different. You can say only three nerves, or we can—Indians are more colorful, you know? You know the colorful peacock, yeah? And it is said the peacock egg, the egg of the peacock, we do not need to push inside color. What egg came out of the mother of the peacock? When it will open, it will be colorful. It will be colorful. We need not to put. Similarly, if you are born as a spiritual soul, you are born as a spirit yogī, if you are that person, you will be like the peacock with the beautiful colors, the feathers, etc. And if it is another kind of course, the crow is also beautiful, there is nothing to say, but it is only black. So we all have that color of the swan. And this we are getting now, these nerves, iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā, they are balancing and taking care of our, also the chakras. Then there is one another nerve that is more powerful than these other two, three, and that is called the vajranāḍī. Now, vajranāḍī. Now, do you know what is vajrāsana? You do not know? Okay. If you know, and so, please come to the vajranāḍī. Vajrāsana. Those who have operation of the knees or ankle joints, do not do it. Rest. Sit in vajrāsana. Now, you just remain there. If you will concentrate on this āsana, you will not sit more than two minutes, or one minute, or half a minute, or five minutes. Forget it. Just sit in these postures and look to me, listen to me, okay? So Vajranāḍī, and this Vajranāḍī, that is the roots, the trunk of the mighty tree. And in that way, you are the Iḍā Vajrā Nāḍī. Now, these chakras, what we call, now we came to the nāḍīs. And in these nāḍīs, we are counting from up to down. On the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, it is said that the roots of the plant, the trees, go down and the branches go up. But in humans, the roots go up and the branches go down. So our root is here; all is here. And you can hold it. Our legs are there. But Vajra Nāḍī is there, which is balancing and strengthening this very good together. The three nāḍīs, Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā, they begin with that beautiful chakra in the whole brain, which is called Sahasrāra Cakra, the thousand-petaled chakra. A thousand petals, and that is like a sun. The sun's rays, how many thousands of the sun ray, or you can see in Himālaya when you go, there is one rock, a big rock, glaciers, and that is called Śāstra Dhārā, thousand waterfalls. It is not beautiful. Everywhere here, here, you can see beauty. That is called śāstra dhāra. Śāstra means thousand. The thousand waterfalls. So you can say you are like a yogī. Thousands of hairs, maybe my hair is millions of yours. Not a million, maybe it was a million. Now, getting this, but we have this, so this all is good from our brain. So, from these three nāḍīs—iḍā, piṅgalā, suṣumṇā—and they control this, and from the left hemisphere it is coming and going to the right side and other one coming from the right hemisphere going to the left, and this is crossing because so strong energy coming and crossing, and that from the left side going to the right side and right toward left side, and that is connecting. Our very powerful, powerful gland, and that is very much energy, and those hormones are very strong, and that is called something with a "th," yeah, "th," right, "th," okay. And, of course, if you have now discomfort, you can change your Vajrāsana; if not, then remain in Vajrāsana. Okay, so this thyroid gland, and for the thyroid gland, this is one, the first chakra. There is one chakra called the Agnya chakra, but that is a swan, two wings, just like that. What is turning is beginning from this, and this is the thyroid gland. And for this thyroid gland chakra to balance, we have to do some different prāṇāyāms. Prāṇāyāma is very important. We have one yogī in India, and for him, whatever he speaks, after 10 minutes—he will, maximum, 10 minutes, otherwise 5 minutes—and again he will talk about the kapālbhāti prāṇāyām. Who is that? The Ramya, yeah. You have any problems? He said kapālbhāti. And really it helps. This is for our thoracic gland. Both the thoracic gland, kapālbhāti, and the vastrika are two. Do you know the kapālbhāti prāṇāyām? Hands up, who do not know? What is the kapālbhāti? Hands up, who knows? I mean, who do not know? One, two, three, four. Very good, these three know, others do not know, because the others are somewhere making hands like this and then again back, not sure. And the kapāl... is, in our language, so of course you do not know, it is the forehead. And mostly headache, what they call migraine, or mostly the women have problems. And it is going from thyroid and headache. Sometimes like this, sometimes like that, or sometimes the whole head. And there is one mantra you can do yourself; when you have a headache, in five or three minutes it is gone. That is a very good mantra you can do yourself. Do you want to learn that? Yes, really. Then you give the water to the master to drink. Then I can tell you, okay? Thank you. Okay, thank you. We are going from up to down to the chakras, just names and this only. So, sahasrāra chakra is a thousand petals, and when the yogī dies—we do not die, but we go out of the body, okay? So we do not want to be confusing. Okay, so there are ten doors in this body, and that ten elements and the indriyas. So the first, if you are a yogī, and yogī means not only that—my God, hanging in the Himalayas somewhere or standing—you are a yogī. Also, a good husband is the best yogī, and a good wife is a realized wife. Both have to be one. So, if you are doing good work, you are doing good things, you are a humble person, you are not doing negative things, etc., etc., you are also a yogī. It must not be to run away. That is not good that you run away. You should be here, work for that. So when, if we say that, "I am holy," or "I am good," or "I am this," okay, you know, and we are saying also, "No," but who knows? Tomorrow, you will not be that one. But in the end, when life goes out, that energy, the soul—the soul is not like a stone, okay? Do not think it is a stone. It comes out. It is no, we cannot see anything. How? When we die, the soul goes with a speed like a star falling. At that speed, we cannot see. It does not matter where, even if we are closed in a glass case, there is nothing, no air, nothing, but the soul will go very easily out and quickly, because now there is no oxygen, so from here goes the salt. It means it goes to the liberation. Other, there are different ways: the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, the mouth, and the urinary and the, what you call them, penis. Now, those who have very bad karma and many things, it goes code or urine, and it all goes through this path. Others, someone through mouth—suddenly, the mouth opens, or the nostrils are expanded, or some blood comes from the ears also, or the eyes are far open like that. Some have closed eyes. So this is an indication of how the soul went. But we cannot bring back and give the right above path. So, the thyroid gland, which is called Viśuddhi Cakra. This is a very good Ājñā Cakra, Viśuddhi Cakra, etc. Okay, next will come. Then comes the nerves. We are still of the nerve systems. So, from the left it goes to the right, and from the right it goes to the left. And now again, turning, because such strong energy is coming together again. And so it comes to the heart, that is called anāhat in our heart, and there is a very strong feeling, very strong, and there is a fear also, happiness, etc., but a lot of fear here. And that fear is from, "Why are you opening the light?" Say, "Yo, my... God, I want to, you want something, you want a light air, make it so." Alright, this is called Anāhata Cakra, going this way, then coming to the navel, Nābhi, turning like this, like that, like this, and that is why it is called serpentine, like a snake is moving, and they said, "Oh, the snake from the spinal column coming up." There is no snake, do not worry, okay? It is only that energy. Energy is moving with these two nāḍīs, Iḍā and Piṅgalā, and that is called serpentine. The Suṣumnā nāḍī is balancing this all, and so it is going in the middle. But as soon as it comes to the Mūlādhāra cakra, it takes over. It is called the Vajra nāḍī. Vajra is strong like iron, and that God Indra, he has in his hand, and that is called Vajrapāṇī, a very strong instrument he has. It is like an iron. So if our Vajra Nāḍī is balanced, then we will never have what we call the hemorrhage, blood hemorrhage. Never. Now, Vajranāḍī, according to this, our nerve systems, we will see, is beginning from the both, beginning between the big toe and second toe, here, and this, this is it, the big toe and second toe, this is the fingers, okay, do not think Swāmījī said it is the toes. And there, now you were knowing, you have seen maybe or not, that yogīs, they were having the wooden sandals. And for holding the sandals with these two toes, the big toe and the second toe, or for controlling the Vajranāḍī. Then, your chakras will automatically function in a good way. So it is not that you do your chakras now, and you will do these techniques long and on long. No, everything is going once, the great. And Kundalini is a Shakti, is a consciousness, and is going with us through and through. Do not worry, it will go on the right way. Think positive, think good, be sure, do not be afraid. No fear, be happy. Just, it will go automatically. But your mantra, you should not give up. If you think, "Now I am meditating, I do not need mantras, but I just be one with me," yes, you are one with you, but you are not one with him. Who is the he? It is within you also, so we have to... It is that mantra. The mantra is an energy, and that is a master's and disciple's relation, leading till the destination of what we call mokṣa or liberation, realizations, etc., etc.

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:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel