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Life is one

A spiritual discourse on the nature of life, the soul, and non-dual consciousness.

"Life is ever life. Death is ever death. So we are life, and we will always be life. But that is what we call life. So our body is just like we change the dress."

"Within you is the ocean of immortality."

A spiritual teacher addresses a gathering, using the day's rain as a starting point to explore profound themes of eternal life and the self. He explains the illusory nature of death, the layered nature of existence through the five kośas (sheaths), and the journey of the soul using analogies of water cycles and onions. He discusses the concepts of jīva, ātmā, and paramātmā, the principle of yoga as union, and concludes with a parable about resolving negativity to ultimately merge into the ocean of immortality.

Filming location: Alexandria, USA

Om, śānti, śānti, śānti. Once more, welcome, all sisters and brothers. It is a nice day today, raining. When it rains, it means they are all free. The whole vegetation needs water. When there is no water, no rain, they have a little bit, and then again comes the rain. How beautiful. And in the night, it is also going to sleep. So, the creation is very beautiful and very nice. We have our subject given this year, around the whole world. I am travelling, and we speak about this Kuṇḍalinī and Cakra, the science of body, mind, and soul. This begins our chakra from this all, from this side, all the chakras. This is just only one percent of all chakras, one percent. But this all, one percent chakras means, for example, this one is completely so much of energies, the soul, many, many things collecting together on one center. So this is a very, very interesting subject. We have one book, Hidden Powers in Humans, written about the many things I bring in this book. We would like to see first the creation. It is like that life. Life is ever life. Death is ever death. So we are life, and we will always be life. But that is what we call life. So our body is just like we change the dress. Morning, you take fresh, good dress, and you are working very hard and sweating, and this and that. Evening, we come at home, and first what we do, we take our shoes out, the socks out, we go to the bathroom, we change the dress, we take the bath. And what we call sometimes, oh, it's like a newborn boy, like a baby boy. So there is this body, which is also life, that doesn't die. This is it. Therefore, in these chakras, how will we come to understand? So let's come in for a glimpse of life. It is said that anant, anant means endless. Endless is endless. We will never, ever come to that border. And that border, if you are self-realized, for example, or you have that knowledge, then we will become one with that, but we will not get the border. Now, the one example, you have a beautiful ring, a nice ring, it doesn't matter if it's from gold or from iron or from other metal. And you get a ring in your, in our hand. Now, do we know the beginning of this ring? The ring became the ring, and that ring is called Ānanda, endless. And so it is like, because, oh, that beautiful ocean we go to, or somewhere in the forest, and we see the beautiful origin where there is a, what we call, the rainbow, and so. We want to run there to see the case there, but as close we go, that far, the horizon is going further. So we can't reach that horizon. It's going and going and going. Even if we go into the sky, we will see many, many stars, etc. Even the sun. This sun will be behind us. This will become one day like a star. And we are somewhere else. This is the you and me and all. Because we are one. We are not two. And this is giving us the knowledge by the chakras. So we never die. So be happy. Okay? Don't be afraid. If she says there is cancer or this or that, that is nothing. You clean it off, Hari Om. Now this body is a pollution. It is pollution. And from what kind of pollution are we calling this "me, I am"? The five elements: the space, the light. So, annamaya kośa, the body of nourishment; prāṇamaya kośa, the energy; manomaya kośa, the mental body; vijñānamaya kośa, the intellect; and ānandamaya kośa, enjoying the living life to the end, to anywhere. But neither is this body I am, neither is my energy I am, neither is my mind this. All is one after another layer. Now, for example, we bring one onion, and it is an onion, onion, onion. Everywhere is onion. And now, what we peel it out, one part, what is this? Oh, this is a part of the onion. Again, the onion, the onion,... the onion. At the end, there is no more onion. Where is that onion? These are just the layer after another layer. Similarly, you are the Ātmā. You are the Ātmā, and I am the Ātmā. Now, this is three parts in this. One is called the soul. In the English language, they use "the soul." But the soul means also this is just one layer. Therefore, we cannot say the soul. It is salmon, you put it out, but still. So it's called jīva. And jīva, this is a Sanskrit word, but many of us, we know jīva means life. Jīvā means life. And life, jīvā is jīvā, all. And involved are five elements inside. Then it is called the Ātmā. Ātmā is more than the jīva. There is that light consciousness in that. So it's called Ātmā; anātmā is jīvātmā. Ātmā, anātmā is not the ātmā, but is connected with the jīvātmā, your soul. That's why in the soul we have that ātmā, and that is called paramātmā. So Paramatmā is the highest, the supreme. But the Supreme cannot say, "Only I am." No. Also, part of that is called Ātmā. And this Ātmā cannot say, "I am the best one." No, no, no. There is Jīvātmā. Understand me? The soul and the prāṇa, outside of the soul, and out of that is the entire universe. This is the definition of your soul, my soul, and our soul, Jī. Today, we have to make it clear. Now, you, your name is and your name, but this is only a name. There is nothing. So suddenly, a monkey comes, a snake comes. All creatures are that inside, but the life is one. It is living or dead. So it does not die, and the body will not die. But what happens? All these elements, earth into the earth, water merges into the water, fire merges into the fire, air merges into the air, and space into the space, did not die. And so our soul, that is yours or mine and this, we are all one. But then why are we separate? That is also explained. Now I told you that it was raining. It was raining. How many drops were there? Yes? A lot of drops. Yes. You can ask the question. Nicely, rain is falling. And a question: from here to there, if you walk, will you get more water? Or if you quickly run until there, will you get more water? This is also a question. If you run quickly, you are collecting more. And if you go slowly, you collect them all the same. Or you will find something about how you will do it. So similarly, this life is everywhere. We get from the beginning, let's say, the ocean. The ocean is that ocean, it is that water. Now this ocean, we look from up or far or side, is coming as steam. We say, oh, this is steam from the ocean. And this steam we are calling, very soon we will say, "Oh, the fog." The ocean becomes the steam, and the steam becomes the fog. And how the fog, even the steam, has one drop. Even the fog also has the drops. Many, many drops and drops and drops, and everything is round. Everything is round. Water is round. All matter, everything is round. Sun is round. Moon is round. Everything is round. Our earth is round. We are running. Our earth is rolling. Everything, your blood, your cells, everything is round. So, this one is okay. You can put it off here for a while, if your machine is becoming hot. Okay, good. So, now fog. Steam, the ocean, the steam, the fog, cloud. And the cloud is also so fine. Our airplane is flying through. So, the cloud is just like a gas. But also, still, there are also very fine drops, and so the one ocean, and how many drops? A lot. And similarly, one became multiplied, and that multiply will be coming into the one same. So what will happen now? It will begin to rain. Comes the again drops, big drops, and more drops come. Back on the ground and collecting together, and water is flowing, and this collecting becomes one little creek, and then it joins into the river. The river now, the river has the curves, but not the water. Water doesn't have a curve; the curve... Have the river, and again, which suddenly, the destiny we are talking, sometimes nice water is flowing together. We all, water is so happy that we are now again merged into the one. But again, what happens? Comes one, the island, island. Comes, and this both separate this time and this time, but the destiny one day someone separated from you, you can say in this way: your husband left you, and you, but sooner or later you will again come to him, don't worry, if not this. Life, next life, but definitely, yeah, because there will be rock stopping and pulling you that side, and the wife will get said, "Darling, continue, come on, we go together." So again, we come together, we merge into the oneness. Similarly, eternal only the one, and that's called Swayambhū, only one. So in the Vedas it is written, "eko'haṁ bahusyām"—I am one, and now I will multiply. "Who?" said the Swayambhū, but who is there? Where is he? So there is only the consciousness, the conscious, and the space. Now, again, talk—sorry—is the conscious in the space, or the space in the conscious? So, until you will not understand this, you have no, what we call, self-realization. So you have to realize the space and the consciousness, what is different, and you are not seeing both. So there is an energy between these two, the space and consciousness. Now between them, we can't see both. We can't see both. We can't see that, but it is there in oneness, and it is not oneness. So far we are. In one way it is, but in one way not. It is like we have a glass of water, and we put one drop of red color in it, and what if we have remaining color. But it is neither this color nor that water. We go the same way. So, but in this glass, and these two matters, this is water and color. So, what is mixing them together? How is it brought into harmony? And so there are three principles. The harmony, the balance, and creation. Creation, so balance, harmony, and the. Qualities getting to the further, so these are the three principles, and that we don't you do, and that definition of this between two, that's called yoga: harmony, balance, and unity. Unity is that protector of creation. So, harmony, balance, and unity. These three, these three become the yoga. What? Yoga. What means yoga? The definition of this word "yoga." Yoga means union. Yoga means union. There are only two. Yoga. And so there is between this, so that means that yoga is eternal. It is, it was, and it will be. All the organs in the body, all the cells in the body, all hormones in the body, all, everything in the body, that is yoga. What we otherwise call yoga is stretching, one leg this side, another leg that side, and one hand there, another hand here, and we are moving. We are trying something, but this again, this movement brings us again into oneness. How the balance? How activating we are. So this is yoga. That is activating the energy. When we move like this, it is hot, and when it's gone, it is nothing. So the yoga, yoga. Is that, and that yoga is called Śiva? Śiva is a yogī. Śiva is the yogī. That's called, and Śiva gave that to Kṛṣṇa, that Yogeśvara, that we gave to Viṣṇu, Yogeśvara. But it is that, so yoga, everything is in this little. Drop this all, this so many things. Is here is your one drop? So you are all, you and me, we are all one. So that for our Gurujī, holy Gurujī, my masters, our masters, he said, "What? One in and all in." So in that way, now this water drop again. I'm coming, one drop of the rainfall in the Sahara, in the hot sand, other on the rock, ocean directly, and then, but destination, our destination to achieve that point, we have to go quickly, quickly... Get into the train. So, similarly, we are getting in this way. We come one age to the God. What caused that God? So, there is no God. There is no God. The God has no form, and when the God has a form. Then is a creature so, but we realize that knowledge, that energy within ourselves, that we are individual, and in individual we got that kind of energy body: Annamaya Kośa, the body of the nourishment; Prāṇamaya Kośa, the body of the energy; Manomaya Kośa, the body of the... Mind, mental mind, the jñānamaya kośa, our intellect or knowledge, and ānandamaya kośa, our living, existing here on this earth. So this one drop from the Sahara, sooner or later it will travel again, and one day will merge into the ocean. The sand would drop on the sand. It will again become very soon a fog, and that will go further again, and it will not remain there. So our whole earth, our planet is full of life, the waters also. So now these are the three lives. One is called Jalchar, the creatures in the water. Thalchar, the creatures on the earth. Inside, outside, above the earth. And the third one is in the air, flying. So Jalchar, Thalchar, and Nabchar. Nab means the space. So there are many, many lives in the space. They are flying. We can't see. Our eyes cannot see. But how and who? You see, how many creatures, birds, they are flying, how many they are catching, very tiny living beings there. And so, there are three layers. And so we, our layers, three layers, in short we call, there are three bodies. And which one? The physical, mental, and subtle body. So, in this physical, mental, and subtle body, similarly, we are coming to these chakras of the bodies, and each—what is that inside? So if one wants to become a yogī and get that yogic achievement, or oneness, or whatever you call it, then we can do that. We come to oneness. We are oneness. But you have a soul, you have ātmā. Yes. But this, your ātmā, is caught in your body, and my ātmā is caught in my body. And when this body is completely gone, we will be again one. But it's not easy. This body will be gone, but the other body will be inside. So with our subtle body, we are traveling, we are traveling, we are traveling. And when the soul goes from the physical body, then it goes with such a high speed, it goes like a star falling. It is just we look, oh look, it is gone. So similarly, you, our soul, your soul, your ātmā, whatever you call it, is in high speed and ignorance. Ignorance remains here. Which ignorance? We all. Now we are sad. We cry. Oh, God. Then we take them, we bring them to the funerals. Then we make a ceremony. We go to the grave, and we put the flowers there. And once a year, if not at all, you come to the funeral and you are crying, "Oh, for mummy, my mother." And mother is not there. It's gone. So, what are you worshipping? It is gone. But the memory is there. The memory is with you. And therefore, it expands you, beside you. You, but now when he's died, he's within you, and that is in your heart, feelings, and memory there, so that is oneness with you. It's that one is not gone somewhere; it is with you. You become the one with, like, so it is very interestingly. Subject now, it means that we are all now, not only humans, not only humans, but all other creatures. Now, there is a nice, very clean waterfall from the rocks. There was no dirt or anything, and it was good, canalization water. So the canalization water is what we call the lower reptiles, or humans are far, but water. And now the water is even in the flowers. Otherwise, the flower cannot exist. Everywhere, there is water. And so, canalized water is also water. We said canalization water, the river water, hot water, cold water, dirty water. But finally we come to the water. And so we call your name, doctor so-and-so, professor so-and-so, that and that so-and-so, but in reality we are only one. That's why we don't write "God Rāma," we don't say "God Rāma," we don't say "the profession God Rāma," and then come. The Krishna, so the cowboy Krishna, and then comes Jesus, so you said the surgeon or Dr. Jesus, and the farmer, the Buddha. So we don't have that title; we don't have Dr. Dr. Nowadays, in that only, Krishna, Rāma, Buddha, Jesus, yes or no? And similarly, water, water... But that we are giving the qualities: red color, water canal, Jason got water, juice, water—these that everything. But then they don't have; they are only one: Rama, Jesus. Then only Jesus, that's all we give them besides this. Similarly, our ātmā, our soul, is that one. And now, this all, according to our methodologies, and this we call, there are 8.4 million creatures on our earth, in the water, on the earth, and in the space. We said, we don't say planet, we are on Mother Earth, living Earth. So we are living here, even our mud is alive. And so this completeness is that beautiful God in our body. Thanks to God that we don't open our body. Doctors know that they open. In the beginning, doctors were awesome. Yes, you get the injection and you are sleeping, and they open the stomach and some dirt comes out. So this is within us. Don't think that the canalization is there, and so there are two kinds of impurity, impurity as a solid, liquid, or mental. There's also the impurities of thinking, good thinking, bad thinking. So if you have that dirt in your thinking also. You will spread this, what we call, that's called a virus. And there are two kinds of viruses. There are the, what we call, the bacteria or mental bacteria. The other bacteria, we can clean it or control it. But your brain, what are you talking? Then so nonsense, yeah. So that you are spreading yourself. How many ages will you suffer to clean your brain? So it means that ocean, this water will not come there again. How long? And long, ocean has no problem. He will say, "Okay, when it..." Come, it will come. Are you so? That's why we have only one chance to become very pure, and then we have to clean our brain. And when you do not clean, you will not go further. You think you have, but you have something. So there was a... One story, I tell you one story, yeah. So there was a master, the master, let's say him, Bharat. And Bharat had disciples, and it was a little city or village, and all respected him very much, and all the times, ten, twenty disciples with... He was walking, going with him, and so, there was one merchant. He even had a shop, remember, in my bazaar. No, some for shoes, some for cloth, some for iron things, some for telephones, etc., etc., different shops. So there was one Muslim, he also had a nice shop. But you know, always the religions are different; this is the only problem. But God said, "We are religion," you know what that means? Religion is release into oneness, not duality, oneness. Anyhow, that master, he had a long, nice beard. I have too little, so that's why I did not show it. It was a long, little beard. And so there was a young man, a Muslim, and when the master was passing, he came to his shop door and he said, "Master," he said, "yes, I have one question." He said, "yes." What is the difference between your beard and a donkey's tail? Humiliated, so the master just smiled and went. And others were like disciples; they wanted to fight. He said, "No, no, don't fight. It's okay, alright, let's go." They went and they went. The Muslim, inside, in his heart, he was so sorry. He thinks, "How stupid I am, that I am humiliated. Such a great person, anyhow." Master went, they went. Master became old after 40 years. And then, so in that age, he was about 90 or 100 years old, or something like this. Now he's old, and he knows he is going to die. So he told one of his disciples, "I said, can you go and call that man, that Muslim who asked this question?" Someone said, who was it? When was it? Forgotten in 50 years is a lot. But Master didn't forget. Master said, you know, I cannot die. I don't want to die. I have some debts that I have to answer to someone for. Otherwise, when I die, next life I have to come again to answer that question to the person. I will not go further, they said. But master, he was so nasty, man, and this he said, "That's not your subject. Call him." That's all. Well, they went and I asked this person who was in, and he said, "Swamiji, the master is calling." And the Muslim, he was so sorry. He said, "With which leg should I walk and come to the master?" "I made such a stupid thing," he said. He said that we don't know, but the master wants to see, because the master came here. Before the master could tell, he said, "I'm sorry, master, I'm sorry, I was so stupid." Master said, "No, no,... no." It's good. You had a question, he put a question. And now it's my duty to answer. That's all, so there's nothing wrong. You put a question. And these 50 years, that question has been in my mind all the time. And I cannot die before answering. Otherwise, in my next lives, it will run here and there and here and there. So, what you are talking? Talk properly. And if you see something wrong, then it is your duty to make it clean and not to make inspection again and again. So, the master came here. The master said, "My son, as I..." I told you yesterday, yes. Because a small child, we call the child our child. On the same is brother, old like a father. So the master said, "My son, you put the question, and now I have to answer you." He said, "I don't need an answer, please." He said, "No, no, you are..." Right, and I have to answer, so I said, "Yes, my son, there is a difference between the beard and the donkey's tail," and he died because he said, "Yes, there is a difference." So, only this question, so like this, that we should, whatever we do, negative or positive, so if it's a negative, clean it. If it is positive, then you give the light of the village, other knowledge. But if you make a name negative, and the negative, you will be the, we call, the dirt under your shoes. And that is how long that you... Will go under the shoes? So, oh man, oh human, your intellect is given by God. God gave you such good intellect. Otherwise, all animals also have a little bit of brain, but they cannot do further; they don't have that far. But they gave the humans a task: to purify all in purity, in cleanness, in the divine, so that you will become the divine. And that is why we call that holy pair saints. And that holy, after we'll go out of the body, then we'll come in the pure, in the ocean of immortality. So within you is the ocean of immortality. So this is at the chakras. Now we have to come a little bit. Oh God, I talk too long. So this is what we have now on the chart, big. It is the lower chakra, Mūlādhāra, then the second here is the Svādhiṣṭhāna, the third is Maṇipūra. And second, Anāhata, the heart, and then the Viśuddhi, the throat, and then on the Ājñā Chakra, the third eye, when, now, because when Śiva, he's only when it is a very, very terrible situation and negative, then he opens his eyes. Otherwise, it's his eyes, like he's straight like a tilak. It's a tilak, and it's like this. But when it's bigger, then he turns into these eyes. And from here, this eye and this pointer are the same. So don't look in someone's eyes, this one. Okay? This is what we have here. So don't put it on someone's eye, otherwise you are blind. And so, this is the energy which is negative; it burns everything away. Then, this is the bindu chakra. There is a nectar, a drop of the nectar, and then, it is, my dear, the cause I become this. But, you are still not out of this circle. But this circle is beyond your approach. As close you come, that far it will go. So you become one, and from here, some anu, it's called anu. Anu means a very fine thing. Jīvas, to bring into the better life, to humans, and to liberate. So this is what I am telling you.

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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