TV Channel

It is called Śruti and Smṛti. Śruti is what we are listening to. Smṛti is our memory. How much can you do with memory alone? Memory is within us. The theory is just like clouds that come and go. There are many people who only want to listen to lectures and read books. That is not enough. In our seminar—in Europe we call it a seminar, and in some other countries they say retreat—we are treated, but we forget. So again, we are remembering. We go to a retreat to learn there again and come to perfection. Our seminar is a very good word; there, we are all together in oneness. The strength of the knowledge, Yoga in Daily Life, is a scientific system which we have. Our subject is on Kuṇḍalinī Yoga: Kuṇḍalinī and Chakras. Chakras and Kuṇḍalinī are together. But only Kuṇḍalinī or chakras is not enough. Let us understand the yoga. There are intellectual ways of thinking, but they are empty. That which is practical, practiced, and then you give further, is substantial. It is said: you know the sugar cane. Beside the sugar cane, there is a bamboo. Both look similar, but that bamboo is empty. The sugar cane is full of sugar inside; it is solid. So we shall come first to practice, and that is with the guru-paramparā. We all who are coming to the seminar or to the retreat have different tastes and different wishes to know or learn something. Let us say there is only one word called yoga. There is only one called yoga. And when there are two, then it is yoga. Yoga means many, and only yoga is one. But generally, we are calling it yoga because we have the yoga. In the last 50 years, our Yoga in Daily Life—we are all here sitting. You were learning, you were teaching, you were learning, you are perfection. But still, you are learning and giving the knowledge to others. In yoga, if we do not practice, then our memory, smṛti, will go. And when you will not give a yoga class, or you will only sit and teach, your memory will go away. So we have to practice together, our student and teacher. We cannot say only this yoga is the best. Therefore, Yoga in Daily Life does not mean only that you should work or teach. It means practicing yoga every day, in daily life. Now, there is one from the Patañjali yoga, which you can also call Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. Ashtanga means eight practices or eight limbs, aṅga. The limbs of our body, the Aṣṭāṅga, eight. While we are practicing, that is also āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, etc. But we have to master this, and when you master it, do not think that now you do not need it and will only teach; then you will lose your knowledge. There are two plants in a pot. You put one plant in, and it grows with great love, water, and everything. It became big. Now you give up this one and give water to the other one. Though it is big, it still needs nourishment and water. Similarly, if we want to become a yogī or a master, then we should practice every day. And what our Gurujī said, our Holy Gurujī, Swami Madhavānandjī Bhagavān, he said: Keep your brain, meaning the memories, cleaned up every day. So mantra, meditation, and dhyāna. Dhyāna means looking, concentrating, etc. With great interest, great love, and great respect, we should go to our master. Let us say you have a car and you drive 400 kilometers. You will have many things, but still your concentration is on the road to that destination. So it is Patañjali who was bringing collections together. Patañjali was at the time before the Mahābhārata, before Kṛṣṇa’s incarnation, so that was about before that also. Vedavyāsa was also about 7,000 years ago. I asked many other ācāryas of the āśramas. So Patañjali was about, if you are not sure, more than 7,000 years ago. But yoga is more than that. So, how many yogas are there? We should look at it. See the chapter in the Bhagavad Gītā, the whole chapter about karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jñāna yoga. Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā has 18 chapters, and this 18 is the yoga chapter: bhakti yoga, jñāna yoga. So now, how many yogas are in the Bhagavad Gītā? You should get a Bhagavad Gītā. I will tell you the best Bhagavad Gītā, best if you want to listen. It has a lot of knowledge and wisdom and is very neutral. One Bhagavad Gītā is called the Jñāneśvarī Bhagavad Gītā. There was a great saint; his name was Jñāneśvara. That book, Jñāneśvarī, was sent. That saint, who after she said another name, he was, you see, the most saintly who become great and very holy, they had a hard life. A hard life with the parents also. Or some died. It is not easy. So Jñāneśvara was his Gītā. They were, I think, two sisters and one brother, if I am not wrong. One of my disciples is studying there, in that ashram. In that ashram, they only speak Sanskrit. It is a beautiful ashram, with about 10, 15, 20 students. The whole village, they are only speaking Sanskrit. Now he is learning, he speaks very well, and he gives lectures in Sanskrit. Anyhow, the brother and sisters had problems. They were very poor. One day he brought what we call the flour for the chapati, from the grains, grain flour. But his sister, little sister, she is about seven years old, eight years old. And the brother is also so. They died, the parents. Our sister said, "Brother, what can I cook? How to cook? We do not have any fire, we do not have any wood, we have nothing." He said, "Okay, prepare the dough." And he opened his shirt, that brother. He was sitting like this, and he said, "Now make your chapati and fry it on my back." And she said, "Okay, brother." So she put the chapati on his skin, on his bare body. No fire, nothing. But he was sitting like this, and the chapati was frying, changing, very tasteful, very nice. His whole body was so hot, and when the chapati was finished, he said, "Okay, was it good?" He said, "Yes." He put the salt, and they were eating. It is not a joke. It was. And still, people are worshipping that great saint. That Jāṭharāgni, the fire, he could produce the heat in his body to fry the chapati. So he was slowly, slowly, about 10 years, 15 years old, a boy. And he became very famous. There was some other sādhu, a mahātma, who heard that Gyāṇadev was so famous and very holy. That other sādhu said, "I am higher than him." He was riding a lion, so he was riding the lion, and he had a snake, a big snake, in his hand to beat the lion to go, and he is sitting on the back of the lion. And he told the lion, "Let us go and we will see who is that holy boy." So that he was this saint boy and his sister, they were playing on the little wall, like a frame behind the house. A little piece remained from the other house building, which was broken. So these brothers and sisters were playing and sitting on the wall. Then someone said, "There is one sādhu who came riding with the lion." She said, "Look, someone is riding with a lion and a snake." So Gyāṇadev said, "Then we must go and welcome him. He is bringing a living creature; he is riding. We have this dead wall. We will ride with this wall," sister said. How? He said, "Do not, sister, sit strong." And she said, "The wall, let us go." And the wall was going towards there. Then that sādhu, that swamījī, said, "You are the great." This is not a joke; it is a story there. All people know it was some century ago. He wrote a commentary from the Bhagavad Gītā, and that is one of the best, very spiritual, on it, so that you should buy. Where can we buy? Answer, my friends, blowing in the wind. But there is one printing house, and it is very cheap. In India, a very rich man, a very rich merchant, but very, very rich. So he said, "When I die, and now, what money I have, what you get from the bank, what you go again? Interest. Only interest. My money should remain there, but only from the interest. And print all the holy books, all: Vedas, this, that, all." The book, which will be in the market, if you buy, let us say, for five hundred euros, and in that printing house, it is only ten euros. So if you want to buy, and it is very, very well written, very good, very true. So this is a very good book, a very good book. Everything, Patañjali. If you want to buy the Patañjali book, oh God, then you will see how good it is. They all want to get everything. They are flying over the airplane to get the things quickly. The Bhagavad Gītā has been written by Vedavyāsa. It is written. From the Bhagavad Gītā, from the Vṛṣi. Now, he wrote a commentary, and now we are giving the commentary on it. So, Vedavyāsa also wrote the Bhagavad Gītā. And the Bhagavad Gītā is only one little, one śloka. And that śloka has 18 chapters. Otherwise, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has 18,000 ślokas. Upanishads also, they are the best; the grantha is also from the ṛṣi. The Vedas, and from the Vedas came the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā. And then this, all Upaniṣads. "Up" means near. "Sad" means the disciple. So the disciple sits near the master and learns. That is called Upaniṣad. The name of this Upaniṣad. Now you are sitting in front of me. I am not like those ṛṣis. But still, I am here sitting, and you are sitting. This is one of the best photos you can have, that this is Upaniṣad. Which Upaniṣad? The Yoga in Daily Life Upanishad. Now we have to know, at least from the Upaniṣads, it is also yoga: Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha Yoga is not in Patañjali, but Haṭha Yoga is very great. So, Kriyā Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Haṭha Yoga, many, many... many yogas, Sahaja Yoga, many, many yogas. So we shall learn and come to know about these parts of yoga. So the Jñānānanda Yoga, Śiva Yoga, there are many, many others. So we will get this, and this we should learn. Not only always āsanas and this yoga, and then this, and this is good for the body; this is Ayurveda, and that is good. What this, what you call the Ayurveda? In Ayurveda, there is a yoga, and this yoga, which they are talking about, yoga is just a little part. So, Haṭha Yogī, Haṭha Yogī is Śiva, and you know the story about Śiva and Pārvatī, and that one yogī in the night, he was frying his chapati. I have told you many times, so in all these chakras and kuṇḍalinī, there is the science of humans. Do not think the Kuṇḍalinī is something like miracles or something different. Magic is you, yourself. What a magic you were born. What a magic you came to your mother’s body. What was the magic that you were developing? And you were born, you are studying, you are doing everything. And then we will go. We should pray not that I should not die. We will die in any case, sooner or later, and God is so gracious, He does not tell us when we will die, and that is just finished, so we do not know. Do not think that after 150 years, then I will die. Maybe someone dies after one month, and a child is born. This is in the Supreme’s hands, but this is for, as a yogī, for the chakras to pray and meditate and come to the highest consciousness. So, many, many different parts of yoga. But āsanas and prāṇāyāmas are kept more for our health. And there is also nourishment. It is called the āhar, vihar, āchar, vichār. Āhar means the nourishment, food. Eat natural, very natural. Whatever vegetable you bring, also it should not be more than half a day or one day, then it is not eatable, or you dry it. Dry in the sun and then preserve it, but you are keeping it in the fridge. It is like one life has died and will come again, the light there. So that is what they call nowadays the egg bank. Egg bank. And I was, I did not know. I was in Czech, Brno. And there was our Dr. Martin. And always the people pushed me, "Come there and look, your health and this and that and that." There was one poster, and it said, "You can reserve the bank eggs." I said, "So many eggs they are eating, so there are no more eggs available?" I have nothing to do with such things, so I told Mansa Devī. I said, why do Czech people have no more eggs? She said, "No, no, this is an egg bank." But why not in a farmhouse? Then she explained to me. I said, "Oh, that is it." Then it is very easy for men: get a child. Tell the men to go out, but this all is abnormal. It is different that something is coming stolen and something is coming with the love, with happiness, feeling, feeling with the goodness to have a child. But if one does not get, then if someone wants to have a child in any case, the ladies have desires because that is the nature of God. So then it is okay. So, the life is coming, but life will come with happiness, joy, and we love the child. Everybody will say, "Hi, how are you?" Everyone, but then slowly, slowly... you got old, 90 years old, then of course the parents are a burden. Vibes will say to husband, "Your mother and your father are a burden for us. Can we not send them to the old house?" When you were born, we would also send you somewhere. Your mother and your father were taking so much care of you. Even they did not go on holiday somewhere. And all the time, looking after the child. That time, your parents did not say, "We do not need them. Send them to kindergarten for 10 years, then we will see." Therefore, do not run behind the money, but let your parents in your house. Evening come and tell them. How are you? And you know, our old parents, very old parents, they will love you very much when you come at home, like when you were a little child. That one has a luck, that has destiny: such a father, parents, and such children. They will go first on that path. Yes, it will go straight to the highest level. I cannot tell if you are going to mokṣa immediately. Many things we have done so in this life. We cannot go now to mokṣa because you did not know before. Many of you came to me now, and you are listening from me these things. Otherwise, many people say, "No, stupid, I do not know," but someone said. In some countries, there is ice, very cold, very cold, and they give alcohol to the parents, old parents, and then put them on ice, very ice and snow on it. In the morning, when they come, the ice is in the mouth. When your father or your mother, when you were little and were crying, always gave you something and put on the ice, what would you think, my dear? So the child and the old are the same. So if you want to get more good, what we call the sukha, or more blessings, then please, with the old people, your parents. Yes. So this is a many, many different part, but at the same time, as far as you will continuously meditate, practice in your chakras, kuṇḍalinīs, etc. In our subject, you will become more and more and more spiritual, with higher consciousness, and you will go to the great, great light of God. But when we are running behind the money, and go to that country and go there and there, this is different. In old times, people who had a little house and a little garden, they survived from this. They were very happy. Neighbors giving to you something, you were giving them something, very happy. At that time, they did not have many facilities. But they were happy, and now we have everything. But still, we are not happy. So, yoga, we have to come to this karma yoga. Bhakti yoga, jñāna yoga, rāja yoga, this is very important for us. There are many yogas, no āsana at all, no prāṇāyāma. So that is also part of yoga. So every master is different. One came from Budapest, one came from Ljubljana, and one came from Vienna. So, everyone has a different path. But when we come to that highest consciousness, then we are all one. Kundalini. So, we spoke about Kundalini many times. Last week we had a very nice talk about Kuṇḍalinī. So the kuṇḍ is like a water well, like a water well, and that there is a water. The ring, the ring means the whole universe. The moon is round, the sun is round, our earth is round. Similarly, that is why the kuṇḍ, and kuṇḍ means also deep, and so our consciousness is very deep down, which is like animal’s behavior, and different, slowly, slowly we come up to the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra. So this evening we will once more again bring the Chakra, and we can make a screen there. So we will go walk over a walk. We will have a first prayer, then a little dark, then we will show us up our kuṇḍalinī and chakra. So, my dear, there are many, many yogas, many yogas. Now, one person has made a name also, one yoga. Why not? Very good. And that is called chair yoga. I forgot, otherwise in the beginning I could also do it. And that was great and very good. The elderly person, or who is not very well physically, then let them sit on the chair and practice yoga like this. So do not make these people unhappy that they cannot practice or do something. So do it with your grandparents. They will be very happy. So if you are doing it in your city or village, say, chair yoga, many, many will come. And these elderly people, they have a little bit of a committee or a group, so what is the name? Chair, chair yoga. There was just now one Swamiji in London where I was, and his name is Smiling Yogi, Smiling Yogi, and he does not stay more than two or three days somewhere. He is traveling around the world. Smiling with whatever he sees, or he sees somebody speaking, and like, he is always smiling. It is okay. That is enough. So he is smiling and smiling, making everybody smile. So it is said, how many muscles we have in the body? And when you are angry, then all muscles are in tension. But if you smile, then only these three muscles of the mouth can release and relax all muscles. So just be kind, smile, and then all muscles are relaxed. And if this tree is with the angle, then all muscles are like this, that he is calling yoga. And then, you know, long ago I met him in San Francisco, and there was a very big conference. So there was one man moving there, a yellow dress shirt, and he is called the Laughing Yogi. And you know now that he is, who knows, the Laughing Yogi: one, two, three, four, and five. You know that you know that? No, no, they do not know. If we make you, will you be all you can do? It, and really, he came and he came. And now he has a... in the airplane. When he came in the airplane, and he said... Oh, do not worry. Long way, we should laugh. And he said, "Yes." Then all stood up and everyone was laughing. And he said, "The power is too strong." While sitting, you cannot. You must have your legs solid on the ground. And then laugh. So we can do perhaps while sitting, laughing. So our lecture is finished.