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Kapalabhati pranayama

Observing daily life shows how Yoga in Daily Life transforms our existence through Gurudev’s guidance and steady practice.

Gurudev always protects, and the divine mantra carries blessing, protection, and guidance. Without Gurudev’s name, prayers are empty, like a sweet box without sweets or oil poured on sand. A devotee knows Gurudev’s face, his kind smile, and thus believes in God, vowing never to leave. Real happiness is only in Gurudev’s presence; our duty is seva and keeping the body healthy. The body-mind phenomenon, with its five koshas, elements, and indriyas, is immense; one lifetime is not enough to study it. Yoga slowly brings this phenomenon toward a divine frequency, merging individual into oneness. This path demands heroism and endurance, which develops gradually, not overnight. The inner voice tells the mind: go slowly, slowly, because the path is narrow and dark. Many rivers, temptations with sweet melodies, and pleasant smells arise to distract and cause loss. Only with a guide who binds you, who has traveled the path, can you safely proceed. Practice small, minute sadhana called Anu Upasana, integrating it into daily life. Like a mosaic, place stone by stone, and suddenly the picture completes through steady effort. Kapālabhāti is a haṭha yoga kriyā that purifies the whole body and awakens the brain. It is performed by inhaling through the mouth and exhaling shortly and strongly through the nose. This practice subtly massages the brain, increases consciousness, and releases stress and tension. It should be done in temperate air, not with a blocked nose or cold, in three rounds of ten breaths. Sit straight in a pose like Vajrāsana, and proceed slowly under a teacher’s guidance.

"The real happiness, my Gurudev, is only in Thy presence."

"My friend, my dear brother, take your time; go slowly, slowly, do not hurry. You will reach your aim."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

When we observe our daily life—our entire existence here on this earth, on this karma bhūmi—and how yoga, particularly Yoga in Daily Life, transforms our daily routine, there are things we cannot explain. We cannot touch them, yet we feel them, experience them, and observe them. For instance, in the bhajan we just heard, "Dari Sato Guru Rake Laj," our holy Gurujī explains that your Gurudev will always protect you. Gurudev is always with you, and to the one whom he protects, nothing can happen. In another bhajan, Mahāprabhujī says, "Guru Sabina, Gurudeva Bina"—you may pray the whole day, read holy texts, and sing to God, but without the name of the Gurudeva, everything is meaningless. This refers to the divine mantra, our personal mantra received from Guru Dev, for within it lies the blessing, the protection, and the guiding. Dear Mahāprabhujī compares it to a box, a sweet box that contains no sweets; it is empty. Swamījī always says it is like oil poured on sand—it simply disappears. There is also a bhajan, "Miletahi." Swamiji may not like that I mention it, but we do not know its author or composer. It was written by a holy saint. Though I lack a translation, the bhajan says: My God, my Gurū Dev, I never saw the face of God. I never saw God, but I know the face of my Gurū Dev. I know his kind smile, his eyes, his whole being. This I know; I can see, feel, and with all the indriyas, if I wish, touch and even smell. And that is why I believe in Thee. Even if I must leave my country or walk through torrents with a hard life, even if I must enter the fire of the Trita-pas, I will never leave Thee. May Thy divine name always be on my lips; may I always repeat Thy divine name. This is the bhajan of Mīlā. Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Satguru Deva Kī Jaya, Miltā Hai Satguru Deva Kī Jaya. And the bhakta who composed this bhajan, this prayer, declares: "The real happiness, my Gurudev, is only in Thy presence." This is my prayer to Thee: may my concentration, all my merits, in every second, be at Thy lotus feet. Our duty in this life is to perform sevā and to keep this body healthy and functioning as much as possible. For this, we strive very hard to practice Yoga in Daily Life. Today, in group A, our dear Vijay began with the haṭha yoga kriyās, including Agniṣār Kriyā and Kapālabhāti. Our physical body, our whole phenomenon, is immense and profound. One lifetime is not enough to study it—hopefully not; we shall see. One life is insufficient to even begin grasping this phenomenon, with all its five kośas, the five elements, the indriyas: karmendriyas, jñānendriyas, the mind, citta, ahaṁkāra, ego—all these things functioning so perfectly. Now we slowly, carefully bring this entire phenomenon toward different frequencies, one might say, with the help of all tools we receive. With the aid of Guru Dev, his techniques, his sādhanās, his divine name, we change our individual frequency to the one divine frequency, bringing the individual to oneness. This is no easy task. Only heroes can walk this path. One must be a hero, possessing strength and, how to say, Austaua—endurance. Austaua does not happen from one day to the next. We recall this bhajan, "Manavadhi Hrithire," where the consciousness, the inner self, speaks to the mind: My dear friend, my brother, go slowly, slowly—just as we do when we go to Śrī Alakhpurījī. I experienced this when we went to Śrī Devpurījī. I am always doing things quickly, quickly, quickly; everything is too slow, it must be done quickly. But then, suddenly, I had to go slowly because there was no air, no favorable condition. It was really step by step. I remember this bhajan so much. The teacher was with us—dear Gopāla, Dr. Chitra, Kirti, our dear brothers, the guides, and the emperors. And slowly, slowly... in that way, we must proceed. There is no rush; it is not possible. Swamijī always says, "When we have dry grass and light it, it is like a straw fire—it blazes quickly and is finished. But if we want to prepare a good meal over a burning fire, we must do it slowly." And slowly, if you wish to reach this high peak, you need a guide who binds you with a rope so that if you fall, he holds you—one who has already traveled this path, who knows the way, not some guide from a card or GPS. You have no chance otherwise, because the mountain peak is so high. Imagine, as we know from Vivek Purījī’s account, this path is very narrow. It is dark; you have no torch. You must go with your... And it is like rolling a stone: when one stone rolls down, the whole thing rolls down. A new wind, and the inner self tells the mind: On this path, you must cross many rivers—seventy-two thousand rivers. Each river has a different stream, different depth, rocks, and different water. You do not know what is inside or how to cross. And along the way, countless temptations will arise: different paths here or there, we know not where, with such sweet melodies, pleasant smells, delightful feelings, and tastes that you will forget the way and become lost. My friend, my dear brother, take your time; go slowly, slowly, do not hurry. You will reach your aim. Go with your guide, with your Gurū Dev. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Che, Śrī Śrī Devī Svarmā Deva Kī Che. And here Śrī Mahāprabhujī said, "Śrī Devpurījī, my Gurudev, he showed me the way," and he blesses his Guru Kṛpā that he could reach this aim. We too, we do our things, we try, we proceed slowly, slowly. Sometimes we do not know if it is right. Difficulties arise, kleśas are present, and from the outer world come various disturbances. Swamījī advises: do it with your small, slow sādhanā. This is called Aṇu Upāsanā. Aṇu means the small, the minute atom, and Upāsanā means practice, exercise. That is why He created the system of Yoga in Daily Life—so that in our daily life, we can integrate the small, small things into our daily routine. For one or two weeks, we may only do sādhanā twice, and then once a week or every two weeks we go to intensify our sādhanās. It is like a mosaic picture: we place stone by stone, like a puzzle, a little at a time. Then suddenly the picture is complete, because we continue steadily. Very easy and very simple, yet a great help on our way—a big light, like a torchlight before us, and support. I cannot praise the Haṭha Yoga Kriyās enough. What they do is very simple, but they must be done. It requires a little willpower, a little overcoming. You have to do it, and for this we truly need a very good teacher who shows us, helps us, and guides us so that eventually we can practice alone. Some we do every day, and some from time to time. For example, today we have done Kapālabhāti. Kapālabhāti is when we clean our nose—it is nothing else. But the yogī performs it as a practice to purify this whole body. The whole body is enlightened, and kapāl means forehead. It is not only enlightening but purifying. Kapālabhāti is done after netī, after jal netī, of course, but we also do it before meditation, when we want to calm our vṛttis, our thoughts, or to release daily stress. When we are nervous, or have some tension in the head, Kapālabhāti is very, very helpful. I did not know and had not experienced, but it is written that it also helps those with depression. I would say, slightly, Kapālabhāti is indicated for epilepsy. I do not wish to promise, but it is written, together with jal neti, with water. Kapālabhāti is done in temperate air, not too cold, because we inhale through the mouth and exhale shortly and strongly through the nose, keeping the mouth slightly open. Otherwise, pressure goes to the ears, to the Eustachian tube, which is not pleasant. Kapālabhāti should not be done when the nose is blocked, as it becomes unpleasant. When we do Kapālabhāti, we experience a kind of awakening sensation; that is why it is called lightning—it really wakes you up. It makes us conscious because it subtly massages our brain. The entire brain floats in the liquid present in the spine and scalp, protected and bathed. With the strong exhalation, a gentle massage occurs. That is why, if we do it too long, we may feel slightly dizzy at first—because our blood circulation improves with this practice. It means you become more conscious, and your brain functions better and better. Our brain centers hold immense capacity; I am not a doctor, but I think we use only 8–9% of our brain’s 100% capacity. Less—oh my God—so where are the remaining 93 capacities? Where are these hidden powers within the human? We must awaken them; we must awaken our inner self. And here the Gurudev provides the techniques so that we may attain Brahmajñāna. Haṭha Yoga is a great, great help in this. This is Kapālabhāti. So we can practice it. Sit straight, please, either in Vajrāsana, Sukhāsana, or Siddhāsana. Please do not do it if you have a cold, or if you are holding a tissue. If you have a cold, please refrain. We do three rounds of ten breaths. If you cannot manage, then hold your nose like this; it is easier in the beginning. The tension comes from the joints, not the lips. Keep your mouth slightly open, inhale through the mouth, and exhale shortly and strongly through the nose, ten times. Please begin now. Inhale, exhale through the nose. Close your mouth. You may close your eyes. Second round: inhale through the mouth, exhale through the nose. Keep your mouth slightly open. Deep inhale and exhale through the nose. Close your eyes. Are you dizzy? If dizzy, look slightly down to the floor. Third round: if dizzy, do only gentle Kapālabhāti, not too strong. Please start. Deep inhale and exhale through the nose. Bend forward, head to the ground. You may come into Vajrāsana if you have space. Bend forward, head to the ground. You can support your head. If you have high blood pressure, you need not bring your head completely down; support it like this. Keep your eyes closed and slowly, with closed eyes, sit up. Keep your eyes closed, looking in the direction of your nostrils or the tip of the nose. Relax your neck, relax your shoulders, relax your eyes. Look toward your eyebrows and then in the direction of your nostrils or the tip of your nose, with closed eyes. Once, deep inhale, and exhale. Then we will chant "Om" three times. Deep inhale.

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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