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We will practice meditation on the cakras and kuṇḍalinī. All of this is connected to our five elements and our five prāṇas. First, try to sit in a comfortable posture where you do not feel discomfort. We should not give discomfort to our body. For example, after a few minutes you might have a problem with your knee, and your concentration is broken. So, for the instructor or teacher, it is easy to say, "Don't move, be relaxed." But if you have a knee problem, all your concentration is on your knee. Then you move, and the master says, "Don't move." So what? Then we are not concentrating on our meditation. Our body is suffering, and one is only praying for the meditation to finish. I always want to make my students, my disciples, comfortable. Perhaps our mokṣa—our liberation, or whatever we see as the highest attainment—is not dependent on our body. You can lie down and relax. Then you will be better at concentrating. Or you can stand up. First, our body should be very comfortable. Sukham Āsanas: our posture should be very comfortable. Of course, you should not constantly shift your legs. Try to endure something, but if it is very hard, then you should change your position. Please make yourself very comfortable with your yoga mat. If you have a cushion, you can put it on the edge to sit on. Then you will be very comfortable. We have to support our body, especially our spinal column. If our spine is relaxed and aligned, the whole body is good. I am giving instructions on how to sit. Some people sit in meditation hunched over. Then, definitely after a few minutes—10 or 15—they slump down. Let's make an experiment. Look, if your arm is completely straight and we are touching the fingers—this I will also explain—you are completely stretched. But now, move your elbows slightly. How relaxed you feel: your whole shoulders, shoulder blades, neck, spine, and stomach become comfortable. The straight stretch is not pleasant; it's only for making pictures for a book. Many things are done like that quickly. This is my experience. Sometimes, a little more, a little more. Can you stretch? Hold your toes. Therefore, relax and be comfortable. Now, let's say you cannot bend your knee due to problems with the knee, ankle joint, or hip tightness. You can stretch one leg and bend the other. Now, as I said about the elbows: relax them. About 65% of your body's happiness and relaxation comes from the elbows alone. To sit straight comfortably, we can make a little roll from our yoga mat, cloth, or a small wooden plate. Sit only on the edge of your buttocks. Roll it and see how comfortable you will be. A harder surface is comfortable; a softer one is more torturous. I don't know how Americans manage with sleeping bags and beds. You fall in and sink down, and the beds are so high you can't get out comfortably. When you come back to bed, you don't know how to get up. Maybe Americans like this, but my disciples from the West, the Europeans, come half-ill because the bags are so difficult. You should have a comfortable bed. The sleeping bag should not be too soft; it should be a little firm. Then you will sleep well, and your body will be relaxed. If you are hanging in a soft sponge, it is not good. Your posture should be comfortable, but of course, too hard is also not good. This yoga mat is also not for sleeping; it's too hard. We should have a nice, stretchy, comfortable surface for sleeping. Similarly for sitting. Now, can you give me this? There is something behind, under this place. Yes, throw it here. This one. This will make you comfortable—so comfortable that you will know how to meditate, really. Would you like to experiment? Yes. Now sit on it. Please tell me how it is. Yes? It's not a joke. How relaxed and realistic it feels. Your shoulders and elbows are automatically relaxed. Now you can meditate. It's only this one little hard piece under the buttocks. I will give a second one. Who would like to explain? This is also a lesson. Don't think we are losing our time. I am okay; I have this sometimes. This is a bed. Lie down and roll on it. Try, please. It could be a little longer. Does anybody want to experience it? Very good, no? Do you want someone to try it? Now, if you know this part, then with this kind of cushion, you roll it. Yes, and then sit on it. Okay, try. Really. So, the master comes into the meditation hall and says, "Today, there will be some experience." And what the master brings is one brick. Just one brick. And this is it for today. Everybody said, "What will he do now with the brick?" And I will make you comfortable. They said, "Yes, Master, do what you like." And then he places the brick and sits on it. It is so comfortable. Then everybody says, "Thank you, Master. We were suffering at home, we couldn't meditate." So we need, when our spinal column is straight, the whole body is relaxed. But how to achieve this? The whole trunk of our body has to be comfortable and relaxed. So the shoulders come straight, very good. And then the elbows are relaxed. We will not have pain in the knees or ankle joints. Everyone at home should make this for meditation. Okay? That is very good, but not for sitting. You can sit, but after a while this pillow will sink. So you can sit on it; it is good. Aha, you sit like this. You like that? Okay, very good. There is a little stool, you know. You can sit like this. It means posture. If the body is comfortable, it will sit. The body is relaxed. The body has no pain. Then we can meditate. This is number one. Another point: many of you may know, and many may not, so I would like to give some instructions. We have in every organ and part of our body a certain energy flow. We have these five fingers—four fingers and one thumb—on both sides. In meditation, this is connected to the three guṇas. Guṇa means energy: negative, positive, or neutral. Then the index finger and thumb. People think, and many say, "Well, this is a kind of holding the meditation posture." But it is researched that when you touch the index finger and thumb, it immediately sends information through the nerve systems, and tension disappears. In rehabilitation centers and spas, they give relaxation like this, touching like this. You lie down, and they do it again. People don't know about this. They know it's a yoga technique, but they don't know how. But it makes you very comfortable, and the stress is gone. Now, the index finger and thumb: we touch like this or like that, here on the joint of our thumb, this side or here. Now, you can hold these two like this and move. How do you feel the energy? Warm, relaxed. You can put your hands on the knees. Now, move with this. Okay, the next point. Hold your left hand and open your palm. Take your index finger and very gently move here on the whole palm. Just one finger, the index finger. Don't touch it completely, just gently. Do you feel a sensation? A common sensation? Yes? And when you do this, after a minute or two, you will see that under your finger there is some ball, a little ball. There is, yes? When a child is crying and doesn't sleep—a small child, a few months old—you take the palm and do this, and it will sleep very quickly and nicely. We can also take two fingers like this, three fingers, all four. Then it's like a flood of energy. So, take this please, but very gently. Do you feel it? How much energy is going through that? Oh my God, yes. This knot, the tip of the fingers. Now, these fingers—what I did—you remember, last two days we were talking about the nerve systems. There are 72,000 nerve systems in the body. At the end of all these are the nerves, and the skin is there because the skin is so sensitive. Why? Because it is connected with the nerves. The nerves give this energy through the whole body, giving a very precious... where this nerve will bring you to which nerve of your arm, part of your body. So, different parts will give that sensation in different parts of the body. When we do this, suddenly the tension is gone. You can sit down, look at your telephone or television, and do like this. Immediately, you will have a nice, relaxed feeling. All four fingers, please, both sides. Now, what I am telling you is not a miracle. It is nothing. It is you. It is your energy. It is your body. It is yours. I just give you the point of what is sensitive and good. Second, in your body, hold your palms one centimeter apart. You will see very soon that there is something like needles in the fingers and palms, but you haven't done anything. It's only energy coming from both sides like this. It is like a magnet, born to come together. Now, we want to do this very strongly. So, hold your palms and rub them completely, from the tip of the fingers. Completely, it should become a warm fire, heat. Good, fine. And now look, and chain like this. It's like a needle moving, no? And if you go like this, how far do you have this energy? Try to come together. Yes? So this is only your energy. It is yours. There is nothing. And now, close your fist, hands down, open, and bring back. It's gone. Like a cobra, a snake. And then the master of the cobra, if you pull him down, he will relax. So these are the energies, the kuṇḍalinī and the cakras, of which these ten cakras are more powerful than the other hundreds and thousands. So from the mūlādhāra cakra till the top cakra. Similarly, on the tips of our fingers, our palms, our foot soles, and our toes, there is very much energy, and it can give something good to us. Many people advise, and they have in their home, like this one yoga mat, they make a little... they bring some, make from wood a little like a... one bear, this door frame, and put a little, little, little sand, stone. And so, just as you can telephone, you can do this or that, or you can meditate, but walk for five minutes on the sand. It's very helpful for our body, for relaxing. Everything is very good, yes? So, we can have only that, like this yoga mat, that's all. And there is nice sand, not very fine, but a little bigger, like, let's say, beans. That is the awakening of all centers in the body, and this is really very good for our health. Okay? Now, another point: the nerve systems, etc. Now, this thumb represents the spiritual and concentration. This is called the Supreme, God, by the way, or anything. And this finger is the individual. So this is our individual soul, and this is the cosmic one. It is called ātmā or jīvātmā, the Supreme and the individual. They are touching together like this. And now, these three fingers are called Sāttvika, Tāmasa, and Rājasa. Rajas is very strong and restless. Sattva is purified, calm, clear, very nice. And Tamas is laziness—always sleeping, laziness. You want to do something, and then you say, "I don't want to," and that's laziness. It is said the biggest enemy of the human is laziness. You can achieve everything, or you can miss everything and lose everything. Why? Because of laziness. So we can do many things, but we should be active. And so is our meditation. Today we will do it. There is nothing in this room, in this hall, that you see now. And then I will say, "Close your eyes," and again you open your eyes. So there is nothing more new. You need not open your eyes always. If you are opening your eyes always, then it means you are nervous. So we have to concentrate. We don't want to go to the extra world—not an extra, but we want to come to our Self. Everything is within us, and what is outside is not ours. So, we want to, and this all will come to you. It will be in you. You will be expanding your consciousness, and everything is within you. So you will not feel separate or restless. All energy, you are peaceful to relax yourself. Now, I give you one exercise. Stand up and just stretch a little bit for your comfort. Siddha Purījī, Siddha Purījī... Walk your arms back and slowly sit, as if on a chair. Bend down as far as you can, sitting comfortably on the chair, and come up. Again, go down on the chair. Very good. Okay, please sit in your meditation posture. Our meditation is that we want to know ourself. We want to know our Self. We will not rest until we go to our soul, our Ātmā, our self, our relaxed state. So let's see, we do the meditation. Sit relaxed. The index finger and thumb are connected, and three fingers are separate. Your palms can be either upwards, or you can touch your thighs or your knees. Like this is okay also, like this is also okay. But like that is not good. Relax your elbows and relax your shoulders, keeping your neck straight. Now, if you want to see anything more in this hall, do it. And then close your eyes. Relax your whole body. We will withdraw ourselves from the outer world and let all come within thyself. We will chant OM three times. Deep inhale and exhale now. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Now inhale, and we will chant Aum. Inhale, Aum. Inhale deep, inhale, relax, relax your whole body. Withdraw from the outer world, be aware of yourself here in this hall, and be aware of your being here. Feel your whole body from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head to the toes, your whole body. Feel your body relaxed. Let your body feel comfortable. Be aware of your being. Be aware of your body. Relax, relax, from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head to the toes, relax. I am here. I am here in my yoga center. I am relaxed. I am relaxed. Feel the motionlessness of the body. Feel the motionlessness of the body. But comfortable. Your fingers, your palms, your wrists are relaxed. Feel your elbows, arms, and muscles relaxed, and your shoulders. Feel your forehead, feel your eyebrows, the middle of the eyebrows, relax, and feel your jaw, relax your jaw. Do not bite your teeth. The neck should be relaxed. Be aware of thyself in this hall. Feel the whole trunk of the body from the back side and from the front side. Be very relaxed and comfortable. And now, feel your breath, knowing that you are inhaling and exhaling. Now, bring your awareness to the center of the chest. Inside, feel the ascending and descending breath. I know that I am inhaling, and I know that I am exhaling. Be relaxed and feel the center of the body, the prāṇa, the energy, the breath. Now, bring your breath below the navel and abdomen. Feel the breath going deep till there and coming out through the throat or the nose. While inhaling, the stomach is slightly expanding, and the trunk of the body is slightly expanding, while exhaling, it is contracting. With inhalation, going your energy, the prāṇa, down to the abdomen, and going out again, filling the nostrils. If you have a mantra, you repeat your mantra; otherwise, just be one with thyself. I know that I am inhaling. I know that I am exhaling. I am aware of my body, my whole skin, all the energies, my whole nerve body, and the breath. And the skin is covered over the knees, all glands, and especially the nerves. Be one with thyself. Do not go anywhere out. You are thyself. Happiness is you. Peace is you. Understanding, harmony, and balance are you. We are searching, we are searching, we want to know, and we will know. And that is energy going through your whole body. Be relaxed. All material in your body, everything. Now, try to deeply inhale, and when your breath is completely in the body, inhale, hold the breath, contract the muscles, and relax. Exhale, breath going through the whole trunk of the body, and it ends when you are breathing out with this mantra. And this mantra is in your—don't forget—inhale, hold breath for a second, contract the muscle, then relax, and inhale, exhale. Inhale, bring again breath to the center of the chest. While inhaling, raise your head up with closed eyes, and look into your eyebrow center. Exhale and bring this energy to the center of the chest. While inhaling, raise your head up with closed eyes, and look into your eyebrow center. Exhale and bring this energy to the center of the chest. While inhaling, raise your head up with closed eyes and look into your eyebrow center; exhale and bring this energy. The center of the heart, while inhaling with the neck up, imagine sheep and ghosts going up. Now, place your right hand on your navel; the left hand remains on your thigh or knee with the mudra, cin mudra. Eleven times we will chant, "Om, Om," with five letters: A, A, U, M. It goes from the navel. Arms, rub your palms. Place your palms, hands on your face. Slightly, gently massage your eyelids. Open your eyes in your palms, and open your eyes. Place the hands on the ground. Purījī, Purījī... Adio.