Swamiji TV

Other links



Podcast details

Yoga is the Balancing Principle

The universe is founded on three eternal principles: pure consciousness, the balancing energy of Shakti, and unifying love. This energy maintains cosmic and personal harmony, which is yoga. Love unites, while ignorance divides. Our aim is to merge with the divine by cultivating divine qualities, for individual traits persist even in apparent union. True oneness requires a complete transformation of our nature, not merely a change in form. This practice is ancient and central to all spiritual pursuit.

"Where there is balance, there is harmony. Where there is harmony, there is oneness or unity."

"The salt changed its form but did not change its quality—the quality of saltiness."

Filming location: Hungary

The universe is endless. We do not know where it begins or where it ends. Within this universe, there are three eternal principles. The first is called consciousness, pure consciousness. You may call that light, love, God, the ultimate truth, or reality. The second is called energy, Shakti. The third is called love, or harmony. The entire, endless universe is like a mother’s womb, where God—the Supreme, the Consciousness, the Holy Father—resides. The second principle is power, energy. It is that power which balances the entire cosmos. All stars, moons, planets, and visible and invisible elements are held in balance. Our body, mind, emotions, thoughts, words, intellect, and the function of all our organs are balanced. If there is an imbalance, we become ill. Our thoughts and words should coordinate. I cannot be thinking of a mango while speaking about a coconut. I cannot think, "I must ask for ice cream," and then tell you to bring me bread. There must be harmony and coordination. Thus, the entire universe exists in harmonized balance. And that balancing principle is known as yoga. The third principle is love. Love unites, while ignorance divides. Love unites, while hate divides. This is that love. You may call it, for example, the divine will of God. It is that divine will which has created this world. It is love, and it is balanced. Therefore, yoga is as old as these universal principles themselves. Where there is balance, there is harmony. Where there is harmony, there is oneness or unity. Our aim is to become one with God, to attain self-realization—what we may call heaven, for everlasting happiness. We seek to become one with Him, not as an individual, but to merge completely. What divides us from God? Our qualities. It is our qualities and habits that make us individuals. If we wish to become one with God, then we must develop divine qualities. Buddha was born a prince. But through his meditations, he developed those qualities. He attained realization, becoming one with God, and that is why he is called Buddha. 'Buddha' means buddhi. Buddhi means knowledge, and knowledge here means self-realization. So Buddha was self-realized, but he had one problem—a problem that Buddhism has still not solved. Because Buddha could not see God at that time, Buddhists say that Buddha said there is no God, no personal God. In that state, the individual identity is lost. Buddha became one with the Supreme, so then you could not see 'himself'—neither 'me' nor 'he'. Kabīr Dās said in a beautiful song: "When I was here, He was not here. Now He is here, but I am not there." For the street of love is so narrow that two cannot walk together. Two have to become one. That is called oneness. Here is a glass of water. The water is very clean, crystal clear. You see nothing inside? I see nothing inside. But someone who brought me this glass put ten grams of salt inside, and the salt dissolved. The person thought, "Swamiji does not see the salt inside," because the salt became one with the water. I too might think the salt became one with the water, but when I drink it, my tongue says there is salt inside. This is a very important point. The salt changed its form but did not change its quality—the quality of saltiness. It may have changed form, but it did not truly become one with the water. Similarly, when we die, we may think we go to heaven. But that means you are still not one with God. To enter heaven, you must develop heavenly qualities, which are God’s qualities. This is trained and practiced by each individual. You know the Vedas are among the oldest scriptures in existence in written form. They are very ancient. Now, what do the Vedas say about yoga? What is written about yoga? The ancient system. What can I tell you? How old is yoga? Any holy book of Hinduism or India, no matter by whom it is written, is yoga. It does not matter how old it is.

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