TV Channel

Within this body, the most miraculous thing is prāṇa. It is in the inhalation and exhalation, the ascending and descending breath. The entire miracle is in this inhalation and exhalation, that is all. Therefore, it is said: my dear, where are you searching for me? You will find me nowhere. My residence is in the forest, not in the city. We know the city is in Naraka—it doesn’t matter which city. It is māyā, tension, competition, challenges, and so on. Peaceful is the forest. My residence is outside of the city, and I live in the breath. My hut is outside of the village, and I am residing in the breath. If you search for me, you will find me immediately within no time—and that means in the breath and in yoga. The prāṇa, or the breath, is very important. We can do unbelievable, impossible things through our prāṇāyāma technique. Of course, our prāṇāyāma can also damage things, and what you damage through prāṇāyāma cannot be repaired. Therefore, it is very strongly advised that we do need a guide; we do need a master. Otherwise, there is no success. Without a master, if you do it, there will be a success—meaning you will damage. You will be successful, and that we do not want. The master is one who has experienced all this within oneself. So, the inhalation and exhalation, the prāṇa. In bhajans we say: "God, prāṇanāth, lord of my prāṇa." The cosmic mother energy is that prāṇa. While inhaling and exhaling, we are nourished by the Cosmic Mother. In that nourishment is the Cosmic Tonic; in that nourishment is the Cosmic Light. The Lord of that Cosmic Energy is God, the Prāṇa. That is why we call all living beings in Sanskrit prāṇī—living beings. Everyone who has prāṇa inside is considered a living being. This means a plant is also a living being. If you cut off the plant, it will die. We see very soon when we chip a branch of a tree that the leaves become sad because there is no more supply of prāṇa. There are many health problems. Many people have questions about health. Yoga believes strongly and advises that through prāṇāyāma you can solve many, many problems. There is some research that has been done; even cancers have been cured through prāṇāyāmas. Practicing ten to fifteen minutes of Bhastrikā Prāṇāyāma every three hours has given very positive results. So prāṇāyāma is the most important thing in yoga. What is different about other sports and other techniques and yoga is this: yoga has prāṇāyāma techniques—breath regulation, supplying more oxygen, and reducing toxins. There is also a very important heart yoga. These are all part of the six kriyās of Haṭha Yoga. Śaṅkha Prakṣālana—of course, the best would be if you do it every month. But our problem is one: eating. Our tongue is spoiled, and there is a lot of temptation. After Śaṅkha Prakṣālana, for at least ten days you cannot eat those things that you would like to eat. Then you eat for twenty-four days whatever you like, and again you make a Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. Therefore, it is said in one bhajan: in this body there are ten senses. These ten senses are under control only for a few yogīs, rare yogīs. But you cannot trust the two senses; these two senses destroy your sādhanā. These two are upastha and racanā—one is tasting, and the second is sexual. If you cannot control these two indriyas, then you will be suffering and you cannot complete your sādhanā. It does not mean you kill them; then you would die. They have to live normally, and it is their nature. Nature will show its quality. But you have to tell your mind, and you have to say yes or no. Your senses should follow your instruction: yes, yes, no, no. But when you said yes, they said no, and when you said no, they said yes—then you know where we are. So, this is prāṇa. Everything is prāṇa. To keep a pure and clean prāṇa, we need a prāṇāyāma technique. Now, many times people ask the question: what is the difference between Yoga in Daily Life and some other systems? Pārvatī gives them a name also—the Pārvatī Yoga. Now people say, "What is Pārvatī? How Śiva and Pārvatī?" That must be very correct yoga, because Pārvatī was the first. Śiva gave the first knowledge of yoga. Lord Śiva gave it to Pārvatī, and there was no one else listening. Śiva told Pārvatī, "I give you beautiful, divine signs." Pārvatī was sitting, and Śiva was talking about the science of yoga and how yoga came. The copyright author of yoga is Śiva. When Śiva completed the science of yoga, they were sitting in the Himalayas on a rock, and there was a water pond, a nice small lake. There was a fish inside, and the fish stopped and was listening to Śiva. After finishing the lesson, Śiva said to Pārvatī, "I told this only to you, and give this to those people who are worthy of it." Pārvatī looked in the water and said, "What about this fish? She also heard." And the fish was Bengali. "Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, Aum Namaḥ Śivāya." So she died. The fish died immediately. Then that fish’s soul incarnated in a human body and became a great yogī, a sage. His name was Mataśya Ṛṣi. There is a Matsyāsana after his name. That Matsya Ṛṣi was doing tapasyā, his meditation in Matsyāsana—so that if he would sleep, he would fall down. Who doesn’t know the Matsyāsana? Matsyāsana is like sitting like this. That’s called Matsyāsana. Now you know? That’s it. Matsya Ṛṣi then brought the science of yoga to humans. So yoga originated with Lord Śiva: the science of mantra, science of yantra, science of tantra, science of maṇḍala, āsanas, prāṇāyāma, mudrās, bandhas, kriyās, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi. All this was taught by Lord Śiva to Pārvatī. Then came Mataśya Ṛṣi. After thousands of years, one or two hundred thousand years, then came Patañjali. Why is Patañjali so famous? Because he wrote down his thoughts. Other ṛṣis were only giving mastery to disciple. That’s called śruti and smṛti. Śruti means what you listen; smṛti means what you remember and you tell. So, don’t make a difference between listening and speaking. What some say is gossiping ill brains. In German we say "tratschen." Their problem is they make a big difference between what they heard and what they talk. Pure water comes in the pipe, but that pipe is so dirty that the water comes out dirty. So what you have heard is now filtered by your brain, and you have negative vṛttis—mālavikṣepa and āvaraṇa. The antaḥkaraṇa is not pure: mana, buddhi, citta, and ahaṁkāra. That creates the problem. There were thousands or millions of great yogīs. They were known as Siddhas—the perfect ones. They were known as avadhūtas—perfect above everything. They were known as mahāpuruṣas—the greatest in humans. They had all this knowledge of yoga and siddhis, but it was given under confidence to the disciple. Patañjali, who lived about 2,500 years ago, wrote it down. That is why we think Patañjali is the author of yoga. No. Patañjali put his thoughts. Not only that, Patañjali divided yoga into four branches. Because before Patañjali, before 5,000–6,000 years, was Kṛṣṇa. And in the Bhagavad Gītā it is divided: Jñāna Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, everything. And before Kṛṣṇa, about 10,000 years before the time of Rāma, there was also divided bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jñāna yoga, and everything. So yoga is not limited to Patañjali, nor to some ṛṣis, but to the very beginning of this universe and to Lord Śiva for the well-being of humans. Now we people, we don’t understand and we don’t know completely. Just to make our name or commercialize, they give the name Petra Yoga, Pārvatī Yoga… Now you see, one lion has hunted a very big animal, and now hundreds of other animals attack there and take a little piece and run away. So that big animal is torn into many, many parts. Similarly, yoga is torn in such a way you can’t imagine. What do they do with yoga nowadays? I was flying from Washington to Toronto, and on the board they gave a newspaper to read in first class. On the front page, in big letters, was written: "Yoga for Blondinen." This is really not a joke. If you don’t believe me, I can ask Gītā Purī, because she is from America. Is there? Yeah, you were with me from Washington to Toronto. That Śāntī was with. So I told Śāntī, "I have nothing against blondies, but I cannot bear this discrimination. Those who are not blondies, those who have black hair, what about them?" And it is like that. So yoga is torn into many, many pieces, and therefore there is no system. Just do the main postures of yoga: Bhujaṅgāsana, Śalabhāsana, Dhanurāsana, Halāsana, cobra-āsana, and these Marjārīs, and this and that. And prāṇāyāmas—some doing more as a stretching and some doing more as a sport. And like this. But Yoga in Daily Life is systematic. So when you do the prāṇāyāma according to Yoga in Daily Life, you need nerves to practice; you need time, but then you master that. If you do this prāṇāyāma according to the system of Yoga in Daily Life, it is very scientifically described there: regulation of the prāṇa. Understand the prāṇa. It is the prāṇa which is life. It is very hard to divide prāṇa and ātmā. When you die, prāṇa leaves your body. When you are still alive, we say you have prāṇa in the body; the temperature is there, the pulse is there—so that is a sign of life, meaning the prāṇa. It is said for everyone it is counted: how many breaths will you inhale and exhale? Then you have no more credit. So, through the prāṇāyāma technique, you can prolong your credit with high interest. The interest is very high, and when you see the interest, you will be very happy, because interest is more than capital. So when you get a grandchild, you are very happy, because your grandchild is the interest on your capital. That’s it. So, prolongation of the breath is a prolongation of life and health. Yoga, agni, karma, dākṣiṇī—through the fire of yoga, you can burn the seeds of karma, or destiny. But who understands this? Who takes it seriously? And who practices? Who has discipline? After practicing prāṇāyāma, we open the eyes, and there’s a nice cake. But dry cake—we open the phrase, and we move the bottle and cream on it. Yes, tasty cake and coffee machine. Then what was the sense of doing prāṇāyāma? After doing prāṇāyāma for at least forty-five minutes, let your body rest. The tissues recover, because doing prāṇāyāma is also hard work for your tissues—to release the toxins and to recharge our prāṇas, oxygen. This is very heavy. Like you go in the sauna, 115–120 degrees, then you jump into the water which is 10 degrees. Then only one thing remains: you lie down, and you feel regenerating energy. Ten to twenty minutes goes very quickly, so forty-five minutes is nothing. So after doing āsanas and prāṇāyāmas, when you are doing them really seriously, then you should give forty-five minutes to your body to regenerate. There are some people who have a lot of fat on the body, and this you can only treat through this Bhastrikā Prāṇāyāma. But Bhastrikā Prāṇāyāma you should do after first doing all the levels of the prāṇāyāma. This is an exchange of these prāṇas. Therefore, I suggest to you, everybody, now to dedicate forty-five minutes for prāṇāyāma every day. Don’t start immediately? Oh, I’m looking forward. Or, nearly nine months. In nine months, a fresh baby can be born. So when Mother Nature or dear God can prepare the body of a whole human in nine months, then she’s the best architect—perfect design, perfectly done, no mistakes. Automatic heating system, ventilation, everything, electricity, everything. So we can do in nine months a miraculous work. What we need is motivation. What we need is interest. We must have our aim. So from today onwards, those who have any kind of health problem should immediately begin. Don’t wait if your friend is doing it or not. It’s your thing; it’s your interest. Your husband or wife, if they like it or not, it’s their problem. It’s your life, your health, and you cannot destroy yourself. So let us begin and make a new Saṅkalpa: prāṇāyāma, and of course āsanas, relaxation, and meditation. After prāṇāyāma, the vṛttis are very calm. After prāṇāyāma, if you do your kriyā and meditation, it’s already samādhi. Already samādhi. Then it doesn’t matter, even snowing on you. You are in the divine. You don’t feel cold even if it is snowing on you; you don’t feel hot. I can promise you, you will feel only cold. That’s it. So, prāṇāyāma, prāṇa. Study something more about prāṇa and begin yourself.