Swamiji TV

Other links



Podcast details

Yogic principles

A spiritual discourse on the integrated path of yoga and the necessity of satsang.

"Your sādhanā, your satsaṅg, is the first priority in your life. Otherwise, you are neither on this side nor that side."

"Practicing yoga means to keep everything in balance... To keep everything in equilibrium means everything functions as it should."

The speaker emphasizes the critical importance of satsang and defines yoga as the universal principle of balance for the body, mind, and emotions. They explain that all actions are karma and detail the four main yogic paths—Karma, Bhakti, Jñāna, and Rāja Yoga—arguing they are inseparable and must be practiced in unison. The talk critiques one-sided spiritual identification, using the example of misunderstood Jñāna Yoga, and concludes that personal shortcomings like doubt and anger are obstacles to success.

Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Weekend seminar

The solution is satsaṅg. One should never miss satsaṅg. Your sādhanā, your satsaṅg, is the first priority in your life. Otherwise, you are neither on this side nor that side. Our way, our path, is through yoga. Yoga is as old as the universe. You have heard this many times because it is that balancing principle. The entire universe is balanced. All visible and invisible elements, stars, moons, and suns are balanced. All vegetation and life on this planet are balanced. All five elements in this body are balanced. Our body, mind, intellect, and emotions are balanced. When something falls out of balance, then we are ill. So, practicing yoga means to keep everything in balance. It means everything functions accordingly. To keep everything in equilibrium means everything functions as it should. Here, emotional balance also means our devotion, our beliefs, and our relations. And when we speak of emotional balance, it also means the balance of our devotion and our feelings. Our sādhanā—everything has to be balanced. And for that, we are practicing. The most ancient scriptures, like the Vedas, speak about yoga. And yogic principles are these disciplines: believe, trust, meditate, pray, help, have compassion in your heart, ahiṃsā. These are all yogic principles, and these are in every religion of the world. So, when you practice yoga, you are with the universal religion. And every religion is universal because it is the preaching of a particular holy incarnation. Now, it depends on how you understand. Every religion has prayer, faith, kindness. In every religion, one speaks of truth, of discipline, of certain ethical principles. All those principles are in religions, and they are yogic principles. So, in the Rāmāyaṇa, in the Bhagavad Gītā, it is also full of yoga. If you read the Upaniṣads, which are very old, and the Purāṇas, there is yoga: mantra practice, meditation, prayers. Later on, we divided yoga into different kinds. It is not only Patañjali who modified it into four main branches, because when you look into the old scriptures, which were before Patañjali, they also speak about Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, and Rāja Yoga. Also, the Bhagavad Gītā speaks about 18 different kinds of yoga. There are 18 chapters of the Gītā, and every chapter, from beginning to end, has yoga. So, we normally talk mostly about four different yogas: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, and Jñāna Yoga, which you know. So, let's come to Karma Yoga. Karma means to do something. If you are not doing, you are lazy. Not doing anything means you are already doing something. You are doing the act of being lazy, and you are living on behalf of others. Others have to work for you. So, you are already doing bad karma. If you are active, you are doing karma. Eating is karma. Drinking is karma. Breathing is karma. Sleeping is karma. Anything that happens through this body is an action, and that is karma—or action, or a function, or work. Even our Earth is working. The seasons are working. Nature is working. And so, humans are also working. Animals are also working. So, that is karma. Karma means something happening or being done. There are different kinds of karma divided. Something is natural. Without inhalation and exhalation, we cannot live. Without drinking and eating, we cannot live. If we did not eat and drink, we would not survive. But you should know what you inhale and exhale. If you inhale something poisonous, you will die. And if you inhale fresh, healthy air, full of oxygen, you will live long. If you eat bad quality food, then there is no proper nutrition and you will damage your health. If you drink water, milk, or juice, you support your health. And if you drink other liquids, alcohol, and so on, you damage your health. So what you do reflects on your mind, your body, and your consciousness—also your emotions and your temptations. And likewise in emotions, in temptations. And so, even though all this is essential for life, it is very important how your body will react to it. Then, for humans, it's called niṣkāma karma, selfless service: help others. To help others means to love your neighbor. Now, yoga says to help others. And some religions say to love your neighbor. You cannot help if there is no love. This means Karma Yoga is incomplete if there is no Bhakti Yoga. And helping needs discipline. You should have the discipline to help. So it means there is Rāja Yoga. And helping also means you need knowledge for that; then you can help. Now, Karma Yoga is incomplete if there is no bhakti, jñāna, and rāja yoga. Similarly, Bhakti Yoga is also incomplete without Karma Yoga. So all these four branches of yoga are connected to each other. If you have one leg amputated, then your body is incomplete. Or one hand, or one eye, or one ear, or one kidney. So everything has its meaning for this body. Similarly, all these four branches of yoga are important. You cannot say that "I am a bhakti yogī," or "I am a karma yogī," or "I am a rāja yogī," or "a jñāna yogī." If you define yourself by only one particular part, then you are discriminating against yourself. And you have no knowledge. That's the big mistake most people make. "We are jñāna yogīs, we are not bhakti yogīs." Many people will read some books. Ramana Maharṣi speaks about jñāna yoga. And while reading and after reading this book, they say, "Now we are jñāna yogīs." But see the life of Maharṣi Ramana. He was a complete bhakti yogī—complete. Complete surrender to God. And surrendered to karma yoga and tyāga; immense renunciation he had. You see how little dress he had on his body—not that he couldn't afford the dress, but he renounced it. In Europe, I saw many people, after reading Ramana Maharṣi's scriptures, climb on the top saying, "We are jñāna yogīs and we know Brahman." Then they are like a crow sitting on the peak of the church, very proud. Why? Because the crow is thinking, "All these people who are praying in the church are praying to me." But they are not praying to the crow; they are praying to Jesus, but that crow doesn't know. So these people in Europe mostly become like a kind of atheist. They think they know everything now. And that's the biggest mistake they are making, because when you know what Brahman is, then you will be the greatest karma yogī and bhakti yogī, the greatest rāja yogī. But you don't know. You just read. And this intellectual reading made you blind: not to believe in anything, not to believe in photos or statues, no prayers. When you don't believe in photos, then why do you make a photo of yourself? You say everything is Brahman, everything is nirākāra, formless. Then why do you eat bread? That's physical. Just say, "I'm eating bread," that's all, thinking. How many days will you just think, "Oh, I'm eating mental food"? So we have to use our logic. It's faith, confidence. That confidence can melt rocks. And you should have that knowledge. So haṭha yoga, practicing for our good health, is also part of yoga from these four parts of yoga. You cannot practice haṭha yoga without Bhakti Yoga, without Jñāna Yoga, without Rāja Yoga, and without Karma Yoga. Then any kriyā of haṭha yoga you are doing, you are doing karma. And you must have the knowledge of how to do it, so you are a jñāna yogī. And you must do it correctly and with discipline, so you are a rāja yogī. And you must have love to do it; you should have the value for it to do it, so you are a bhakti yogī. So even the haṭha yoga kriyās, āsanas, and prāṇāyāmas, you cannot do without these four parts of yoga. So Patañjali said that practitioners should have devotion to their practice, then they can be successful. Otherwise, only from talking, your problem will not be solved. A very good mechanic, if he has no tools, cannot do anything. So the best mechanic understands what the tools mean, and he or she loves the tools and keeps them very carefully. A musician who plays the sitar, guitar, or any instrument keeps this instrument as carefully as his own body; understand what that means. That person comes through; also, we should understand what our body means. And what it means to keep our body healthy; we are not living only for ourselves. We are living for the entire planet, and our being on this planet should be beneficial to all: to the environment, all creatures, and humans. So that is for us what Yoga in Daily Life means. So, until today, what you have not achieved, the answer is clear. Because you have doubts, you have different moods, changing moods, you have anger, you have jealousy, you have selfishness, pride, and what not more; and that's the answer to our own situation. So many, many things we have to change in our life. Then we will be successful. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Weekend seminar

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.

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